The Flying Sorceress (1956)

 

This short film marks the first Tom and Jerry cartoon (and the 98th short film overall) of 1956, landing in movie theaters on January 28 of that year. For their first film of 1956, Tom takes center stage with Jerry almost in a supporting role here. 

In this short film, Tom breaks a lamp while chasing Jerry. His owner (Joan) is very angry and makes him clean up the mess he made. Tom then sees an ad in the newspaper stating, "Wanted: Intelligent cat to act as traveling companion for elderly lady. Apply in person, 13 Sunnydale Road." Tom decides to run away and get this job. However, he soon learns that this elderly lady is really a witch. When the witch goes to bed, Tom decides to take her broomstick for a joy ride. 

This is a delightful cartoon and one I watch every October. The plot of this film is a departure from the typical Tom and Jerry short. However, it is a plot that works perfectly with Tom's character. This story takes full advantage of Tom's childlike playfulness, mischievousness and cockiness. Though the animation was getting more limited around this time, the animators were still able to express all these emotions perfectly without Tom having to say a word. Though Jerry receives a smaller role in this film, he also gets some good character animation here, especially his bewilderment when he sees Tom on the broomstick. This cartoon also benefits from a great sense of atmosphere, especially the scenes in the witch's house. The background art in these scenes create a very fun Halloween-like atmosphere. The humor may not be as laugh out loud funny here as it was in the 1940's Tom and Jerry shorts. However, it is very charming and sometimes that is enough. 

The title for this film would later be reused for an episode of TV's The Tom and Jerry Show, The Flying Sorceress (1975). In that episode, a witch named Free Fall Frieda recruits Tom and Jerry to help her test out her 1401 wide-bodied flying cauldron. Th kind witch wants to use this invention to help people and first the trio tries to use it to help farmers dust crops and then later as a transportation service.

This cartoon features the character of Joan as Tom's owner. This is the third short to feature this character and the first where you see her face. This is one of eight films this character appears in and one of four, where she is seen without her husband George. 

The credited animators on this film are Ed Barge, Irven Spence. Lewis Marshall and Kenneth Muse. The credited background artist is Robert Gentle. The credited layout artist is Richard Bickenbach. Richard Bickenbach not only worked on William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry shorts but also on their later TV work. He would work on such Hanna-Barbera TV series as Quick Draw McGraw, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Top Cat, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo Where Are You and many more. He would also work on the Hanna-Barbera feature films, The Man Called Flintstone (1966) and Charolette's Web (1973) as well as the Loopy the Loop theatrical shorts. Robert Gentle would also work on many of Bill and Joe's later TV shows including The Huckleberry Hound Show, Quick Draw Mc Graw, The Atom Ant Show, Space Ghost, Wacky Races, Scooby-Doo Where Are You, Super Friends, Pac Man and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. He also worked on the Hanna-Barbera feature films Hey There, It's Yogi Bear (1964), The Man Called Flintstone, Charolette's Web, Hedi's Song (1982) and Rock Odessey (1987) as well as the Loopy De Loop theatrical shorts. You can see some of his background art for the Hanna-Barbera TV shows here. The witch is voiced by June Foray, who the same year first voiced the Looney Tunes character Witch Hazel in the Bugs Bunny cartoon, Broomstick Bunny (1956). She had also voiced another character named Witch Hazel in the Donald Duck cartoon, Trick or Treat (1952).  June would later provide Jerry's voice in some of the Chuck Jones produced Tom and Jerry cartoons of the 1960's. Clips from this cartoon would later be reused in the cheater cartoon, Matinee Mouse (1966). This cartoon is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection and Tom and Jerry: Hijinks and Shrieks. It is also a bonus feature on the DVD and Blu-Ray of the direct to video movie, Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (2001). 

Below is a lobby card for this short film. 

- Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

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

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

https://tomjerry1975.neocities.org/episodes/NTJ_Show6#80-19

That's My Mommy (1955)

 

That's My Mommy marked the first film that William Hanna and Joseph Barbera produced as well as directed as by this time Fred Quimby who had produced the cartoons for MGM had retired. Bill and Joe did not only produce the films they directed but also the other MGM cartoons such as the Droopy shorts. Bill and Joe would of course after the Tom and Jerry shorts to produce many of the great TV cartoons, when they started their own animation studio, Hanna-Barbera.

In this short film Quacker the duck hatches from his egg and the first thing he sees is Tom. He assumes that Tom is his mother, but Tom only has interest in eating Quacker. Jerry tries to convince Quacker that Tom is not his mother but Quacker "loves his mommy" and doesn't believe Jerry. 

Animator Michael Lah once stated that William Hanna "loved cutesie stuff ... Joe was the other way, wild as hell." This showed itself in some of the Tom and Jerry cartoons by the mixing of sentimentality with wild cartoon slapstick. Though this mixture had appeared in these films as early as the third short (The Night Before Christmas (1941)) by the 1950's the addition of sentimentality to the Tom and Jerry formula was becoming more common. In my opinion, That's My Mommy is one of the finest examples of these more sentimental Tom and Jerry shorts. It is also probably Quacker's best film.

There is a lot to love about this cartoon. Both Tom and Jerry are the characters that we know and love. They are both at their most likable and relatable. Though by this time the animation on these shorts was becoming more limited, through the facial expressions and even the way they move we can always tell what both these characters are thinking without them having to say a word. Sometimes these facial expressions can even get laughs on their own. I love the look on Tom's face when Quacker says, "my mommy will protect me" and the annoyed expression on Jerry when Quacker closes the book on him. Both of these little moments make these predictable gags still quite funny. Quacker is also at his most likable here. While I may not be a fan of his cutsie voice, he is very likable here and plays well off both Tom and Jerry. There may not be as many laugh out loud moments here as there are in the 1940's Tom and Jerry films but most of the gags at least made me smile. The ending to this film is very sweet and quite touching. It also reminds us why we care about these characters as well as laugh at them. 

The credited animators on this film are Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall. The credited background artist is Robert Gentle and the credited layout artist is Richard Bickenbach (credited as Dick Bickenbach). Richard Bickenbach not only worked on William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry shorts but also on their later TV work. He would work on such Hanna-Barbera TV series as Quick Draw McGraw, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Top Cat, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo Where Are You and many more. He would also work on the Hanna-Barbera feature films, The Man Called Flintstone (1966) and Charolette's Web (1973) as well as the Loopy the Loop theatrical shorts. Robert Gentle would also work on many of Bill and Joe's later TV shows including The Huckleberry Hound Show, Quick Draw Mc Graw, The Atom Ant Show, Space Ghost, Wacky Races, Scooby-Doo Where Are You, Super Friends, Pac Man and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. He also worked on the Hanna-Barbera feature films Hey There, It's Yogi Bear (1964), The Man Called Flintstone, Charolette's Web, Hedi's Song (1982) and Rock Odessey (1987) as well as the Loopy De Loop theatrical shorts. You can see some of his background art for the Hanna-Barbera TV shows here.

This marked the 97th Tom and Jerry cartoon and the last of 1955. This cartoon was released in Cinemascope and all the rest of the Hanna-Barbera directed Tom and Jerry shorts afterwards would be as well. This cartoon is available on the DVD set, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3 and will be on the upcoming Tom and Jerry the Complete Cinemascope Collection Blu-ray. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/That%27s_My_Mommy

https://www.imdb.com/

Pecos Pest (1955)

 

This short film marked the last of the Hanna and Barbera directed shorts to not be in Cinemascope and the last Tom and Jerry cartoon to be produced by Fred Quimby. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera would take over the producing these cartoons (and other MGM cartoons like the Droopy shorts) after their next film (the non-Tom and Jerry cartoon, Good Will to Men). Pecos Pest also marks the 96th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. 

In this short film, Jerry's folk-singing Uncle Pecos comes to visit. He is going to perform on TV the next night and spends his whole visit practicing. Unfortunately, his guitar strings keep breaking. He pulls off Tom's whiskers to use as his guitar strings. 

This is a fun cartoon. This film mostly benefits from Uncle Pecos being a really fun character. His singing and guitar playing are very enjoyable to listen to and how he never lets anything stop him from performing his song makes him kind of appealing. His whole gimmick of using Tom's whiskers as guitar strings allows for some good slapstick gags. Few of these gags are laugh out loud funny but most of them made me at least chuckle. The ending gag though is fantastic. 

The song Uncle Pecos is singing is the old folk song, Froggie Went a Courtin. The words to this song originally appeared as a poem (called The Frog Came to the Myl Dur) in 1548 in Wedderburn’s Complaynt of Scotland. The first musical version appeared in Thomas Ravenscroft's 1611 collection of folk music, Melismata. In 1928 Chubby Parker (a star on WLS Barn Dance in Chicago) recorded a country version of this song. In 1940's Burl Ives recording a very popular version of this song. Folk singers like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger would make recordings of this song as well. perhaps inspired by those versions, Bob Dylan would record this song on his 1992 album, Good as I've Been to You. Bruce Springsteen would record this song on his 2006 album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.

Providing the singing voice for Uncle Pecos was Shug Fisher. In 1937 he was recorded by Decca as Hugh and Shug’s Radio Pals. In 1943, he became a member of the Sons of the Pioneers when Pat Brady and Lloyd Perryman were drafted. He not only sang with the group, but he also wrote some of their songs including Out on The Open Range, Ridin' Down To Santa Fe and Forgive and Forget. He is a familiar presence to fans of old B-Westerns, appearing in many including quite a few with Roy Rogers. He would continue acting in westerns into the TV era and appeared on many episodes of Gunsmoke. He also had a nightclub act around this time. Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera caught this nightclub act and decided to build a cartoon around it. This cartoon was not the first time that Shug Fisher had recorded Froggie Went a Courtin'. He had earlier sung the song on the Sons of the Pioneers' Luck-U Ranch radio program in 1951. You can listen to that below. 

Though Uncle Pecos only appeared in one theatrical cartoon short, he has remained a fan favorite. He would later star in an episode of TV's Tom and Jerry Tales entitled Cry Uncle (2006). He would also appear in mulitple episodes of TV's The Tom and Jerry Show including I Quit (2017), Uncle Pecos Rides Again (2018), Cat-a-Tonic Mouse (2018), (Not) Your Father's Mouse-Stache (2021), Attachment Disorder (2020) and The Not So Ugly Duckling (2021). Clips from Pecos Pest are reused in Uncle Pecos Rides Again. He also had a non-speaking cameo in the direct to video feature film, Tom and Jerry: Cowboy Up! (2022). 

The credited animators on this film are Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Ray Patterson and Kenneth Muse. Robert Gentle was the credited background artist. The cartoon is available on the DVD set, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1.

Below is a layout drawing for the telegram seen in this film. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

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

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/a-musical-up-roar-1954-57/

https://allnurseryrhymes.com/frog-went-a-courtin/#:~:text=Originally%20from%20Scotland%2C%20%E2%80%9CFroggy%20Went%20A%20Courtin%E2%80%9D%20is,was%20first%20recorded%20by%20Thomas%20Ravenscroft%20in%201611.

https://folklore.usc.edu/frog-went-a-courtin-english-language-folk-song/

Smarty Cat (1955)

 

Smarty Cat is the fourth and last cheater cartoon of the original Hanna and Barbera era. The term cheater cartoon refers to a short that relies heavily on clips from previous films. This short film features clips from Solid Serenade (1946), Cat Fishin' (1947) and Fit to Be Tied (1952). There is a bit of new animation of Tom whistling after seeing his girlfriend in the window. 

In this short film, Tom's cat friends come over to visit. Butch brings along some home movies he took of Tom getting the best of Spike the bulldog. 

This is a typical cheater cartoon. The clips shown are wonderful and quite funny even without the full context. For their last cheater, the Hanna and Barbera team picked some truly wonderful clips to use. When it comes to the quality of the clips used, this is one of the better cheater films. However unfortunately the new footage is kept to a minimum. The basic connecting storyline is charming but very little time is dedicated to it. Because of this the cartoon is fun to watch but seems pointless today, when you can watch the other cartoons in full whenever you'd like.   

The credited animators on this film are Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge and Michael Lah. This is Michael Lah's first animation credit on a Tom and Jerry film since Salt Water Tabby (1947). The credited background artist is Vera Ohman. Vera Ohman's work with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera reaches past just the Tom and Jerry cartoons. She also worked on such Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon shows as The Huckleberry Hound Show, Quick Draw McGraw and The Yogi Bear Show as well as some of the Loopy De Loop theatrical shorts. The credited layout artist is Richard Bickenbach.  Richard Bickenbach not only worked on William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry shorts but also on their later TV work. He would work on such Hanna-Barbera TV series as Quick Draw McGraw, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Top Cat, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo Where Are You and many more. He would also work on the Hanna-Barbera feature films, The Man Called Flintstone (1966) and Charolette's Web (1973) and the Loopy the Loop theatrical shorts. This marks the 95th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. Despite his large amount of screentime, Spike has no dialogue in this short. This would be the first short to feature a generic MGM cartoon end title rather than the typical Tom and Jerry one since Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943). Meanwhile a reissue of the Tex Avery cartoon, Slap Happy Lion (1947) would erroneously feature a Tom and Jerry end title. Smarty Cat is available on the DVD set, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3. 

Despite many of the Tom and Jerry shorts having gone into the Cinemascope format by this time, this film was made in the standard Academy format. There would only be one more Tom and Jerry cartoon of the classic Hanna and Barbera era to not be in Cinemascope after this.

 - Michael J. Ruhland 

Tom and Chérie (1955)

 

This short film is an oddity in Tom and Jerry's filmography. That is because the cat and mouse duo never actually interact here, though they both interact with the little grey mouse Nibbles (or Tuffy if you prefer). The only other film in which Tom and Jerry don't interact is The Duck Doctor (1952). 

This is also the third of four cartoons featuring Jerry and Nibbles as Mouseketeers. The first was The Two Mouseketeers (1952). The second was Touché, Pussy Cat! (1954). The last would-be Royal Cat Nap (1958). With this film featuring the two mice as Mouseketeers, it is worth noting that the Disney TV show, The Mickey Mouse Club (which introduced the world to Disney's Mouseketeers) premiered the same year as this short.

In this short film, Jerry is having Nibbles delivering his love letters for him. However, with every letter Jerry writes, Nibbles has to fight Tom on his way to deliver it. When Nibbles tries to explain this to Jerry, Jerry doesn't see Tom and thinks Nibbles is just a coward. 

This may be my least favorite of the Mouseketeers cartoons. However, this is a matter of personal preference over quality. I personally would rather watch Tom and Jerry battle it out over seeing the two never interact. I appreciate the filmmakers trying something new, but I miss seeing my favorite cat and mouse duo duke it out. 

This is not to say that this is a bad cartoon, however. Actually, it is quite a good one. There is a lot to enjoy here. There are some pretty good gags here, especially when Jerry sends Nibbles speeding along by poking his backside with his sword. The battles that happen offscreen while the camera shakes up and down is a great example of clever filmmaking. The film also has a perfect ending that makes me smile each time. I also really enjoy how the background art almost gives this film a storybook feel. 

The credited animators on this short are Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall and Ed Barge. Robert Gentle is the credited background artist. This cartoon is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection (Volume 2) and Tom and Jerry: Merry Mice. It will be on the upcoming Blu-Ray set, Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection. This is the 94th Tom and Jerry short film. 

Unlike the previous Tom and Jerry CinemaScope shorts, where the films were released in both Cinemascope and Academy ratio formats, this cartoon was the first to be only released in the CinemaScope process. 

- Michael J. Ruhland    

Designs on Jerry (1955)

 

Designs on Jerry is a very iconic Tom and Jerry film and one of the first films cartoon fans think of when they think of the cat and mouse duo. Most every classic cartoon fan can remember the basic premise of the stick figures on Tom's blueprints coming to life. This premise is so well remembered that the 21st century TV series Tom and Jerry Tales would revisit it with the opening to each episode. 

In this short film, Tom decides to make it rich by creating a better mouse trap. He draws up a detailed blueprint and builds said mouse trap. He then goes to sleep with dreams about making it rich and plans to test the trap out on Jerry in the morning. However, while he sleeps the stick figure mouse on Tom's blueprint comes to life to warn Jerry. The stick figure cat also comes to life to catch the stick figure mouse. Jerry and his new friend must outwit this stick figure cat. 

While this cartoon may not be as laugh out loud funny as the cat and mouse duo's 1940's output, it more than makes up for this with its clever storyline. The premise of this film is irresistible. It is the kind of clever twist on the basic Tom and Jerry formula that makes for the best entries in this series. This cartoon follows the typical Tom and Jerry formula while still feeling like something unique. The juxtaposition of the traditionally designed Jerry with the more stylized blueprint drawings helps create some fun and very memorable visuals that stick in your mind while after the film is over. This cartoon also finds many fun and clever ways to use the fact that two of the characters are stick figures. That they can fight using pens and erasures and can transform their body into various shapes make this clever premise just as clever in the execution. Though Tom may have less screentime here than usual, he is still well utilized. The character animation on Tom and his dreams of becoming rich provide some fun visual gags at the start. 

The credited animators on this film are Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge. The credited background artist is John Didrik Johnsen. This one of the rare Tom and Jerry shorts he gets a credit on. For the most part he worked on the cartoons Tex Avery and Dick Lundy were directing for MGM at this time. The ending of this cartoon was later reused in the Tom and Jerry cheater cartoon, Shutter Bugged Cat (1967). Designs on Jerry is available on the DVD set, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1. This is the 93rd Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. 

Below are some storyboard drawings for this film.

Below is a layout drawing for this film. 

Here are a couple publicity stills. 

Here is a brief look at the continuity script. 

This cartoon is also available to watch for free (and legally) on YouTube.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

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

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