Pet Peeve (1954)

 

Though you may not be able to tell at first glance, Pet Peeve is a very important film in Tom and Jerry's filmography. This marked the first Tom and Jerry short to be released in Cinemascope. Cinemascope was a widescreen process that gave movie goers a larger picture unlike they had seen before. This was one of ways that cinema would try to compete with the new popularity of television. Because of the Tom and Jerry cartoons being created as short films for theaters, they also began to be made in Cinemascope. 23 Tom and Jerry cartoons were made in Cinemascope. Some exciting news for Tom and Jerry fans is that next year a Blu-ray set of all 23 of these films will be released. It will be entitled TOM AND JERRY: The Complete CinemaScope Collection and will be available on February 11th, 2025. For more information about Cinemascope, I recommend watching the video below. 

This film also introduces two new characters, George and Joan. This suburban married couple had replaced the black stereotyped character (often referred to as Mammy Two Shoes) as Tom's owner (in this short they are also Spike's owner). This change represented the changing times between the early Tom and Jerry shorts of the 1940's and these 50's cartoons. This is not only seen by no longer having a racial stereotype as a main character, but also by having the replacement be a suburban couple. Due to a changing America, cartoons of this era were gaining a much more suburban feel to them. Even the Disney characters who had been very much country-based characters in the 1930's cartoons had by this time become full suburbanites. George and Joan would appear in a total of eight Tom and Jerry shorts (including appearances of both characters together and solo appearances of Joan). The two characters would also appear in the Spike and Tyke spin-off short, Scat Cats (1957). Though the characters would never appear after the theatrical shorts, TV's The Tom and Jerry Show would have very similar characters named Rick and Ginger as Tom's owners. 

In this short film, George and Joan are upset when they see the bills. They decide to save money they can keep either Tom or Spike but not both. It is decided that whichever one catches and gets rid of Jerry can stay. 

This is a delightful cartoon and one of the best of the Cinemascope shorts. The premise is clever. In the tradition of the best Tom and Jerry shorts, the story is a clever play on the typical Tom and Jerry formula. It stays true to the cat vs mouse premise that we all love, while adding a nice little twist to it. Seeing Tom and Spike competing to capture Jerry is a lot of fun to watch. The gags themselves are quite good. While like most of the 1950's shorts there is not the sheer number of great gags that there would be in one of the 40's shorts. However, that does not mean there are not any great gags here. There are multiple moments that make me laugh out loud including the scene with the drawers in the desk and the door falling on Tom. The ending gag is also perfect. This ending gag made this short a favorite of mine as a kid. 

The credited animators on this short are Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Kenneth Muse. Robert Gentle is the credited background artist (his work here looks forward to his work on William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's TV cartoons). This is the 88th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. It is available on the DVD set Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Pet_Peeve

https://www.animationscoop.com/blu-ray-preview-tom-and-jerry-the-complete-cinemascope-collection/

Downhearted Duckling (1954)

 

Sometimes what is viewed as acceptable subject matter for a silly comedy can change over time. Today if a cartoon centers around suicide, the subject would either be treated as very dark comedy (ala Futurama's suicide booths) or with the upmost seriousness. It definitely wouldn't be used as the basis for slapstick gags and satirically center around such a cutesy character as Quacker the duck. 

In this short film, Quacker reads Hans Cristian Anderson's The Ugly Duckling. He then becomes convinced that he is ugly. This idea gets him so downhearted that he decides to kill himself. As a way to kill himself he tries to have Tom eat him. Jerry sees this and tries to stop Quacker from doing this horrible thing.  

 Even though the subject matter may be dark, this is a pretty good cartoon. Quacker is quite likable here (even if I personally find his voice to be too cutesy at times) and it is hard to not feel for him. For any who has ever struggled with self-confidence (which is pretty much all of us), the pathos here are very effective. Yet at the same time there are some great gags here. There may not be as many great gags as there are in the 1940's Tom and Jerry shorts, there are a couple really funny moments here. The gag where Jerry tries to give Quacker a beauty treatment is laugh out loud funny. There is also some wonderful character animation here, especially Tom's reaction when Quacker first asks Tom to eat him. The background art may not be as elaborate here as in the earlier Tom and Jerry shorts, but it is still very pleasant to look at in a way that looks forward to the backgrounds in Hanna and Barbera's early TV cartoons. 

The credited animators on this short are Irven Spence, Ray Patterson, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge. Robert Gentle is the credited background artist. This is the 87th Tom and Jerry short. The film is available on the DVD set, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3. The little girl duck at the end only appeared in this one theatrical short. She would however later appear in two episodes of TV's The Tom and Jerry Show, Wing Nuts (2018) and Novel Idea (2018). In that series the character was named Fifi. In this original short she is voiced by Red Coffey, who also voiced Quacker. The 2006 album, TOM AND JERRY & TEX AVERY, TOO! Volume 1: The 1950’s, features musical scores from various MGM cartoons. Included here is Scott Bradley's score for Downhearted Duckling. 

-Michael J. Ruhland 

Resources Used

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/tex-tom-jerry-droopy-on-scott-bradley-soundtracks/

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Downhearted_Duckling/Gallery

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Downhearted_Duckling