Surf-Bored Cat (1967)

 

Surf-Bored Cat marks the 158th Tom and Jerry cartoon and the last directed by Abe Levitow. 

In this short film, while on a cruise Tom wishes to go surfing. However, he runs into trouble with a shark, a starfish and of course Jerry. 

This is an enjoyable little film but hardly among the cat and mouse duo's best. The basic premise of this short is a fun one and the filmmakers are able to get some very clever gags in. Dean Elliott's surf-rock inspired musical score is a lot of fun and the opening part of it will randomly come into my head at times. However, the cartoon does suffer from the same flaws as most of the Abe Levitow directed shorts. There are some poor drawings here and the character animation leaves a bit to be desired compared to the cartoons that Chuck himself directed. The timing feels really off on many of these gags. Because of this some gags that should be really strong do not really get a laugh. 

It is interesting to note how this film has little to do with Tom and Jerry fighting. Jerry is at first simply an observer to Tom's various surfing mishaps. Later he mocks Tom for his ineptness at surfing. While it is nice to see a change of pace at times this feels like a Tom cartoon with Jerry simply thrown in there because he is expected to be there.  

The credited animators on this film are Dick Thompson, Philip Roman, Ben Washam, Hal Ambro, Don Towsley and Carl Bell. The credited writers are Bob Ogle and Sid Marcus. Cartoon fans might know Sid Marcus best from his time at Warner Brothers where he wrote Devil May Hare (1954), the first Tasmanian Devil cartoon.  Philip DeGuard is the credited background artist, and Don Morgan is the credited layout artist.  

This cartoon is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 2 and Tom and Jerry's Summer Holidays as well as the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. It is also featured as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray for the Elvis Presley movie, Double Trouble (1967). 

This cartoon is featured in the Toon in With Me episodes, Toony's Calendar (2021), Bill 2: Algae Boogaloo (2021), Old Dog, New Tricks (2023), History's Mysteries (2025) and Santa Cruise (2025).

-Michael J. Ruhland