Tom & Jerry

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الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

"Reciting Salawath on our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is an activity that will be accepted by Allah, even if we don't have Ikhlas (piety)".

Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry is an Academy Award-winning animated cartoon series of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatrical short subjects created, written and directed by animators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. One hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced by the MGM cartoon studio in Hollywood from 1940 until 1957, when the animation unit was closed down. These shorts are notable for having won seven Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), tieing it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the most-awarded theatrical animated series. It is widely considered one of the best animated cartoon series ever.

MGM Screening Room

Plot and format

The plots of each short usually center on Tom's frustrated attempts to catch Jerry, and the mayhem and destruction that ensues. Since Tom rarely attempts to eat Jerry and because the pair actually seem to get along in some cartoon shorts (at least in the first minute or so), it is unclear why Tom chases Jerry so much. But some reasons given may include normal feline/mouse enmity, duty according to his owner, Jerry's attempt at ruining a task that Tom is entrusted with, revenge, Jerry saving other potential prey (such as ducks, canaries, or goldfish) from being eaten by Tom, or competition with another cat, among other reasons.

Tom rarely succeeds in catching Jerry, mainly because of Jerry's craftiness and cunning abilities, but sometimes because of Tom's own stupidity. Tom sometimes beats Jerry, usually when Jerry becomes the instigator or when he crosses some sort of line.

The shorts are famous for some of the most violent gags ever devised in theatrical animation: Jerry slicing Tom in half, shutting his head in a window or a door, Tom using everything from axes, pistols, explosives, traps and poison to try to murder Jerry, Jerry stuffing Tom's tail in a waffle iron, kicking him into a refrigerator, plugging his tail into an electric socket, pounding him with a mace, club or mallet, causing a tree to drive him into the ground and so on. Despite the frequent violence, there is no blood or gore in any scenes. A recurring gag involves Jerry hitting Tom when he's preoccupied, with Tom initially oblivious to the pain - and only feeling the effects moments later, and vice versa; and another involves Jerry stopping Tom in midchase (as if calling for a time-out), before he does something, usually putting the hurt on Tom.

The cartoon is also noteworthy for its reliance on stereotypes, such as the blackening of characters following explosions and the use of heavy and enlarged shadows (e.g., Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse). Resemblance to everyday objects and occurrences is arguably the main appeal of visual humor in the series. The characters themselves regularly transform into ridiculous but strongly associative shapes, most of the time involuntarily, in masked but gruesome ways

Music plays a very important part in the shorts, emphasizing the action, filling in for traditional sound effects, and lending emotion to the scenes. Musical director Scott Bradley created complex scores that combined elements of jazz, classical, and pop music; Bradley often reprised contemporary pop songs, as well as songs from MGM films, including The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me In St. Louis. Generally, there is no dialog from Tom or Jerry, apart from an occasional gasping scream, which may be provided by a horn or other musical instrument.

Before 1954, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in the standard Academy ratio and format; from late 1954 to 1955, some of the output was dually produced in both Academy format and the widescreen Cinemascope process. From 1956 until the close of the MGM cartoon studio a year later, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in Cinemascope, some even had their soundtracks recorded in Perspecta Stereo. The 1960s Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones shorts were all produced in Academy format, but with compositions that made them compatible to be matted to Academy widescreen format as well. All of the Hanna and Barbera cartoons were produced in three-strip Technicolor; the 1960s entries were done in Metrocolor.

Characters

Tom and Jerry

Tom is a bluish-grey cat, depending on the short (Tom's fur color is close to that of the Russian Blue breed of cats), who lives a pampered life, while Jerry is a small brown mouse who always lives in proximity to him. Tom is very quick-tempered and thin-skinned, while Jerry is independent and opportunistic. Despite being very energetic and determined, Tom is no match for Jerry's brains and wits. By the iris-out of each cartoon, Jerry usually emerges triumphant, while Tom is shown as the loser. However, other results may be reached; on rare occasions, Tom triumphs. Sometimes, usually ironically, they both lose or they both end up being friends. Both characters display sadistic tendencies, in that they are equally likely to take pleasure in tormenting each other. However, depending on the cartoon, whenever one character appears to be in mortal danger (in a dangerous situation or by an enemy), the other will develop a conscience and save him. Sometimes they bond over a mutual sentiment towards an unpleasant experience.

Although many supporting and minor characters speak, Tom and Jerry rarely do so. Tom, most famously, sings while wooing female cats; for example, Tom sings Louis Jordan's Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby in the 1946 short Solid Serenade. In one episode, Tom, when romancing a female cat, woos her in a French-accented voice similar to that of screen actor Charles Boyer. Co-director William Hanna provided most of the squeaks, gasps, and other vocal effects for the pair, including the most famous sound effect from the series, Tom's leather-lunged scream (created by recording Hanna's scream and eliminating the beginning and ending of the recording, leaving only the strongest part of the scream on the soundtrack). The only other reasonably common vocalization is made by Tom when some external reference claims a certain scenario or eventuality to be impossible, which inevitably, ironically happens to thwart Tom's plans - at which point, a bedraggled and battered Tom appears and says in a haunting, echoing voice "Don't you believe it!", a reference to some famous World War II propaganda shorts of the 1940's. One short, 1956's Blue Cat Blues, is narrated by Jerry in voiceover (voiced by Paul Frees). Also, the episode The Lonesome Mouse (1943) has significant bits of talk, with Jerry muttering, "Why, that dirty, double-crossin, good-for-nothin, two timin..." in the end.

Recurring characters

In his attempts to catch Jerry, Tom often has to deal with the intrusions of Butch, a scruffy black alley cat who also wants to catch and eat Jerry, Spike (sometimes billed as "Killer" or "Butch"), an angry, vicious guard bulldog who tries to attack Tom for bothering his son Tyke while trying to get Jerry. In all of his speaking roles, he has a New York-style accent. Tom changes his love interest many times. The first love interest speaks in a haughty tone in The Zoot Cat, and calls him "Tommy" in The Mouse Comes to Dinner. The second and frequent love interest of Tom's is Toodles Galore, who never has any dialogue in Tom and Jerry cartoons.

From the beginning (the first episode), Tom also has to deal with Mammy Two Shoes (voiced by Lillian Randolph), a stereotyped African-American domestic housemaid who also appears to be the owner of the house in which Tom resides because of her actions such as inviting people over for dinner. Her face is never seen (with the exception of Saturday Evening Puss, in which her face is very briefly seen as she's rushing home from her bridge game in a huff, after being informed over the phone by Jerry of Tom and several other cats throwing a wild party in her absence), and she usually wallops the cat with a broom when he misbehaves. When Mammy was not present, sometimes there would be with other humans, but most never had their faces shown either. In Posse Cat, the cook's face was not shown until the very end, where he was chasing Tom firing his guns, but his head was turned away from the viewer's point, but it's revealed that he was wearing a chef's hat. In the episode Cruise Cat, where Tom was an assistant, the captain's face was never shown. All other times that other humans appeared their faces were usually in a shadow. In The Bodyguard, an animal catcher's face was shown in a shadow in the end, who had captured Spike in the back of his truck. The viewer sees it, but is not able to clearly view the features of the face. Mammy would appear in many cartoons until 1952's Push-Button Kitty; later cartoons would instead show Tom and Jerry living with a 1950s Yuppie-style couple: a tall, lanky man with glasses, and a doting housewife with black hair (voiced by June Foray). Soon after, virtually all humans in the cartoons had visible faces. There is also Jeannie, the babysitter who does nothing but use the telephone once the couple leaves the house, leaving Tom and Jerry to look after a hyperactive baby who crawls out of his crib into dangerous places, but they are scolded for "messing with the baby."

Jerry adopted a little gray mouse foundling named Nibbles (also later known as Tuffy), coming from a certain "Mrs. Bide-a-Wee Mouse Home." In the years of Nibbles' debut, he is depicted as a constantly hungry little mouse (as told by Mrs. Bide-a-Wee Mouse Home herself, and his open-mouth-pointing, lip-licking, lip-smacking, tummy-rubbing gesture). In later years Nibbles got rid of his hungry personality and was given a voice, but usually in a foreign language in keeping with the theme and setting of the short (if it's English, it's usually in a British accent). During the 1950s, Spike is shown to have a son of his own named Tyke; an addition that led to both a slight softening of Spike's character (that of a proud father and his son) and a short-lived spin-off theatrical series (Spike and Tyke). Spike spoke occasionally, using a voice and expressions modeled after comedian Jimmy Durante. Another recurring character in the series was Quacker the duckling, who was later, adapted into the Hanna-Barbera character Yakky Doodle.

Filmography

Notable shorts

For a full list of theatrical Tom & Jerry cartoon shorts, see List of Tom and Jerry cartoons.

The following cartoons won the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Short Subject: Cartoons:

1943: The Yankee Doodle Mouse

1944: Mouse Trouble

1945: Quiet Please!

1946: The Cat Concerto

1948: The Little Orphan

1951: The Two Mouseketeers

1952: Johann Mouse

These cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, but did not win:

1940: Puss Gets the Boot

1941: The Night Before Christmas

1947: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse

1949: Hatch Up Your Troubles

1950: Jerry's Cousin

1954: Touché, Pussy Cat!

These cartoons were nominated for the Annie Award in the Individual Achievements Category: Character Animation, but did not win:

1946: Springtime for Thomas

1955: That's My Mommy

1956: Muscle Beach Tom

2005: The KarateGuard

Television shows

The Tom and Jerry Show (ABC, 1975–1977)

The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (CBS, 1980–1982)

Tom and Jerry Kids (FOX, 1990–1993)

Tom and Jerry Tales (The WB/The CW, 2006–present)

Television specials

Tom and Jerry: The Mansion Cat (Cartoon Network, 2000)

Theatrical films

Tom and Jerry: The Movie (Miramax/Live Entertainment/Film Roman/WMG, 1993)

Direct-to-video films

Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (Warner Home Video, 2001)

Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars (Warner Home Video, 2005)

Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry (Warner Home Video, 2005)

Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers (Warner Home Video, 2006)

Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale (Warner Home Video, 2007)

Scene from the Movie Tom & Jerry

Two Cuties Watching the Tom & Jerry