One of the best things about watching the later William Hanna and Joseph Barbera directed Tom and Jerry shorts is seeing how they anticipate the work that Bill and Joe would soon be doing for TV. Many of the early Hanna-Barbera TV work would feature cartoon characters that were heavily inspired by popular TV and movie personalities. This short film features a pre-cursor to that with a bear who is visually inspired by Ed Norton the character Art Carney played on TV's The Honeymooners. One of the Hanna-Barbera studios most popular early TV stars was Yogi Bear, another bear inspired by Ed Norton. The two cartoon bears even wear identical hats. Of course, Bill and Joe's first primetime TV series, The Flintstones would also be inspired by The Honeymooners.
In this short film, Jerry is trying to listen to the radio, while Tom keeps trying to turn it off. Eventually the two hear about a bear that escaped from the circus. He is a dancing bear and will dance whenever he hears music. There is a big reward for this bear. Of course, the bear shows up at Tom and Jerry's house. Tom sets his sights on capturing the bear and collecting the reward, but this becomes harder and harder when Jerry keeps playing the radio and the bear keeps dancing.
This is another Tom and Jerry short of this time period that is more charming than actually funny. Still this cartoon is very entertaining. The bear is a very fun supporting character and the scenes where he dances with Tom are a lot of fun as well. I love the design of this bear, and the character animation of his dancing is fantastic (especially during the door gag). Also excellent is the character animation of both Tom and Jerry. The animation of Jerry happily dancing mocking Tom's predicament is delightful as is the great character animation of Tom being a reluctant dancing partner. The closing gag is also a great one. THe background art is beautiful to look at and the new CinemaScope Blu-ray (which lets us see it in the correct aspect ratio) shows just how handsome this film is. One only wishes the gags could have been funnier.
One of the songs heard in this film is La Cumparsita, an Argentine tango that had been recorded in the U.S. by such artists as Hal Kemp, Tito Schipa, Eddy Duchin and Xavier Cugat. Below is Hal Kemp's 1933 recording of the tune.
Also heard in this film is the traditional gypsy number, Two Guitars. Below you can listen to The Hungarian Zingari Orchestra's 1931 recording of the song.
The credited animators on this film are Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall. Irv Spence animates the first shot of the bear dancing down the sidewalk and his first time dancing with Tom. Ken Muse animates the wonderful door dance scene. The credited background artist is Robert Gentle and the credited layout artist is Dick Bickenbach. Gentle 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. 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 marked the 102nd Tom and Jerry short.
A version of the gag where Tom's head turns into various objects including a cymbal, a cowbell and a drum was used earlier in the short film, Saturday Evening Puss (1950). However, in the earlier cartoon, this happened to Jerry not Tom.
This film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 4, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 2 and Tom & Jerry's Greatest Chases Vol. 4, the Laser Disc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II and the new Blu-ray set, Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection.
This film was submitted and screened for consideration for an Academy Award but was not nominated. The nominated films that year were all from the UPA studio, Gerald McBoing Boing on Planet Moo (1956), The Jaywalker (1956) and Mr. Magoo's Puddle Jumper (1956). The winner was Mr. Magoo's Puddle Jumper, a fun but hardly outstanding entry in that series. This marked the only year when all the nominees were from the same studio, a feat not even Disney accomplished. You can watch the award be accepted below.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/cartoons-considered-for-an-academy-award-1956/
https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2024/11/less-cowbell.html
https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Down_Beat_Bear
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/a-musical-up-roar-1954-57/
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