John Dilworth Brings Back ‘The Dirdy Birdy’
John Dilworth, creator of the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog, has debuted a new version of his cult ’90s short The Dirdy Birdy. Watch it below:
Dilworth restored the short last year for the film’s twentieth anniversary. The new version, The Dirdy Birdy Redux, adds 50 seconds of previously-unseen footage that sheds new light on the Dirdy Birdy’s unique manner of expressing affection for his cat pal, Furgerina. Dilworth created the scenes during the production of the original short, but decided to cut them out of the story the first time around. The 1994 version is available here for those who wish to compare the films.
The original version of The Dirdy Birdy was, according to Dilworth’s online biography, his “breakout film.” The film screened at dozens of film festivals and toured extensively with Spike & Mike’s touring animation shows. A year later, Dilworth produced the Hanna-Barbera short The Chicken from Outer Space, which introduced Courage, Muriel, and Eustace, and soon led to a TV series that lasted for four seasons.
Dilworth is using Dirdy Birdy Redux to promote a crowdfunding effort for a brand-new Dirdy Birdy short called A Night at Club Sheik in which Purdy and Furgerina go on a date to a dance club. He explains the idea in this video:
