Tom and Jerry: Toon by Toon: His Mouse Friday (1951)

Saturday, May 25, 2024

His Mouse Friday (1951)

Though you will never see this cartoon on Boomerang or METV, there is a lot to enjoy about it.

In this short film, Tom finds himself adrift out at sea. When Tom arrives on an island, he sees tries to find food. This is when he spots Jerry and decides he would make a great snack. Jerry disguises himself in blackface so that Tom will think he is a cannibal and be afraid and go away.

Just looking at the plot description above it is easy to understand why this film is not shown on TV today. The racial stereotypes are simply no longer considered to be appropriate for any children watching TV today. The film though is available on DVD appearing on the DVD set Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3. There is a very strange bit of censoring here. In the final scene (slight spoilers) a small native pokes Jerry with an arrow and states, "Mmmm... barbecued mouse!" In this censored version (using a zoom and a pan), the small native is kept offscreen, yet we can still here his dialogue. However, when we see the large natives that corner Tom as well as Jerry in blackface, it becomes hard to understand, what this small bit of censorship actually accomplishes.

Though this film may not be politically correct there is a lot to enjoy here for Tom and Jerry fans. The slapstick in the early scenes is hilarious. This is especially true of Tom's attempts to get food before he spots Jerry. The gag with the coconut is especially funny due to how perfect William Hanna's timing at this time was. Though very impolitically correct hearing the deep voice come out of Jerry as he is in blackface, took me by surprise the first time I saw this and made me laugh out loud. Tom's imitation of Jerry later is equally funny.

Unfortunately, though this film has some great gags, there are less gags as a whole than other Tom and Jerry shorts of this era. The ending is also too predictable and not as funny as it should be. Yet neither of these flaws keep this from being a fun cartoon.

The credited animators are Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence, Ray Patterson and Ed Barge. The film would be reissued into theaters in 1958 and again in 1964.

Heard on the soundtrack is a song called Chloe (Song of the Swamp). This song was written by Neil Moret and Gus Kahn in 1927 and was very popular with jazz and swing musicians. This song had been recorded by a large number of artists including the All-Star Orchestra, Tracy Brown Orchestra, The Colonial Club Orchestra, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Guy Lombardo and The Ravens. However, the most famous version of this song is a 1945 parody version by Spike Jones and His City Slickers (which he performed in the feature film, Bring on the Girls (1945)). Below you can listen to Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of this song as well as Spike Jones' parody version.