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The Unexpected Pest is a 1956 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot[]

Sylvester's owner, John, is fed up with his laziness. John's wife, Marsha, says they only got the cat to keep away mice, and there hasn't been a mouse around in months. Sylvester desperately looks for a mouse to catch to prove his worth. When he has no luck finding a mouse in the house, he goes outside and finds a little mouse, who agrees to the same mouse that Sylvester will catch over and over again, only because he wants to be roughed up in front of his master.

It doesn't take the mouse long to realize that Sylvester really does need him alive, and he decides to stop being his fool. As a result, Sylvester pays the price for using the mouse for selfish reasons by constantly trying to prevent the mouse from causing trouble breaking the dishes, or trying to harm himself by jumping off the shelf, attempting to get himself eaten by Sylvester, grabbing cheese off a mousetrap, dropping a clothes iron on himself, sitting on a lit TNT stick. Sylvester saves the mouse from each situation, but when he throws the dynamite out the front door, he doesn't realize John is outside. John is shown injured and angry with Sylvester.

Sylvester is thrown out of the house and battered and beaten. The mouse fakes suicide by pretending to jump off the bridge of a river, and Sylvester, having become fed up with the pesky mouse, says "And good riddance too!" Once Sylvester leaves, the mouse climbs back on the bridge, and says "After all he's been through, I thought he deserved a happy ending."

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

On ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, the scene of Sylvester trying to save the mouse from attempting suicide by having a clothes iron fall on his head, only for Sylvester to get hit instead was cut.[2]

Notes[]

Gallery[]

TV Title Cards[]

References[]

Sylvester Cartoons
1945 Life with FeathersPeck Up Your Troubles
1946 Kitty Kornered
1947 Tweetie PieCrowing PainsDoggone CatsCatch as Cats Can
1948 Back Alley OproarI Taw a Putty TatHop, Look and ListenKit for CatScaredy Cat
1949 Mouse MazurkaBad Ol' Putty TatHippety Hopper
1950 Home, Tweet HomeThe Scarlet PumpernickelAll a Bir-r-r-dCanary RowStooge for a MousePop 'Im Pop!
1951 Canned FeudPutty Tat TroubleRoom and BirdTweety's S.O.S.Tweet Tweet Tweety
1952 Who's Kitten Who?Gift WrappedLittle Red Rodent HoodAin't She TweetHoppy Go LuckyA Bird in a Guilty CageTree for Two
1953 Snow BusinessA Mouse DividedFowl WeatherTom Tom TomcatA Street Cat Named SylvesterCatty CorneredCats A-weigh!
1954 Dog PoundedBell HoppyDr. Jerkyl's HideClaws for AlarmMuzzle ToughSatan's Waitin'By Word of Mouse
1955 Lighthouse MouseSandy ClawsTweety's CircusJumpin' JupiterA Kiddies KittySpeedy GonzalesRed Riding HoodwinkedHeir-ConditionedPappy's Puppy
1956 Too Hop to HandleTweet and SourTree Cornered TweetyThe Unexpected PestTugboat GrannyThe Slap-Hoppy MouseYankee Dood It
1957 Tweet ZooTweety and the BeanstalkBirds AnonymousGreedy for TweetyMouse-Taken IdentityGonzales' Tamales
1958 A Pizza Tweety-PieA Bird in a Bonnet
1959 Trick or TweetTweet and LovelyCat's PawHere Today, Gone TamaleTweet Dreams
1960 West of the PesosGoldimouse and the Three CatsHyde and Go TweetMouse and GardenTrip for Tat
1961 Cannery WoeHoppy DazeBirds of a FatherD' Fightin' OnesThe Rebel Without ClawsThe Pied Piper of GuadalupeThe Last Hungry Cat
1962 Fish and SlipsMexican BoardersThe Jet Cage
1963 Mexican Cat DanceChili WeatherClaws in the Lease
1964 A Message to GraciasFreudy CatNuts and VoltsHawaiian Aye AyeRoad to Andalay
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the HouseCats and BruisesThe Wild Chase
1966 A Taste of Catnip
1980 The Yolks on You
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 Father of the Bird
2011 I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat
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