Down and Outing (1961)

 

This short film is the second Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Gene Deitch. It is definitely not an improvement over his first Tom and Jerry film. 

In this short film Tom's owner takes him fishing. Unknowingly to Tom's owner Jerry tags along on this trip. Tom's attempts to eat Jerry end up ruining the whole trip. 

This is another very weak Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry short. Once again, the story is a promising one for Tom and Jerry. It may be basic, but it fits in the mold of some the Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts quite well. Some of the gags would have been strong if William Hanna and Joseph Barbera had been directing as well. However, under Deitch's direction, the whole film falls flat. The timing is consistently off, some of the drawings are often downright poor, the sound effects are bizarre and ill-fitting and many of the slapstick gags come off as more painful than funny. It also doesn't help that Tom's new owner is distinctly unlikable, come off as overly cruel to Tom to the point of unpleasantness. It makes you wonder why this guy even has a cat. Especially when he seems to hate him so much.

I will admit this cartoon has a few things going for it. The background art is quite pleasing to look at. Also, the use of Scott Bradley's Tom and Jerry theme music adds a bit of life to the otherwise uninspired proceedings. 

This is the first appearance of Tom's new owner. This new character visually resembles Clint Clobber, a character from Deitch's time at the Terry Toons studio. Some online have even referred to this character as Clint Clobber. However, the two are actually quite different. Underneath his rough exterior Clint Clobber actually has a good heart. The same cannot be said for Tom's owner, who is often extremely abusive to Tom and loses his temper very easily. He is voiced by Allen Swift. Swift is best known as the voice for the villainous Simon Bar Sinister on Underdog. He also worked as a kiddie show host. He hosted the popular kiddie show, The Popeye Show from 1956 to 1960. He would play a sea captain named Captain Allen Swift in live-action segments between the cartoons. He also voiced and played plenty of characters on the kiddie show, Howdy Doody. Tom's owner would only appear in two more cartoons, High Stakes (1962) and Sorry Safari (1962). 

The credited writer for this film is Larz Bourne and Tod Dockstader is credited as the sound effects artist. This is a rare Tom and Jerry short where no animators are credited. This marks the 116th Tom and Jerry short overall. This film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry's Summer Holidays, Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection, Tom and Jerry: Tough and Tumble and Tom and Jerry: Mouse Trouble as well as the VHS Tom and Jerry: Little School Mouse. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Switchin' Kitten (1961)

 

It seemed like 1958 would be the end of the theatrical Tom and Jerry shorts. Though the previous shorts were sometimes reissued to theaters (and Dell Comics was continuing to make new comic books starring the cat and mouse), new Tom and Jerry cartoons would be off the big screen for three years. As well as this the MGM cartoon studio had seemingly permanently closed. Meanwhile William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who not only created the characters but directed all their films up to this time, have started their own TV studio and were having great success with such characters as Huckelberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw and The Flintstones. However, with the success of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, MGM felt that possibly there was money to made off of having new Tom and Jerry cartoons. However, MGM wanted to make these new films as cheaply as possible. There was no love of these classic characters in this decision by MGM. Instead, all they saw in the idea was money. An offer to make these films rather cheaply had come from Willaim Synder, who represented Gene Deitch, a talented animator who was living in Prague. Deitch had no illusions about this assignment. He would later state, "The reason Metro did them had nothing to do with bringing Tom and Jerry to life. They simply wanted to cash in on their popularity as cheaply as possible. Any qualities the finished pictures have is strictly the result of the craftmanship of the artists." Though Deitch had previously lived in and worked in the United States, the rest of the animators and filmmakers working on these films due to living in Prague had no familiarity with these characters. They were shown only six of the Hanna and Barbera cartoons in preparation.

Gene Deitch was an odd fit for the cat and mouse duo. He was not a product of the old-fashioned slapstick cartoon school but rather of the more stylized and artistically inclined UPA school. He had begun his film career at UPA as an apprentice. However, by this time his greatest achievements were at the Terry Toons studio. In 1956, he took over as creative director of this studio. Not a fan of the previous Terry Toons shorts, he retired the studios characters such as Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle. He would redefine the Terry Toons studio into something quite different. These films would abandon much of their previous rough house slapstick and reliance on typical cartoon formulas. The new shorts of the studio would on a new stylized look reflecting the modern art of the 1950's. The films' humor would now become much more satiric and occasionally even cerebral.

You might be wondering how this Amercian filmmaker found himself in Prague. This came about because of the aforementioned Willaim Synder, whom Deitch referred to as “a man who could talk anybody into anything.” Synder had wanted to create an animation studio communist Czechoslovakia (in the midst of the Cold War yet). This idea was simply because he could pay them much less than Amercian animators. All he needed was to have an American to direct these films. This ended up being Gene Deitch who moved to Prague to take the job. With this group of Czech animators, Deitch had already had some success before these Tom and Jerry films. They had made the brilliant Oscar winning short, Murno (1960). 

When Synder had given Deitch and the Czech animators, the assignment for making Tom and Jerry cartoons, it was hardly an assignment they relished. A student of the UPA school of making animation, Deitch was hardly what one would call a fan of Tom and Jerry. He referred to the Hanna and Barbera films as " senselessly violent, and downright racist." Though he admitted, "But as gross as many of the Hannah Barberra [sic] cartoons were, the outrageous pain the Tom and Jerry characters inflicted on each other did make me laugh out loud."  Still, he felt an obligation to try and capture the feel of the Hanna and Barbera shorts as well as he could. He would state, "Being assigned to recreate Tom & Jerry, I knew that I had a tough act to follow. I resolved to make them look as much like the late period Hanna Barberra [sic] originals as I possibly could. H&B themselves had of course altered the models and animation style as they went along. I tried to continue the look of their later series., using the final MGM model sheets as my starting point. I was determined that audiences would accept my recreations as really being Tom & Jerry! I could not worry what the critics would think. Without question, times had changed, even in 1961. And some aspects of T&J had to change also. I drew the line at the H&B racial gaffs. I immediately retired the black housemaid. I tried for fresh venues in the stories. Fortunately, H&B had also ventured out of the household, with period pieces and exotic locations, so I did have some wiggle-room in stories." The comments about the black maid come as strange as the character he is referring to had not appeared in a Tom and Jerry cartoon since, Push Button Kitty (1952). 

Making the films proved to be difficult as the Czech animators had a hard time getting used to working on these cartoons. At the studio Deitch referred to himself as “the only one present who could draw American-style cartoon characters.” Because of this he ended up doing most of the key animation himself. At the same time, he admitted, "Not only had no one in the Prague animation studio ever even seen a Tom & Jerry cartoon, but I had never tried to draw the characters! They were out of my way of drawing." Meanwhile at the height of the Cold War, even as they were releasing these films, MGM kept being uneasy with the idea of the cartoons being made in a communist country. Because of this in the credits for these films, the names of the animators were often Americanized. For instance, Štěpán Koníček became Steven Konichek. 

In this, the first of Gene Deitch's Tom and Jerry films, Jerry is living in the castle of a mad scientist, who is working on experiments where he exchanges brains between various animals. Tom comes into the castle to get out of the rain, but he has trouble with a cat who thinks he is a dog. 

It is rare that I have ever tried so desperately to like films but failed as I have with Gene Deitch's Tom and Jerry shorts. I am a fan of much of Gene Deitch's work and consider his work at Terry Toons nothing short of brilliant. My love of the director's other work has made me want to reevaluate his Tom and Jerry films, but no matter how hard I have tried, I find them terrible. The reason is not because of the story or the gags but because of the execution. 

This is perfectly on display in this first short film. The story line is an original one for Tom and Jerry and some of the gags are clever. Yet these ideas are executed terribly. The timing is incredibly off. While the timing on the Hanna and Barbera shorts was so perfect that it made typical cartoon gags seem better, here the lack of comedic timing makes gags that should have been funny fall flat. The animation doesn't help much in this respect either. The characters are too rubbery for the violent gags to have any real weight and because of this they are simply not funny.

Helping even less is the sound effects, which are very poorly recorded and often ill-fitting. Sound effects can add a lot to slapstick comedy (just watch any Three Stooges film with the sound off and see the difference). However here instead of enhancing the comedy, the sound effects detract from it. About the sound effects Deitch would state, "I often tell film students and others that I have always considered the soundtracks as at least 50% of the movies. Obviously, there was no digital recording anywhere in those days, but here it was dreadful, working with Soviet equipment! They used sprocketed 55mm East German coated sound film. What I couldn’t tell anybody at the time is that I brought my own Ampex 1/4” tape recorder into the studio, and recorded the orchestras myself, with little more than a volume control and only two microphones, all my own property! The engineers here thought I was crazy, but I got brighter results than they did. (They had only one-channel mono recording. I recorded all the tracks in stereo. Stereo did not exist here at all in 1961! I also created all the sound effects at home, except the sounds Tod Dockstader made, and sent me on quarter-inch tape!" 

Gene Deitch may have been a very talented filmmaker, who made some truly great films. However, in my mind his Tom and Jerry cartoons remain the nadir of his work. He simply was unable to overcome the insurmountable odd against him in this case.  

One of Deitch's greatest supporters in making these films was MGM executive Joe Vogel, who liked Deitch's work on these films and was impressed by how he could make them for such a low budget. Deitch and Vogel however disagreed on the title of this film. Deitch would recall, "The one and only issue I had with Joe Vogel was the title of our pilot episode. Over my bruised body, it went out with the totally idiotic title, Switchin’ Kitten. My original title was “Dog My Cats”. As the story centered on a mad scientist turning cats into dogs, I thought my title was funny and apt. Besides being a play on words, it was actually about the story! But the mighty Metro moguls simply didn’t get it."

The credited animators on this film were Lu Guarnier, Gary Mooney and Wáclaw Bedřicz. Gene Deitch and Eli Bauer received story credit on the cartoon. Eli Bauer was a former Terry Toons writer who had worked on some of the Terry Toons made when Deitch was in charge. He also worked as a cartoonist and various of his panel cartoons had appeared in Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Playboy, Penthouse, and Punch. This marked the 115th Tom and Jerry cartoon. It is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry's Magical Misadventures and Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection. It also is available on the VHS set, Tom and Jerry in Matinee Mouse for which the cover art would be based off this film.

In this cartoon Jerry would roar like the MGM loin at the end. Tom would take the place of the MGM loin in openings during the Chuck Jones era. The gag of Jerry tying Tom's whiskers into a bow was previous done in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947). 

Resources Used

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

https://animationobsessive.substack.com/p/animating-tom-and-jerry-behind-the

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/tom-jerry-the-gene-deitch-collection/

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Switchin%27_Kitten

   

Tot Watchers (1958)

 

This short film marks the final theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoon to be directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. As such it represents the end of an era for our favorite cat and mouse but a start to a brand-new era for Bill and Joe. In his autobiography Barbera remembered, "... the bad news had not come to Bill and me, who were running the studio, but to the business manager. A phone rang, a bookkeeper answered, and the message was 'Close the studio! Lay everybody off!' We built what by rights should have been an impregnable fortress, an unassailable monument to success. But Arthur Loew, Sr., heeded the advice of his financial people, who told him that the old Tom and Jerry cartoons could be rereleased at will, and each would bring in 90 percent of the revenue that a brand-new cartoon will produce - without having to spend the thirty thousand, forty-five thousand, even sixty thousand each new cartoon cost the studio." William Hanna remembered, "We were working on the last year of a five-year contract, and as we went into our last year, they said they were closing it down. We stayed on to supervise, the completion of the work that was in there - the animation. the backgrounds, the whatever it was, during that year. We were on the payroll there for a year, knowing that at the end of that year, if we did not do something more with MGM, we would be on our own." In an interview with Animation Historian Jerry Beck, Bill expanded on this stating, "No. No notice at all.  They just said they were discontinuing production.  Fortunately, we had started enough cartoons that it was going to take us at least six months to finish those.  We had six months to decide what we wanted to do, which was a real blessing." He expanded even further stating, "We immediately began to plan: What could we do? What kind of characters? How were we going to do it?  We both knew that it was a pretty bad scene for animators out there, and we’d been successful doing Tom & Jerry.  We felt we should do our own thing, start our own company, from the day they said ‘Closed.’  We had a plan in place by the time we got our last MGM paycheck." Of course, the next course of action would be to work in TV animation. They would create their own studio, Hanna-Barbera, which would go on to become the most important American animation studio of the late 1950's, 60's and 70's. This studio would bring us such beloved characters as The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Jetsons and Quick Draw McGraw. So, what at first seemed like a major setback turned into one of the best things that could have ever happened to the creators of the cat and mouse. Bill and Joe had tried to talk MGM into letting them make TV cartoons before this happened, but MGM felt there was no future in cartoons for TV. 

In this short film, Tom and Jerry are fighting as usual. However, when Jeannie the baby-sitter doesn't notice the baby wandering off, Tom and Jerry put aside their differences to help keep the baby safe. This proves to be difficult when the baby wanders on to a construction site. 

Tot Watchers is a perfectly fine cartoon, but as a finale to the Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts it is a little disappointing. Tom and Jerry are very likable here and the character animation is often excellent. Even if the story is very reminiscent of Busy Buddies (1956), it is still a delightful departure from the typical Tom and Jerry formula. The construction site setting and the fun ending help it not simply feel like a retread of Busy Buddies. The background artwork may be sparser than one would see in the 1940's shorts, but there is a fun stylized to this film.  What keeps this from being one of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons is that while some of the gags are fun, none of them are laugh out loud funny. I chuckled and smiled a few times watching this, but I still wished for something funnier to mark the end of this era. Like most of the shorts from the mid to late 1950's this cartoon is more charming than actually funny. 

Production Drawing

Other than just being the final theatrical Tom and Jerry short to be directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, this film also marked other lasts for the series. It was the last short to be released in CinemaScope. This was the last appearance of Tom's owner Joan (her husband George does not appear) as well as her baby. It would also be the last theatrical short to feature Spike the Bulldog, whose role here is reduced to a non-speaking cameo (with the exception of reused footage in the cheater cartoon Matinee Mouse (1966)). The Tom and Jerry Wiki refers to the dog in Rock 'n' Rodent (1967) as Spike, but that dog hardly resembles the character we know, and love and I don't think the filmmakers ever thought of this as the same dog.  

Rock 'n' Rodent, does this look like Spike to you?

In the Animaniacs episode, Cat on a Hot Steel Beam (1993), Buttons the dog is trying to keep baby Mindy safe when she finds herself on a construction site. There is a quick gag where caricatures of Tom and Jerry (as well as Popeye and Sweet Pea) are also seen trying to protect a baby. This is obviously a reference to this cartoon. 

Tom and Jerry's "Cameo" in Animaniacs

Tom and Jerry would later have more traditional chases taking place on a construction site in Pent-House Mouse (1963) and Bad Day at Cat Work (1955).


The credited animators on this short are Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall and James Escalante. The credited background artist is Robert Gentle. Robert Gentle would not only work with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera on these theatrical shorts but also many of the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons. He worked on such Hanna-Barbera shows as The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Yogi Bear Show, Quick Draw McGraw, Top Cat, The Flintstones, Wacky Races, Scooby-Doo Where Are You, Super Friends and many more. 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. You can see some of his background art for the Hanna-Barbera TV shows here. The credited writer on this film was Homer Brightman, the only person to receive a writing credit on a Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry short. Brightman’s name however can be seen on many Walter Lantz shorts as well as some Disney films of the 1940’s. 

This film is avilable on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 2, Tom & Jerry's Greatest Chases Vol. 5, Tom and Jerry: In the Dog House and Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals. It is also avilable on the Laserdisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II and the recent Blu-ray set Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection. 

Though this was the end of the Hanna and Barbera shorts, it was not the last theatrical short film for the cat and mouse as you will see next week on this blog. 

Resources Used

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

Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier
My Life in Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Less Than a Century by Joseph Barbera 

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

https://www.simbasible.com/tom-and-jerry-review-70/

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/my-conversation-with-hanna-and-barbera/

 

Robin Hoodwinked (1958)

 

This short film may be the only theatrical cartoon short to place Tom and Jerry into the story of Robin Hood. However, it was not the only time Tom and Jerry would be place in this story. There would much later be a direct to video movie entitled Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and his Merry Mouse (2012). In an episode of TV's The Tom and Jerry Show entitled Robin Ho Ho (1975), the duo would try to join Robin Ho Ho's merry men. 

In this short film, Robin Hood has been captured, and Jerry and Nibbles try to rescue him. However first they have to get past Tom, who is guarding Tom. 

Once again, this cartoon is more charming than actually funny. In fact, the only major fault of this cartoon is that there is not a single real laugh here. That does not make this a bad short though. There is quite a bit to still enjoy about this cartoon though. The storyline makes it feel very unique among Tom and Jerry films. The same can be said about the setting. The setting allows the artists to get away from the typical suburban settings seen in the Tom and Jerry shorts of this time. The artists take full advantage of it. The backgrounds are especially lovely to look at, helping make this an incredibly visually pleasing short. The more realistic action scene towards the end is also very well handled and visually delightful. This is probably one of the most handsome looking Tom and Jerry cartoons of this era. Also helping is that Scott Bradley's music is as wonderful as ever.

This film marked the final theatrical short to feature the character of Nibbles (or Tuffy if you prefer). However, the little grey mouse would go on to appear in many revivals of Tom and Jerry. He would appear in episodes of such TV shows as The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, Tom & Jerry Kids Show, Tom and Jerry Tales, The Tom and Jerry Show (the 2014-2021 version), Tom and Jerry in New York and even the anime Tom and Jerry Gokko as well as such direct to video feature length movies as Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (2001), Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale (2007), Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes (2010), Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz (2011), Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure (2013), Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz (2016), Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2017), Tom and Jerry: Cowboy Up! (2022) and Tom and Jerry: Snowman's Land (2022).

The cartoon was submitted for an Academy Award but ended up not being nominated. There were only three cartoons nominated for the Award in 1958. These were Paul Bunion (1958, Disney), Sidney's Family Tree (1958, Terry Toons) and Knighty Knight Bugs (1958, Warner Brothers). The winner was Knighty Knight Bugs, which marked the only time Bugs Bunny ever won an Oscar. You can watch him win below. 

 

The credit animators on this film include Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall, Carlo Vinci and James Escalante. The credited background artist is Robert Gentle, and 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.   The credited background artist is Robert Gentle. 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. This marks the 113th Tom and Jerry short. 

This film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 3, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 1, Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals, Tom and Jerry: Once Upon A Tomcat, Tom and Jerry: Merry Mice as well as the Laserdisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II and the recent Blu-Ray set, Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection. The cartoon is also a bonus feature on the DVD and Blu-ray for the direct to video movie Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and his Merry Mouse (2012).

Resources Used

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

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/cartoons-considered-for-an-academy-award-1958/

The Vanishing Duck (1958)

 

This short film marks the last theatrical appearance of Quacker the duck. He had appeared in seven of the 114 Hanna and Barbera theatrical shorts. The character would continue to be used in many of the Tom and Jerry comic books around this time and would appear in many of the later Tom and Jerry TV series. This also marks the last appearance of George, the man in the couple that owned Tom in the later Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts. However, his wife Joan would appear in one more short, Tot Watchers (1958). The cartoon also marks the last time we hear Tom's trademark scream, which as many of you may know was provided by Willaim Hanna himself. 

The storyline of this short is similar to that of The Invisible Mouse (1947). Only in this short not only does Jerry turn invisible but Quacker turns invisible too. Naturally both use this as a way to get back at their foe Tom. 

As was true of many of these later day Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts, this cartoon is more charming than actually funny. The storyline may be familiar, but it works. It is charming in its simplicity and moves by at a very fast and fun pace. The conclusion however is unexpected but very satisfying. Though none of the gags may be laugh out loud funny, there were a couple moments that made me smile or even lightly chuckle. My favorite gag is when Jerry and Quacker make Tom think his tail came off and Quacker makes it look like Tom's tail is performing the song he sang at the start of the picture. The backgrounds here are also excellent. They are sparser than those in the 1940's films, but they have a great stylized charm to them and there still is a bit of an attention to detail here (such as in the fireplace). The backgrounds also have a delightfully 1950's suburban feel to them that is simply charming. Scott Bradley's music is still excellent and just as great as it was in the 1940's shorts. 

The credited animators on this film are Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall, Carlo Vinci and James Escalante. James Escalante only received credit on the final four Hanna and Barbera directed Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts. Around the same time he received credit on two Michael Lah directed Droopy cartoons at the MGM studio, Sheep Wrecked (1958) and Droopy Leprechaun (1958).   The credited background artist is Robert Gentle, and 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.   The credited background artist is Robert Gentle. 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.

This marks the 112th Tom and Jerry theatrical short. The cartoon is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 3, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 1, Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals, Tom and Jerry: Follow That Duck! and Tom and Jerry: 85th Anniversary Kids Collection. It is also available on the recent Blu-ray set Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection as well as the Laser Disc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Royal Cat Nap (1958)

 

Note: This review contains spoilers. 

This short film marks the fourth and last of the cartoon featuring Jerry and Nibbles as the famous Mouseketeers.  The first was The Two Mouseketeers (1952). The second was Touché, Pussy Cat! (1954). The third was Tom and Chérie (1955). Royal Cat Nap marks the only of these films to be released in CinemaScope and to feature William Hanna and Joseph Barbera as producers (they had only directed the previous shorts). This is also the only of the four shorts where Nibbles at no point says "Touché, Pussycat." Kid versions of Jerry and Nibbles would later reprise their Mouseketeer roles in an episode from TV's Tom and Jerry Kids entitled Musketeer Jr. (1993). That would be the only episode of that show to feature Nibbles. And yes, in that episode Nibbles states "Touché, Pussy Cat!" 

In this short film, Jerry and Nibbles try to get some food out of the king's bedroom. Unfortunately they wake up the king in the process. The king then tells his guard (Tom) to keep the mice from waking him up.  Tom must do whatever he can to stop the mice from making too much noise, which proves not to be an easy task. 

The ending of this film shows a great contrast to the first of these Mouseketeer shorts. In The Two Mouseketeers, Tom gets beheaded for not catching Jerry and Nibbles, which only leads to Nibbles stating "C'est la Guerre." However, in the ending of Royal Cat Nap, the king is about to sentence Tom to being beheaded and Jerry and Nibbles feel sorry for him. Then Nibbles lulls the king to sleep, and Jerry and Nibbles help Tom sneak out. This is followed by the trio continuing fighting when they are far enough away from the king. Nibbles then has the same final line, "C'est la Guerre."

Though this may not be as great of a short as the first two Mouseketeers cartoons, it is still a fun cartoon. Though the storyline had been done before in two non-Tom and Jerry MGM cartoons, Rock-a-Bye Bear (1952) and Deputy Droopy (1955), it still provides a fun departure from previous Tom and Jerry shorts.  The storyline is charming and moves at a fast fun pace. The final twist at the end is a delightful one and does a great job making these characters likable without becoming overly sentimental. The background art is wonderful. Though it is sparser than the artwork in the 1940's Tom and Jerry cartoons, it has a delightfully stylized design that makes one think of Bill and Joe's best TV work. The character animation is quite good, and I love the panic animation as Tom tries to figure out how to scream in pain without waking the king up.

 This is one of the few theatrical Tom and Jerry to feature a glaring coloring mistake. Nibbles is briefly miscolored to the same color as Jerry. This makes it look as if there are two Jerrys. However the main reason this short doesn't quite reach the heights of the first two Mouseketeers cartoons is because, it doesn't have any real laugh out loud moments. As was quite common in these later Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts, this cartoon is simply more charming than it is funny. 

The credited animators on this film included Ken Muse, Carlo Vinci and Lewis Marshall. Carlo Vinci did not work on many of the Tom and Jerry cartoons, but he would become a very important animator on Bill and Joe's TV work. He worked on such TV shows as The Ruff and Reddy Show, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Flintstones, The Atom Ant Show, Abbott and Costello, Jabberjaw and many more. One of his most impressive feats at the Hanna-Barbera studio was animating the whole Flintstones episode The Flintstone Flyer (1960) by himself. Before working with Bill and Joe, Vinci had worked at the Terry Toons studio. Joseph Barbera had also briefly worked at the Terry Toons studio. In his autobiography Joe would tell this story about when he first started there. "They gave me a desk and light board next to a guy at another light board, and they gave me a 'scene.' This was a collection of drawings, like a flip book only bigger. If you flipped through them the characters appeared to move. I sat looking at the 'scene.' The man next to me introduced himself. 'I'm Carlo Vinci.' Then he looked at me looking at the stack of drawings on my board. 'You don't know anything about it do you?' 'I don't have the faintest idea.' So, Carlo - who would later come to work for Hanna-Barbera - got up from his board and explained the process to me. The scene, he said consisted of drawings numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, and so on. My job he explained, was to create the intermediate drawings which were numbered 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on. You did this by putting drawings 1 and 3 on the light board, which was a drawing board that had a piece of frosted glass on it lit from underneath by an electric bulb. The animation paper had two holes punched in it at the top. These holes fit over two registration pins, or pegs at the top of the board, keeping the drawings perfectly in place. So you put drawings 1 and 3 down over the lighted area, laid a blank piece of paper on top of this, then figured out how to bridge the positions in drawing 1 with those in drawing 3. That become drawing 2." 

   The credited background artist is Robert Gentle, and 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.   The credited background artist is Robert Gentle. 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.

This film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 3, Tom & Jerry's Greatest Chases Vol. 5, Tom and Jerry: Around the World, Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals and Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals as well as the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II and the recent Blu-Ray set, Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection. This marked the 111th Tom and Jerry cartoon. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

My Life in Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Less Than a Century by Joseph Barbera 

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

https://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2016/10/flintstone-by-vinci.html

 

Happy Go Ducky (1958)

 

This short film marks the first Tom and Jerry cartoon of 1958.

In this short film the Easter Bunny leaves an Easter basket for Tom and Jerry. The Easter basket includes an Easter that hatches Quaker the duck. The little duck annoys both Tom and Jerry and they do their best to get rid of him. 

Once again, this short is more charming that actually funny. The storyline is a fun one and provides a perfect role for Quacker (in his next to last theatrical cartoon). While Quacker has been in some strong cartoons, many cartoon fans find him annoying and it is fun to see Tom and Jerry just as much annoyed by him. The Easter setting and opening scene with the Easter bunny add a holiday charm to the film. Tom and Jerry here are both at their most likable and it always fun to see them team up against a common enemy. The background art has a wonderfully stylized 1950's look to it that I simply find very charming. They may be sparser than the backgrounds in the 1940's shorts, but they are still very appealing. The main problem with this short though is that unlike the Tom and Jerry shorts of the 1940's (which were hilarious), there is not a single real laugh here. I also found the ending to be overly cutesy. 

At one point, Quacker stabs Tom in the rear end and states "Touché, Pussycat!" Nibbles had done the same in the Mouseketeers cartoons. 

The credited animators on this film are Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall, Bill Schipek, James Escalante, Ken Southworth and Herman Cohen. The credited background artist is Roberta Greutert and the credited layout artist is Richard Bickenbach. This is one of only two Tom and Jerry shorts to credit Roberta Greutert. The other was Timid Tabby (1957).However, she would work on such some of Bill and Joe's later work with the credit of Ink and Paint Supervisor. Some of her work for the Hanna-Barbera studio includes such TV series as Jonny Quest, Wacky Races, The New Adventures of Gulliver, Motormouse and Autocat, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Where's Huddles, Harlem Globetrotters, Scooby-Doo Where Are You and The Pebbles and Bam-Bam Show. She also worked on the Hanna-Barbera feature films Hey There, It's Yogi Bear (1964) and The Man Called Flintstone (1966). 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. This marks the 110th Tom and Jerry short. 

This film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 3, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 1, Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals, Tom and Jerry: Follow That Duck! and Tom and Jerry: 85th Anniversary Kids Collection as well as the LaserDisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II and the recent Blu-Ray set, Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

 

Tom's Photo Finish (1957)

 

This short film marked the last theatrical short to feature Spike the bulldog in a main role, though he would have a tiny appearance in Tot Watchers (1958) and in some old footage in the cheater cartoon, Matinee Mouse (1966). The Tom and Jerry Wiki states that the dog in Rock 'n' Rodent (1967) is Spike, but the design is so different that I have a hard time believing that this is the same dog. 

In this short film, Tom steals some food from the fridge and frames Spike. Jerry however snaps a photo of Tom framing Spike. Jerry tries to show this photo to Tom's owners as Tom tries to stop him. 

As had become common around this time, this cartoon is more charming than funny. The storyline is clever and a great use of these characters. The story also works as a fun little departure from the usual Tom and Jerry formula, while still staying true to what makes this series so beloved. The background art is more simplistic than in the early shorts, but it has a really charming suburban feel that works quite well.  However, the gags themselves are especially funny here. These are the types of gags that may make you smile but will never make you laugh out loud. This is what keeps this otherwise charming short from reaching the heights of the Tom and Jerry cartoons of the 1940's. 

The credited animators on this short are Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall, Bill Schipek, Jack Carr, Ken Southworth and Herman Cohen. The credited background artist is Robert Gentle, and 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.   The credited background artist is Robert Gentle. 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.

This short film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 3, Tom & Jerry's Greatest Chases Vol. 5 and Tom and Jerry: In the Dog House as well as the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II and the recent Blu-ray set Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection. 

This film was submitted for an Academy Award but not nominated. Other cartoons submitted but not nominated included The Adventures of * (1957, Storyboard), The Bone Ranger (1957, Terry Toons), The Bongo Punch (1957, Walter Lantz), Boxcar Bandit (1957, Walter Lantz), Flebus (1957, Terry Toons), It's a Living (1957, Terry Toons), The Juggler of Our Lady (1957, Terry Toons), The Juggler of Our Lady (1957, Cavalcade Pictures), Magoo's Private War (1957, UPA), Springtime for Clobber (1958, Terry Toons) and What's Opera Doc (1958). It is rather interesting that What's Opera Doc would be submitted for an Academy Award but not nominated as today it is often hailed as one of the greatest cartoons of all time, even receiving the number one spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. The cartoons that were nominated were One Droopy Knight (1957, MGM), Tabasco Road (1957, Warner Brothers), Trees and Jamacia Daddy (1957, UPA), The Truth About Mother Goose (1957, Disney) and Birds Anonymous (1957). How something as bland as Trees and Jamacia Daddy could have been nominated while some of the other films submitted weren't, makes little sense to say the least. The winner was Birds Anonymous. Birds Anonymous is a masterpiece and I certainly can't argue with that decision. You can watch it receive its Oscar below. 

In 1974 there would be a Little Golden Book entitled Tom and Jerry's Photo Finish but the story in that book would be widely different from the short Tom's Photo Finish. 

Resources Used

The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck

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

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/cartoons-considered-for-an-academy-award-1957/

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Tom%27s_Photo_Finish

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