Issue Date: April 27, 1998
City: New York, NY
Quantity: 39,600,000
Printed By: Avery Dennison
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: 11.1
Color: Multicolored

 

Generations of Americans have enjoyed the playful antics of Sylvester and Tweety. Two of Warner Bros. funniest characters, the pair has engaged in a never-ending chase which ultimately ends in frustration for Sylvester.

 

Sylvester the cat made his debut in the short animated film, Life With Feathers, in which he uttered the line which would become his trademark, “Sufferin’ succotash!” Tweety, a wide-eyed, baby-like bird debuted in the Merrie Melodies short A Tale of Two Kitties. Tweety’s innocent remark, “I tawt I taw a puddy tat!,” was the perfect foil to his otherwise precocious, and often brutal, actions.

 

It was in the short Tweetie Pie that the two established their long-running adversarial relationship. They earned their first Academy Awar for the film. Birds Anonymous won another Oscar – its plot involves Sylvester joining a support group to give up chasing birds. In the end, Tweety is forced to report, “Once a bad ol’ puddy tat, always a bad ol’ puddy tat.”

 

These remarkable characters have starred together in 41 cartoons, and continue to spread their special humor on Saturday morning cartoons and on Warner Bros. own cable television network. As the subjects of a U.S. stamp, they will help children discover the joys of philately.