Professor Tom (1948)

 

When watching the Tom and Jerry films, what really stands out is just how many variations the filmmakers were able to come up on a simple formula. Though nearly all of these cartoons revolved around a cat chasing a mouse, most of them come up with fun little twists. This is one of the reasons you can watch quite a few Tom and Jerry short films back-to-back without them becoming too repetitive. The same cannot be said of some other theatrical cartoon series and this is part of what makes Tom and Jerry truly special. 

In this short film Tom is teaching a smaller cat (who is known by many Tom and Jerry fans as Topsy) the art of catching a mouse. Jerry however does his best to persuade the smaller cat that cats and mice should be friends. And no matter how hard Tom tries to teach this smaller cat to catch Jerry, the smaller cat simply doesn't get the idea and is more interested in being buddies with the mouse. 

This is a very fun cartoon. The relationship between Tom and Topsy is perfect. While this film is full of good slapstick gags, the best humor comes from the smaller cat's complete obliviousness to what Tom is trying to teach him and Tom's frustration at this. One of the best jokes comes from Tom being unable to communicate to hit Jerry with the vase and being hit by the vase himself. What makes this scene so funny is the character animation on the smaller cat as he is trying to figure this out. Another joke that works brilliantly due to the character animation is Topsy being stuck between a couch and a table. What makes this gag so funny is that Topsy, obliviously keeps running (without moving anywhere) until Jerry pulls him out. The pure oblivious determination on his face is truly hilarious. Also adding to the fun of this film is the character animation on Tom whenever Topsy and Jerry act as best friends. His frustration at this is not only funny but it makes him feel more real to us because we have all felt the same frustration when trying to communicate something, when the other person simply doesn't get it. The scenes between Topsy and Jerry may be very cutesy for Tom and Jerry, but it works very well, because it fits the characters and the story perfectly. Plus, how this cutesy animation meshes with the more violent gags only makes the gags funnier. 

Roles would be reversed in a later short, Little School Mouse (1954), where Jerry would try to teach another mouse how to fight against a cat with similar results. The storyline for Professor Tom would be used again in the Hanna-Barbera TV Pixie and Dixie cartoon, Jinks Junior (1958). In that cartoon Mr. Jinks is teaching his son how to catch "meeces," but his son is more interested in being friends with Pixie and Dixie. Animation from Professor Tom would be reused in the later Tom and Jerry short, Matinee Mouse (1966). 

This cartoon would be reissued to movie theaters in 1956 and again in 1965. The credited animators were Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge. 

Below is the movie poster for this film. It is not great, but it is better than many of these posters.