The A-Tom-inable Snowman (1966)

 

This marks the 150th Tom and Jerry short and the third directed by Abe Levitow. 

In this short film, Tom chases Jerry through the Alps. Whenever Tom gets hurt from his failed efforts a St. Bernard brings him to with his barrel of alcohol making Tom drunk.

Like most Abe Levitow directed shorts this cartoon is considerably weaker than the Chuck Jones directed ones. There are some weak drawings here and the timing can feel quite a bit off. Meanwhile the gags feel overly familiar, repetitive and not that funny. The ending gag simply feels out of place and more strange than funny. 

In defense of this cartoon though, the background art is nice to look at, and the musical score is quite fun

The credited animators on this film are Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray, Dick Thompson, Ben Washam and Philip Roman. Bob Ogle gets a story credit. Dean Elliott gets a music credit. The credited layout artist is Robert Givens and the credited background artist is Bob Inman. This is one of only three Tom and Jerry cartoons Bob Inman worked on. The others were Love Me Love My Mouse (1966) and The Mouse from H.U.N.G.E.R. (1967). He would also work with producer Chuck Jones on the TV specials How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), The Pogo Birthday Special (1969) and A Very Merry Cricket (1973). He also worked on many animated TV series including The New Three Stooges, Off to See the Wizard, It's the Wolf, Motormouse and Autocat, The Roman Holidays and Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space. 

This cartoon appears on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Paws for a Holiday, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry: Winter Wackiness and Tom and Jerry: Winter Tails as well as the VHS sets Tom and Jerry: Blue Cat Blues, Christmas Cartoon Capers and Christmas Collection: Looney Tunes (despite having Looney Tunes in the title this VHS features three Tom and Jerry cartoons (the others being The Night Before Christmas (1941) and Snowbody Loves Me (1964))) plus the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. It also appeared on the Toon in With Me episodes The Snow Day (2021), No Rats, Ands or Buts (2021), A Most Unusual Winter (2023), On Location (2024) and Holiday Markets (2025). 

-Michael J. Ruhland