Flirty Birdy (1945)

 

Like pervious shorts in this series, this film pits Tom up against an opponent for capturing Jerry. However, unlike those previous shorts, Tom's opponent here is not another cat but an eagle. Like Tom this eagle is also interested in eating Jerry. As this film starts Tom captures Jerry between two slices of bread. However, before he can eat the mouse, an eagle swoops down and steals Tom's mouse sandwich. This causes a big fight between Tom and the Eagle over Jerry. Eventually though Tom comes upon the idea to disguise himself as a female eagle to capture Jerry back. However, the eagle gets too excited by this, and it causes Tom more trouble than he expected. 

This film often tends to get overlooked among many other Tom and Jerry cartoons of this time period. In a way this is understandable because during this period the Tom and Jerry series was turning out gem after gem. If this cartoon does not measure up to the others of this time period, that is only a testament to how great the other films of this period are. This may not be the best Tom and Jerry cartoon of this period but it is a perfectly solid film. This film has some very good gags. It may not be great gag after great gag, the way the best Tom and Jerry shorts are but the great gags are fantastic. The best of which include the eagle trying to kiss Tom. He misses and completely destroys what he ends up kissing with the strength of his beak. These gags are very over the top, yet they are done in a completely unassuming manner (there are no big takes or even characters reacting to these gags) and that just makes them all the funnier. This film also moves by at a very fast speed that keeps the comic momentum going through the full cartoon and never lets up. This makes it a cartoon that is hard not to enjoy. The eagle is also a very fun character and a perfect foil to Tom. The mixture of viciousness and goofiness is simply wonderful and a lot of fun.

The eagle would later appear in an episode of TV's Tom and Jerry Tales called Bend It Like Thomas (2007). He would also be an unlockable character in the 2003 video game, Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers. This film would essentially be remade as an episode of TV's Tom and Jerry Kids entitled Hawkeye Tom (1993). 

The credited animators on this film would be Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson, all of whom had worked on previous Tom and Jerry cartoons. 

Below are some posters for the cartoon when it originally came to movie theaters. Notice how on the first one, the eagle and Tom have switched their color schemes. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Tee for Two (1945)

 

After the departure from the already set in place formula with the previous short, this film returns Tom and Jerry back to what they are best known for. This is of course beating each other up in violently over the top ways. This film places the action on the golf course. Tom is having a rough day of golf as he is swinging at the ball and continuously missing it and getting more and more frustrated at this (this scene was animated by Irv Spence and historian Devon Baxter has observed that perhaps this is autobiographical as Irv Spence loved golf and in his self-caricatures often depicted himself getting very frustrated when he played poorly). After many shots he finally gets the ball in the hole, only to find it being thrown out. Tom soon finds out that this happened because Jerry is living in the hole. Tom being the poor sport he is does not take kindly to this and gets his revenge by using Jerry as a golf tee. Jerry gets tired of this, and a big golf course fight occurs between the two. 

This cartoon shows Tom and Jerry at their best. Every gag simply works perfectly. In fact, the film is funny before our main characters even show up. The short opens with a pan of a golf course that has been completely mangled by Tom's incompetence at the sport. As soon as we see Tom on screen, we already are laughing because we have all had days like this (even if we don't play golf). The film only gets funnier when Jerry appears. Often times in these shorts we find ourselves rooting for either Tom or Jerry, but here, we sympathize and relate to both of them. We have all had bad days like Tom and when someone makes our day even worse, we all want to react exactly like Tom does. On the other hand, we all would want to react like Jerry if someone did to us what Tom does to him. This relatability makes this film all the funnier. It doesn't hurt that not only are the gags and set up well done, but the execution is darn near perfect. William Hanna has by this time become a true master of timing and though this is a fast-moving cartoon, the timing never feels off even for one gag. The sheer energy of the timing is matched by Scott Bradley's wonderfully energetic and fun score. The animation is simply wonderful here. Every bit of animation perfectly captures what these characters are thinking at any given moment in this dialogue-less short. The animation is also completely over the top and the loudest laughs come not for the violence but from the pure cartoony-ness of their reactions to said violence. 

It is no secret that by the time this film was made each of the Tom and Jerry animators have really come into their own. I have already mentioned Irv Spence's wonderful animation of the opening scene. It is simply wonderful how perfect the transition from pure anger to sheer joy when he finally hits the ball. Ken Muse accomplishes the exact reverse in the following scene when Tom has a sheer look of pride on his face as the ball is about to go into the hole. This transitions to look of shock as the ball comes out of the hole to a look of determination as he tries to get it back in there to a look for sheer anger when the ball comes out of the hole again. This is simply character animation at its finest. Ken Muse gets to continue his fine character animation as well as some good cartoon-y gags as Tom and Jerry first meet. His animation of Jerry after being hit by the ball, sells the joke perfectly. Pete Burness then takes the animation over as Tom uses Jerry as a tee and washes him in the ball cleaner. What is interesting about these scenes is that there is a bit where Tom hits the ball and it comes back at him. The parts involving Tom and Jerry are animated by Burness while the ball flying and hitting the rock is animated by Al Grandmain. The animation goes directly back to Burness when we cut back to Tom. Ray Patterson gets one of the best moments of character animation here. After animating Tom's fight with a woodpecker and him hitting the ball after it goes on Jerry's head, he animates a great little bit where Tom cheats by pushing the ball and Jerry into the hole and then writes down his score. Before Tom pushes the ball and Jerry into the hole, he takes a long look around to make sure that no one is watching him. As he pushes Jerry into the hole he has a look of nonchalant innocence of child thinking he has gotten away with something. He keeps this look on his face for a little bit after wards before it turns into a look of sheer happiness when he is about to write his score down, this soon turns into a commentative look of him taking some time to think with about what score to give himself. As soon as he decides what score to give himself a look of pride goes on his face. When Jerry shames Tom for cheating the cat has a look of a little kid who has just been caught being bad. In this short time, Ray Patterson, through his animation, perfectly captures just who Tom is and what his personality is. One of my favorite moments in this cartoon is the gag sequence involving the bees. What makes this moment so funny is not the gag itself which is regular cartoon stuff, but the final moment with the very cartoon-y and over the top reaction by Tom, animated perfectly by Ken Muse. 

This film is about as good as a slapstick cartoon can get. 

Resources Used

Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/tom-jerry-in-tee-for-two-1945/

Mouse in Manhattan (1945)

 

Mouse in Manhattan stands as one of the most unique Tom and Jerry films. Part of the reason for this is that it is not really a Tom and Jerry film but for the most part a solo outing for Jerry. Tom only appears very briefly and doesn't really do anything when he is on screen. The story follows Jerry as he decides that he is fed up with country living. He leaves Tom a goodbye note and heads out for the city. At first the city seems to be all he dreamed it would be, but then he discovers it is much more dangerous than he thought. This storyline is perhaps inspired by the Aesop's Fable, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, but with only the country mouse (played by Jerry). 

This cartoon is far from one of the funniest or wackiest Tom and Jerry cartoons and to be fair there are very few laughs to be found here. However it makes more than up for this with pure charm. Even if there are not many laughs here, there is still a whole lot to enjoy. The animation is truly excellent. Even if Jerry never speaks a word here (in fact there is no dialogue at all in this cartoon), we can always tell exactly what he is thinking. Perhaps even more so than any cartoon before this, the character feels like a real living, breathing and thinking being. This also allows us to experience the big city perfectly from his point of view, from the wonders to the terrors. It is appropriate that his first (mostly) solo effort, so perfectly captures and conveys who this character in fact is. This film also benefits from wonderful background art and an incredible score by Scott Bradley. The background art perfectly captures just what makes everything that makes the big city so appealing to Jerry and much of it is simply beautiful to look at. I am a big fan of Scott Bradley's scores, but his score for this film may be one of his best. This is a lush and beautiful score that perfectly captures the awe and wonder Jerry feels when he first reaches the big city.  He incorporates a beautiful number called Manhattan Serenade (written by Louis Alter (with lyrics by Howard Johnson) in 1928). This number has also been used in other films as well including the feature length movies, My Man Godfrey (1936), Broadway Rhythm (1944), The Godfather (1972) and Vertigo (1958). It is used to especially great effect in this short film and really enhances this cartoon greatly. 

This film was the first Tom and Jerry cartoon released to feature an animation credit for Ed Barge. He would become a regular animator on the Tom and Jerry films. Like many animators who worked on Tom and Jerry, he would later work for William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at their own cartoon studio, Hanna-Barbera. The other credited animators on this film include Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson. 

Notice that when Jerry passes a movie theater, the marquee says, "Now Playing! A Tom & Jerry Cartoon!" Also there is a little anination error when Jerry dances with the dolls as one of them changes the color of her hair when Jerry dances with her. There is brief blackface scene in this film that is cut out of any airings on Cartoon Network or Boomerang. 

The following is an exhibitor's review from Motion Picture Herald. " MOUSE IN MANHATTAN: Technicolor Cartoons— Another good cartoon in a good series. This pleased everyone here. Thomas D. Lorenzo, New Paltz Theatre, New Platz, N.Y." 

The Mouse Comes to Dinner (1945)

 

This film continues the strong winning streak that the Tom and Jerry cartoons were on at this time.

This cartoon marked the second (after Puss N' Toots  (1942)) and last full appearance (not counting a clip from this film used in a later short) of Tom's girlfriend, Toots in a theatrical cartoon short, though she would become a reoccurring character on TV's The Tom and Jerry Show (which premiered in 2014). Her design her looks a little older than the one used in Puss N' Toots and that was the design that would later be used on The Tom and Jerry Show. In this film Tom invites Toots over to dinner, specifically a dinner that Tom's owner has prepared without Tom in mind. At this dinner Tom makes Jerry carry food back and forth and further do the work of a servant. When Jerry gets tired of this he decides to do everything he can to ruin the dinner for Tom. 

This is simply a wonderful cartoon. Already by this point, the storyline was nothing new for this series. Yet when the film is so full of energy that you hardly notice this. The film moves at an incredibly fast pace, giving us gag after gag. As soon as you stop laughing at one gag another one comes right after. What is more important is that so many of these gags are truly funny. While the gags may be violent they are presented with such a fun and irresistible energy that they come off as funny instead of gruesome. The pacing on these gags is perfect with giving us a clear set up followed directly by a gag. While the set up often tells us exactly what will happen next the fast pace and the over-the-top reactions make each joke come off as very funny. Each of these gags is made funnier by the character animation and especially the facial expressions. The scene where Tom hits Jerry with a spoon should only be a mildly amusing gag, but the character animation and the look on Jerry's face make it truly hilarious. There is no doubt that Bill Hanna's timing on this gag is also simply perfect. This film becomes a perfectly good example of just how much the execution of a gag can be funnier than the gag itself. Adding to the fun is Scott Bradley's music, which is simply perfect here and helps this film have a truly wonderful energy to it. 

The credited animators on this cartoon are Pete Burness, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson, all of whom were regulars on the Tom and Jerry series.