Claude Cat

"(Claude Cat) kinda feels like a pointless add-on because he makes me wonder why can't these roles be played by Sylvester. He already places himself as the Tunes' go-to antagonistic cat, and does the job very well, so why not use him instead of his yellow knock-off?"

- ElectricDragon505, when unfavorably comparing Claude Cat to Sylvester

Claude Cat is a Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies character created by Chuck Jones, having first debuted in "The Aristo-Cat" alongside the mice duo Hubie and Bertie in 1943.

He once was a protagonist in the Hubie and Bertie shorts, he was eventually depicted as the main antagonist for the following episodes "Two's a Crowd", "Terrier Stricken", "Mouse-Warming", "Feline Frame-Up", "No Barking", "Cat Feud" and "Louvre Come to Me!". He has been shown to bully and antagonize other pets and animals so he can have all of the attention and benefits for himself.

While he was originally a good and tolerable character in his earliest appearances back when he was a nervous fall-guy protagonist feline (especially the Hubie and Bertie shorts), sadly he was flanderized to being much more cruel and mean-spirited when he permanently took a similar antagonistic feline role to that of Sylvester beginning with "Terrier Stricken" up until "Louvre Come to Me!".

Intentional Despicable Qualities
Note: This page will be focusing only his appearances with Frisky Puppy and his later appearances from 1952-1962 since he has been flanderized as time passed on, as his appearances prior and after these appearances are passable and likable.
 * 1) To get down the first problem with him, he is a Chuck Jones version of Sylvester, but with barely any of the charm and likability which Sylvester had. Where his role as the comedically unlucky antagonistic cat was already done very well with Sylvester, making Claude pointless, to begin with. In fact, you could replace Claude with Sylvester and it wouldn't make a difference.
 * 2) *What makes Claude even pointless is that Chuck Jones did use Sylvester in four of his cartoons "Scaredy Cat", "Claws for Alarm", "Jumpin' Jupiter" and "The Scarlet Pumpernickel", meaning that he, like Robert McKimson, Bob Clampett and Arthur Davis, actually do have the rights to use Friz Freleng's character Sylvester and could've used him in each of these cartoons instead of this cheap yellow Sylvester knock-off.
 * 3) * Speaking of which, in "No Barking", Claude is shown unsuccessfully attempting to catch and eat birds at both the beginning and ending (the second time the bird turns out to be none other than Tweety who makes a brief cameo), which is one of the best examples of how outright unneeded Claude is since Sylvester would've perfectly filled in that role in these two 'cat vs bird' scenarios, let alone for the entire short.
 * 4) On that topic as mentioned in BQ #1, another problem was how he basically lost his original personality after his pairings with Hubie and Bertie ended after 1951's "Cheese Chasers" as the result of bad flanderization. Originally, he was cast as a nervous and lazy protagonist who often fell victim to Hubie and Bertie's tormenting, which already makes him likable and a distinct feline character from Sylvester's roles as an ineffectual comedic villain (or a skittish, resilient anti-hero towards Porky). While Claude's more selfish and despicable side of his personality first debuted in "Two's a Crowd" (his first pairing with Frisky Puppy), however beginning with 1952's "Terrier Stricken" all traces of his original personality as seen in the Hubie and Bertie cartoons are completely gone in favor of being nothing more than a selfish and despicable attention-seeking cat who bullies other animals as demonstrated in "Two's a Crowd" but even worse, hence making his later characterization come off as a weaker clone of Sylvester for the rest of his appearances from 1952-1962.
 * 5) * It also doesn't help the fact that beginning with 1952's "Mouse-Warming" he even stopped speaking completely (except for one line of dialogue at the end of "Feline Frame Up", as mentioned later in BQ #9) in favor of being a silent antagonist, especially when Sylvester himself was even depicted as a silent antagonist in a handful of Friz Freleng-directed cartoons, hence making the Sylvester rip-off vibes in Claude even more obvious.
 * 6) *Speaking of Claude being a selfish and despicable cat bully towards other pets and animals in his later appearances, this antagonistic role of his isn't even an original concept for the Looney Tunes franchise by 1950s standards, as Sylvester himself has already done this role for only once in 1948's "Kit For Cat" (which, in that short, Sylvester bullies an unnamed orange kitten so he can have all of the attention and benefits for himself from his new owner Elmer Fudd), albeit with far better execution than what Claude had in this role.
 * 7) *Due to all these reasons above, this consequently makes the 1952-1962 version of Claude Cat feel completely unrelated from the "Claude Cat" as seen in the Hubie and Bertie shorts despite sharing the same "Claude Cat" name, and his inconsistent character designs (as mentioned in BQ #5) doesn't help.
 * 8) While yes, he is intentionally made to be a despicable and unlikable villain for us to see him get his comeuppance, he just goes way too far with his ruthless actions to the point of being extremely heartless and selfish, almost as bad as those of Daffy Duck during the De-Patie Freleng and Seven-Arts eras. Some good examples of Claude going way too far with his ruthless actions is in "Feline Frame-Up" where he not only kicks Pussyfoot away from the pillow which the kitten sleeps on at the beginning, yet once he successfully gets Pussyfoot's guardian Marc Anthony kicked out of the house by framing him, he openly abuses the defenseless Pussyfoot right in front of the bulldog's eyes!
 * 9) Unlike Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Ralph Wolf, Marvin the Martian, Yosemite Sam, Taz, Henery Hawk, and the aforementioned Sylvester, his villainous and underhanded actions are more mean-spirited than humorous. Even though he's not too much of a Karma Houdini, Claude Cat lacks what makes the beloved characters stated above, to be "love to hate" type of villains that the viewers don't need to necessarily hate to like them and these iconic characters are still lovable as villains who the viewer wants to see defeated for their schemes, which is a certain amount of charm and enjoyability that Claude lacks in, much like the dog from "Chow Hound".
 * 10) Even prior to his post-1951 flanderization, his consistent design from 1949-1954 is very unappealing to look at, as he looks like a yellow clone of Sylvester but with a smaller black nose, a bushier tail, and a maroon-colored haircut. His design was also changed by Chuck Jones in a year or so, making him look pretty inconsistent, with his post-1953 appearances being the worst offenders of such downgraded redesigns, since beginning with "No Barking", he's been heavily redesigned to the point of being unrecognizable and looking even uglier than he was previously.
 * 11) *In 1954's "No Barking", he still looks similar to his "standard" 1949-1954 design complete with a maroon-colored haircut, albeit a lot scrawnier and scruffier, a longer, thinner tail and now has red fur in place of his previous yellow fur.
 * 12) * In 1958's "Cat Feud", he looks a lot scrawnier and scruffier than he did previously, with dark yellow fur and haircut, and his face looking like he had a sex change with a similar but puffier face that resembles Penelope Pussycat.
 * 13) *In 1962's "Louvre Come Back To Me", he looks like a very ugly clone of Pete Puma from 1952's "Rabbit's Kin", albeit with the maroon-colored haircut restored onto his head.
 * 14) Because of his ugly design, he sometimes looks hideous whenever he gets blown up or beaten up most of the time. There was even one time when his eyes went black due to being surprised, despite that Chuck Jones has a good face expressions.
 * 15) *It doesn't help that he often has visible purple rings around and under his eyes, especially whenever he gets blown up or beaten up.
 * 16) Whenever he had the role of being the episode's antagonist, he is generally depicted as a malicious bully who antagonizes other pets and animals so he can be the center of attention in the house, even if he has to be violent, self-serving, and cruel to get what he wants.
 * 17) *In each of his pairings with Frisky Puppy, he easily gets frightened of Frisky Puppy's barking while the pup goes completely unscathed every single time (at least, until when Claude scares Frisky with the former's barking in the ending of 1950's "Two's a Crowd" or when Claude shuts up Frisky at the ending of 1954's "No Barking") hence making him pose almost no threat to Frisky Puppy at all. He does pose as a huge threat to Pussyfoot in both "Feline Frame-Up" and "Cat Feud", though only because Pussyfoot is a baby kitten who is very weak and vulnerable without having her guardian Marc Anthony around, but since he gets beaten up by Marc Anthony each time he abuses Pussyfoot in both cartoons, hence making him no better as a threatening villain than when he antagonized Frisky Puppy.
 * 18) His bumbling antics often cause him to destroy property like his own home or accidentally get himself end up into so many painful situations that are played for comedy even when it gets old, making him a predictable and destructive if well-deserved Butt-Monkey.
 * 19) Whenever he was given a comedic one-liner by Mel Blanc in 1954's "Feline Frame-Up", it sounds like a deleted take for Wile E. Coyote's voice when he had a rivalry with Bugs Bunny. Making his voice very unoriginal since Claude only communicates with stock cat sounds due to being silent (which sounds unfunny whenever he makes real-life cat sounds when he's flailing his limbs on the ground after falling from the sky in "Terrier Stricken"). This is unlike his earlier appearances in the Hubie and Bertie cartoons where he speaks with a Marvin the Martian-esque nasal voice which fits perfectly well for his nervous characterization.
 * 20) After his earlier days as the protagonist and eventually his infamous days as a recurring antagonist, he has become so forgotten as a character that his future appearances are very unremarkable and don't add up to anything else than being a typical bumbling cartoon villain as seen in "Louvre Come Back To Me". Making him a pointless secondary character to be used as an additional villain to be used as a replacement for Sylvester's role as a bungling villain until he was brought back in an episode of HBO Max's Looney Tunes Cartoons.
 * 21) * The biggest proof of how pointless Claude is due to his excessive similarity to Sylvester is when he, Sylvester and Pete Puma are paired together as a trio of comedic antagonists in New Looney Tunes with Claude and Pete Puma depicted as Sylvester's lackeys, where Claude barely contributes anything important to the plot (let alone speaking anything), while Pete Puma, on the other hand, contributes hilarious comic relief by frustrating Sylvester with his stupidity and incompetence. In fact, these New Looney Tunes episodes in question depicting Sylvester, Claude Cat, and Pete Puma as a trio of antagonists to Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, Hubie and Bertie, Sniffles and/or Frisky Puppy could've been written with just Sylvester and Pete Puma as a duo of comedic antagonists with Claude being written out completely and the plots would not even change in the slightest.

Good Qualities

 * 1) He was originally decent in the Hubie and Bertie shorts for example, where the mice are portrayed as mischievous tricksters who often manipulate Claude's mind to go insane, and is depicted as a tolerable comedic antagonist as seen in "Fin 'N Catty", "Roughly Squeaking", "Mouse Wreckers", "Mouse-Warming" and New Looney Tunes.
 * 2) *Despite the inconsistency to his personality, he was depicted as an unlucky, neurotic, and goofy yet empathetic protagonist in the episodes "The Aristo-Cat", "The Hypo-Chondri-Cat" and "Cheese Chasers", which makes him likable and well-written.
 * 3) *In HBO Max's Looney Tunes Cartoons, he is better written as a sympathetic guard-cat who pretty much borrows traits from Tom from Tom and Jerry with being ill-starred and mistreated due to circumstance.
 * 4) *In fact, he is one of the very first Looney Tunes characters created by Chuck Jones which were strictly intended to be funny rather than cute, alongside Charlie Dog, Henery Hawk, Hubie and Bertie, Elmer Fudd, and The Three Bears, despite that Chuck Jones missed the spot for his final appearances due to his aforementioned flanderization as listed above.
 * 5) "Louvre Come Back To Me" is the only time during his antagonistic years 1952-1962 where his antagonisms towards the other characters is somewhat justifiable and therefore don't have him totally flanderized as mean-spirited or cruel compared to his previous roles as the antagonist in the years 1952-1962, since in that short his nemesis Pepe Le Pew isn’t entirely innocent either due to his odor.
 * 6) *In fact, in that short he (known as "Pierre" in that short) was first seen happily dating his love interest Penelope Pussycat in France, only for the amorous Pepe Le Pew to walk pass by them, unknowingly turning them off with the skunk's bad odor, resulting them to unintentionally get separated, with Claude fainting and Penelope getting a white stripe painted on her back and landing on Pepe's lips by accident. Of course, Pepe, mistaking Penelope as a female skunk, falls head-over-heels with her and proceeds to romantically pursue her around the louvre, failing to realize that Penelope herself already has a boyfriend. Claude, realizing that his girlfriend Penelope is already stolen unknowingly by Pepe, decides to fight the amorous skunk for Penelope's affections, only to fail very quickly due to his ineptitude as well as Pepe's bad odor.
 * 7) Despite his flaws, he can be a decently funny character at times.
 * 8) His design in "The Aristo-Cat", "Fin 'N Catty", The Hypo-Chondri-Cat", "Cheese Chasers", and to some extent, "Roughly Squeaking", are easy on the eyes and are passable to look at.
 * 9) He always gets comeuppance for his sinful deeds, so he's not too much of a Karma Houdini.
 * 10) As mentioned above, he's meant to be hated for how despicable and selfish he is.

Videos
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Trivia

 * He bears a striking resemblance to Sylvester in the following episodes "Roughly Squeaking", "Mouse Wreckers", "Two's a Crowd", "Mouse-Warming", "Terrier Stricken", "Feline Frame-Up", "No Barking", as well as in his subsequent appearances after the classic era, including on New Looney Tunes and Looney Tunes Cartoons. Ironically, Claude first debuted in the 1943 film "The Aristo-Cat", exactly two years before Sylvester officially debuted.
 * The name Claude Cat is a pun on the homonym "clawed cat". He also shares the same first name as another one-off Looney Tunes character, Claude Hopper, a Goofy-esque kangaroo who appears only in the 1943 film "Hop and Go" directed by Norm McCabe during the same year Claude officially debuted.
 * One of the versions of Claude Cat was planned to be made as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He appears with other animated characters scared when Casper appears at the funeral.
 * He is the only feline villain who doesn't speak in most of the shorts he appears in compared to cats that are treated as the protagonists.
 * Jones redesigned the neurotic feline for the 1949 film "Mouse Wreckers" (perhaps to distinguish him from Friz Freleng's popular puss, Sylvester). The short is another Hubie and Bertie vehicle, only this time, the antagonist they antagonize is Claude, drawn as he would appear in all future cartoons: yellow, with a red shock of hair and a white belly (his exact markings, however, would vary from cartoon to cartoon).
 * Throughout his animated filmography in the original Looney Tunes shorts, Claude has made the largest number of appearances among all of Chuck Jones' lesser-known Looney Tunes characters, having made a total of 13 cartoons (18 if one considers the unnamed cats in Chuck Jones' "Angel Puss" (1944), "Odor-able Kitty" (1945), "Trap Happy Porky" (1945), and "Fair and Worm-er" (1946) to be Claude Cat) between 1943-1962. The only other lesser-known Chuck Jones' Looney Tunes characters that came close in their number of appearances are Sniffles and Henery Hawk, who both appeared in a total of 12 cartoons each in the original Looney Tunes shorts (though for Henery Hawk's case, Jones only directed three of his cartoons, while the other nine were directed by Robert McKimson).