Marc Antony is a hulking bulldog with a soft center. Gruff and imposing, he is undone by a tiny kitten, Pussyfoot, who climbs onto his back and falls asleep there. From that moment he becomes her devoted, panicked protector, hiding her from his owner and sacrificing his dignity to keep her safe. Chuck Jones built some of his most affectionate cartoons on that contrast between muscle and tenderness.
| Species: | Bulldog |
|---|---|
| First appearance: | Cheese Chasers (1951); paired with Pussyfoot from Feed the Kitty (1952) |
| Created by: | Chuck Jones |
| Original voice: | Mel Blanc |
| Frequent co-stars: | Pussyfoot, Claude Cat |
Marc Antony appeared briefly in Cheese Chasers (1951) before Jones gave him his defining role opposite Pussyfoot in Feed the Kitty (1952). The pair returned in Kiss Me Cat (1953), Feline Frame-Up (1954) and Cat Feud (1958).
Jones described Marc Antony as a basic big bulldog: tough on the outside, marshmallow on the inside. In Feed the Kitty, Pussyfoot walks across his mouth, settles on his back and goes to sleep, and he is lost. The film’s climax, when he believes she has been baked into a cookie, is played for laughs, yet Jones admitted it moved him to tears.
Feed the Kitty marked its 70th anniversary in 2022 with a gallery collection, and the pair remain among the most requested images in the Chuck Jones collection.
“Marc Anthony is your basic big bulldog, but in Feed the Kitty he falls in parental love with a little kitten, in the way any of us might fall for a cat or another small animal. We all have visual patterns and expectations of things, and cartoon bulldogs are almost invariably big, powerful bullies. Marc Anthony is behaving true to this stereotype when we first see him.
He is chasing a kitten, who is supposed to run away, but this one walks right across his gaping mouth and teeth in the middle of a growl–the most dangerous place of all, it would seem–and climbs blithely up on his back, curls up, and purrs himself to sleep, provoking Marc Anthony’s surprise and, curiously, tenderness. This smitten dog sweetly accepts the unusual role of the defenseless kitten’s protector. He is so touching in that role that I fell in love with him. Toward the end of the picture he believes that his kitten has been baked as a cookie and almost collapses with grief. His mistress, misunderstanding his sorrow, hands him a cookie to cheer him up.
Marc Anthony takes it and puts it carefully on his back where the kitten used to sleep. We knew the kitten wasn’t gone, but the dog didn’t, and that was what the scene–and the direction–were all about. Fool that I am, I feel tears slipping into my eyes every time I see that scene, or even just think about it. I didn’t intend the scene to work that way at all: I thought the situation was comic, but I found that I shared a true sense of sorrow with the dog.”
– Chuck Jones, Chuck Reducks (1996)
Every piece in our Marc Antony collection is certified by the Chuck Jones family. Browse originals, limited editions and prints below, or contact our art consultants with any questions.
