Casanova Cat (1951)

 

The first Tom and Jerry cartoon of 1951 is a gem that deserves to be more widely seen. 

In this short film, Tom is courting the lovely girl cat, Toodles. He brings her flowers and a pet mouse (Jerry). After Tom makes Jerry do various tricks for Toodles, the mouse decides to get revenge. Jerry writes a love letter to Butch (the black cat who appears in many of these cartoons) and signs it Toodles. When Butch comes up to Toodles' place, Tom and Butch fight over the lovely girl cat. 

This is a wonderful short. Tom and Butch fighting over a girl may have been done before and since, but this film makes the premise feel new and fresh. Every gag here is excellent. The gag with the flagpole is especially excellent. Though it may not be an original gag, the delivery of it is simply perfect. It moves at a fast pace that doesn't give you too much time to anticipate the gag but not too fast to where it loses its effect. The character animation on Butch in this scene is simply perfect as the pure confidence as he gives a suave smile makes the punch line even funnier. Speaking of character animation, the early scenes with Tom, Jerry and Toodles are also excellent. Without a single word these characters perfectly display all we need to know about them. We can see Tom's infatuation with Toodles and how hard he is working to impress her. We can see Jerry's growing frustration with Tom. We can also see Toodles being charmed by Tom's flirtations. With this the story and characters are set up quickly and effectively, allowing the film to spend the rest of its run time on slapstick gags. This shows how well William Hanna and Joseph Barbera understood not only slapstick comedy but also filmmaking. 

The reason this cartoon is so little seen today is because of a brief scene where Tom makes Jerry dance in blackface. This scene has kept the film from appearing on the Tom and Jerry Spotlight DVDs. However, the film has appeared occasional on the TV channels ME-TV and Boomerang with this scene edited out. It is unfortunate that this one gag has kept one of the great Tom and Jerry cartoons from being better known. 

The credited animators on this film are Irven Spence, Ray Patterson, Ed Barge and Kenneth Muse. This cartoon would be reissued to movie theaters in 1958. 

This is the final theatrical cartoon for Tom's girlfriend Toodles. However of clips her cartoons (including her) are reused in the cheater shorts, Smitten Kitten (1952) and Smarty Cat (1955). The Tom and Jerry Wiki lists her as being the same female cat in the Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry cartoon, Love Me, Love My Mouse (1966), but I personally disagree. Later she would have cameos in the direct to video movies, Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz (2016) and Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2017). She would also appear in episodes of the TV shows, Tom and Jerry Tales, The Tom and Jerry Show (the 2014 version) and Tom and Jerry in New York as well as the video games Tom and Jerry in House Trap, Tom and Jerry Infurnal Escape, Tom and Jerry Tales and Tom and Jerry Chase. 

Motion Picture Daily, 1951


Below is the movie poster for this film. Tom doesn't look too bad, but Jerry looks awful. 

Cue Ball Cat (1950)

 

The first year of the 1950's showed Tom and Jerry films still at the consistant high quality that they had maintianed in the 1940's. The duo's last cartoon of 1950, surely continued this trend. 

This short film, like all the best Tom and Jerry cartoons, has a very simple storyline. Jerry is sleeping under a pool table. When Tom unknowingly hits him with a pool ball, a big fight begins between the two. 

This is an excellent cartoon. Out of this very simple premise, the filmmakers were able to get a true wealth of gags. Not only are the gags here very funny, but they are also very clever. In fact, this film might have some of the cleverest Tom and Jerry gags ever. A lot of these clever gags revolve around the use of objects around the pool hall. These is especially true for how the cue balls take on a life of their own. Tom's impossible tricks with the cue balls are just the beginning of these great gags. I love how the group of cue balls follow Jerry like a train, a gag that becomes even funnier with the use of train sound effects. I also love that these cue balls after wards form almost into a body sticking out of one of the holes, and that the number in the center of the top one turns into to eyes to give Jerry a mean look. As well as these gags this cartoon is also loaded with the violent slapstick one associates with Tom and Jerry. Once again, these violent gags work so well not because of the gags themselves but because of the delivery. William Hanna's timing and the character animation are both pitch perfect here and can make even the weakest gags work. I also love how this is a pure Tom and Jerry cartoon. There are no side characters and not dialogue. Instead all we have is Tom and Jerry and a wealth of slapstick gags. Often that is simply all you need. 

The credited animators on this film are Irven Spence, Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson. The cartoon was reissued to movie theaters in 1956. 

A clip from this cartoon is seen in the horror movie, Night of the Lepus (1972), where it can be seen on the screen at a dive in movie theater. Clips were also used in a 

Below is the movie poster for this film. I love the goofy look on Tom's face. 

Still the movie poster looks better than the cover for this Walton Super 8 release. Walton Super 8s were a series of films released for home viewing before home video. Besides Tom and Jerry, this London based company released many films starring Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. 

The Framed Cat (1950)

 

The Framed Cat is an underrated gem of the Tom and Jerry series. 

In this short film, Tom steals a piece of chicken and frames Jerry for eating it. To get revenge Jerry frames Tom for stealing Spike the bulldog's bone. 

This is a pure delight of a cartoon. Everything about this film works perfectly. It does just what a great 7-minute short should. That is to take a very simple story and tell it in the most entertaining way possible. That is definitely the case here as there is not one dull moment. I feel that anyone who is interested in becoming an animator should study the Tom and Jerry films and this is a perfect example of why. These characters perfectly express themselves and everything going on in their mind with minimal dialogue. There are many moments of great character animation here, but the highlight is the scene with the magnet and the bone. This is not only the funniest part of a film full of great gags but it also an example of character animation at its finest. What is so funny about this scene is not the gag itself, but the character animation. Tom's complete confusion as to why the bone keeps coming back to him and Spike's growing frustration are what make this scene funny. The timing on this scene is also perfect. During this time period William Hanna's sense of comedic timing was at its peak. The magnet making Tom turn around every time Spike moves the bone is a hilarious gag that would have fallen flat without great timing. 

In this film, Spike is missing white part on his chest, which appears in every other cartoon with the character. Instead in this film his whole body below his head is entirely gray. This is also a rare cartoon where Tom and Spike live in the same house. 

The credited animators on this cartoon are Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ray Patterson.

Below is the movie poster for this film. It is definitely better looking than many of the earlier movie posters for these cartoons. 

The Hollywood Bowl (1950)

 

In the vein of The Cat Concerto (1947) before it, this film once again features Tom trying to put on a concert and Jerry wanting to be a part of it. Tom has a big concert at the Hollywood Bowl as the conductor. Jerry wants to conduct alongside Tom, but Tom does not take to kindly to this. Tom tries his best to get Jerry out of his way, but the mouse proves to be incredibly stubborn. 

This is a delightful cartoon. While it may be similar to The Cat Concerto, it never copies the previous cartoon, not even to use one of the same gags. While this may not be the funniest Tom and Jerry short, the humor is still a lot of fun. The gags here mostly make one smile rather than laugh out loud but there is no problem with that. The one exception to that though is the climactic scene where members of Tom's orchestra start disappearing. The climax is truly hilarious. The character animation here is simply wonderful. Once again these characters come to life in a way even most live action movie characters don't. This is a completely dialogue less short but just from how they move and their facial expressions, we know everything about who these characters are and what they are thinking. The scenes with both of them conducting are character animation at its best. 

IMDB's trivia section states, "One of the very few times composer Scott Bradley used the full MGM Orchestra for the soundtrack, since the subject demanded it. He typically scored the MGM cartoons for a 20-piece ensemble, claiming 'You don't need more than 20 players for cartoon music.'" While it is important not to take anything IMDB says as absolute fact, this film definitely a larger and more orchestral score than the average Tom and Jerry cartoon. All the music Scott Bradley did for the Tom and Jerry films was fantastic but this short truly is a standout in this respect. The music here (including some great classical pieces) is simply wonderful. 

The credited animators on this cartoon are Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Ray Patterson and Irven Spence. 

In the original release of this cartoon the opening titles were superimposed over a starry blue sky. However in the reissue the opening titles were over a simple blue background. Most TV airings of this film feature the reissue opening. 

Original 

Reissue

Below is the movie poster for this film. While not perfect, it is a great deal better than most of the MGM cartoon posters of this time.