Puss 'n' Boats (1966)

 

This marks the 147th Tom and Jerry cartoon, the 20th produced by Chuck Jones and the 2nd to be directed by Abe Levitow. 

In this short film, Tom is guarding a boat that is full of cheese. This job proves to be much harder than anticipated, when Jerry gets a whiff of the cheese and decides to come aboard. 

This is an enjoyable short. The premise is a strong one and there are some pretty creative gags. I especially like the gag with Tom crawling through the pipe. Tom and Jerry are just as fun of characters here as they always are.  However, the pacing and many of the drawings simply aren't as strong as in the cartoons that Chuck directed himself. 

This marks the first Tom and Jerry short to have a story by Bob Ogle. Ogle would also write the Tom and Jerry shorts, Filet Meow (1966), The A-Tom-inable Snowman (1966), Rock 'n' Rodent (1967), The Mouse from H.U.N.G.E.R. (1967), Surf Bored Cat (1967), Shutter Bugged Cat (1967) and Advance and be Mechanized (1967). He also wrote some Pink Panther cartoons for DePatie-Freleng as well as all 16 of the Crazylegs Crane shorts. He also worked on such TV shows as Groovie Goolies, The Flintstone Comedy Hour, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Yogi's Gang, Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics and The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show. 

This marks the first of four Tom and Jerry cartoons for which, Carl Brandt would do the music for. Cartoon-wise Brandt also did the music for the TV series The Dick Tracy Show and The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo. Most of his work was for live action though. He composed music for such movies as THe Cowboy (1954), Seven Angry Men (1955) and Shotgun (1955) as well as for the TV shows Mister Roberts, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle: USMC, That Girl, Mayberry R.F.D. and Mod Squad.

The credited animators are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray and Dick Thompson. The credited layout artist is Don Morgan. The credited background artist is Philip DeGuard. This cartoon is available on the DVD set Tom and Jerry: Chuck Jones Collection. 

-Michael J. Ruhland