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