Matinee Mouse (1966)

 

Matinee Mouse marked the first Tom and Jerry cheater cartoon since Smarty Cat (1955). For those of you who need a refresher, this term refers to a cartoon that heavily relies on clips from previous films. While this short was made during the Chuck Jones era, the cartoons clips that are used all come from the Hanna and Barbera era. As such William Hanna and Joseph Barbera get a director's credit here. This is one of only two (the other also being a cheater) Tom and Jerry shorts from this era that Chuck Jones does not take credit on. This film uses clips from the shorts, The Truce Hurts (1948), Professor Tom (1948), Love That Pup (1949), Jerry's Diary (1949), Jerry and the Lion (1950), The Flying Cat (1952), The Missing Mouse (1953) and The Flying Sorceress (1956).

In this short film, Tom and Jerry are fighting as usual, when they decide to call a truce. Now deciding to be friends the two decide to go to their local movie theater. That movie theater just happens to be showing Tom and Jerry cartoons that day. Each of them laughs at the other's pain onscreen which leads to them fighting again. The idea of Tom and Jerry watching their own films in a theater was done before in Cruise Cat (1952). 

This is definitely the better of the two cheater Tom and Jerry cartoons from this era. The premise is quite charming. While the storyline may be predictable, it is fun. It suits the characters of Tom and Jerry perfectly and it is fun to see their reactions to what is happening on screen. I also loved the cameo by Droopy on one of the movie posters. 

This said, it has the flaw of every one of these Tom and Jerry cheaters. The previous material simply works much better in the context of the original cartoons. Because of this while I laughed at some of these scenes in the original shorts, I did not laugh seeing them presented simply as isolated clips. There is also the flaw here that the Chuck Jones era versions of these characters don't always match the Hanna and Barbera versions. Because of this there are some very jarring moments as we cut from the new to the old footage and back again. 

The credited animators on this film are Ken Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Ray Patterson and Lewis Marshall. These are all animators from the Hanna and Barbera era. Tom Ray gets a story credit. Dean Elliott gets a music credit. This is the 149th Tom and Jerry cartoon. 

This cartoon is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6 and Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection as well as the VHS set Tom and Jerry in Matinee Mouse and the LaserDisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. It aired on the Toon in With Me episodes When Jimmy Met Mabel (2021), A Tribute to the Movies (2021), Soup-Off (2022), A Cracker Barrel of Laughs (2023), Time for Recess (2024) and 2024 Rewind (2024).

-Michael J. Ruhland