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