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 The world's most famous cat and mouse duo carry out more non-stop slapstick battling, leaving a trail of mayhem in their wake.
For over half a century Tinseltown’s most celebrated cat and mouse, Tom and Jerry, have entered our homes and our hearts with their instinctive antagonism. Their appeal is as timeless as our childhood games of hide-and-seek and tag and their antics are just as much fun.
Along with the usual cat and ‘miaowssing’, this dynamic duo are purr-fectly poised to stir-up trouble. Reality is left at the garden gate as the home is turned into the venue for the most manic, visually exciting chase. Eggs become ‘hen-grenades’, cheese graters - tanks. With a broken crockery count that could keep Wedgwood busy for the next 5 years, the goal remains the same: catch that mouse. And the scheming and plotting never ends making them the best of adversaries.
True to his feline instincts Tom cannot resist the chase. After all what else is a cat meant to do. Jerry on the other hand is ever resourceful, quick thinking and always one step ahead of Tom’s elaborate plans.
· The talented staff who worked on Tom and Jerry over the years included layout men Harvey Eisenberg and Dick Bickenbach, musical director Scott Bradley and animators Irven Spence, Ray Patterson, Ken Muse and Ed Barge.
· Bill Hanna would act out every scene, every gag and expression.
· The names Tom and Jerry were picked by MGM personnel from a batch chucked into a hat. The $50.00 prize went to New York animator Jack Carr.
· Fred Quimby the overall producer of the cartoon arm at MGM had no sense of humour and didn’t really understand what made the animators under his control tick.
· Each six minute cartoon took about six weeks of diligent effort, at a cost of up to $65,000
· The Gene Kelly and Jerry (the mouse) dance sequence in the musical Anchors Aweigh took two months and required ten thousand frames.
· When citing their influences, it is Tex Avery’s name that comes to the fore. It was his irreverent humour and non-conformity that helped create the hard-hitting gags that characterised Tom and Jerry cartoons in the mid-forties.
· The budget on Tom and Jerry cartoons at MGM averaged from $45,000 - $65,000. TV was only willing to pay $3,000 for a five-minute cartoon. Hanna-Barbera had to use every trick in the book to make their characters move around. Thus, limited animation was born.
· When Tom and Jerry were resurrected in the 1961, Czechoslovakian animators did the animation in Prague. In comparison to the early Hanna-Barbera work at MGM they were technically inferior.
· Over the years there have been many Tom and Jerry tie ins and these have included everything from posters, puppets, bicycle horns, statues, clothing, household ware and 24 carat gold watches.
· Tennis player Monica Seles used Tom and Jerry to inspire her. ‘I used to pretend I was the cat chasing the tennis ball, which was Jerry’. (Daily Mail)
· Bill Hanna provided the unearthly shrieks Tom makes when he is in pain or startled.
· Music played an important part in the success of the finished product. Scott Bradley was the musical wizard at MGM Cartoon Department who exercised wit and satire in his choice of tunes, which he freely raided from the MGM library. The Trolley song from Meet Me in St Louis was a recurring favourite.
· Scott Bradley also wrote, arranged, cut and pasted his original melodies and borrowed tunes without seeing a single animation cell.
· The MGM Cartoon Department orchestra consisted of between 16-30 musicians.
· In all MGM produced 161 Tom and Jerry cartoons.
· 1937 Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera meet at MGM, where they first worked together. A partnership that continues to this day.
· Bill Hanna has razor sharp comic timing and Joe Barbera is the best cartoonist he had ever seen.
· They decide to test the waters as a team and came up with two initial characters a Cat and a Mouse.
· February 10th 1940 the very first Tom and Jerry cartoon premieres - Puss Gets The Boot. Tom was called Jasper and looked a lot more mangy and disreputable. And Jerry was skinnier and not quite as cuddly.
· MGM executives loved it. Fred Quimby, MGM producer on the animation unit was, however, cold on the cat and mouse theme.
· A letter from a major distributor swayed the issue and Tom and Jerry started an uninterrupted 20-year production run at MGM.
· Puss Gets The Boot was nominated for an Oscar.
· Neither Bill Hanna or Joseph Barbera appear on the credits.
· By 1943 Tom was looking a little less moth eaten.
· 1943 Yankee Doodle Mouse wins an Oscar.
· 1944 How to Catch a Mouse wins an Oscar.
· 1945 Quiet Please wins an Oscar and introduces the bulldog Spike.
· 1945 Tom and Jerry feature in a dance sequence with Gene Kelly in the George Sydney musical, Anchors Aweigh.
· 1946 Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera provide the animated opening credits for George Sydney’s Holiday in Mexico.
· 1947 Dr Jeckyl and Mr Mouse receives an Oscar nomination. The Cat Concerto wins an Oscar.
· 1948 The Little Orphan wins an Oscar.
· 1951 The Two Mouseketeers wins an Oscar.
· 1952 Johan Mouse wins an Oscar.
· 1953 Tom and Jerry join Esther Williams in Charles Walters’s movie Dangerous When Wet for an underwater ballet sequence.
· An altogether unprecedented seven of the cartoons were presented with Academy Awards.
· 1954 In response to the new phenomenon -TV, Tom and Jerry make their debut in the new wide screen format CinemaScope, in the cartoon Pet Peeve.
· In 1955 on the retirement due to ill health of Fred Quimby, Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera were named production heads. Output by this time had doubled from eight to sixteen cartoons a year and everything looked solid.
· In 1957 the axe fell, with the whole movie business in dire straits due to, among other things, the inroads of television.
· MGM decided that Tom and Jerry cartoons could be re-issued and would do 90% of the business of new cartoons, so it shut down its cartoon division.
· William Hanna and Joseph Barbera did the only thing they knew how and carried on creating animated characters this time for the small screen forming their own company Hanna-Barbera. Their first characters Ruff and Reddy premiered on NBC in the autumn of 1957.
· 1960 Tom and Jerry receives a new lease of life as MGM realise there might be some more mileage in its cat and mouse stars.
· 1961 – ’62 Gene Deitch was signed to produce 13 new shorts.
· 1962 Gene Deitch’s contract was not renewed, instead 18 of the old Hanna-Barbera era shorts were repackaged and sent round the theatres as the Tom & Jerry Festival of Fun.
· 1963 Warner Brothers shut down their animation department. MGM immediately offered veteran Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck) the job of animating the new Tom and Jerry’s for theatrical release.
· Tom was revamped and the title frame received a spiffy 60’s makeover.
· 1967 After 36 episodes MGM stopped production.
· 1975 Hanna-Barbera re-appeared on the scene casting their old friends in a Saturday Morning Television series The New Tom & Jerry/ Grape Ape Show.
· 1980 MGM lease Tom and Jerry to CBS where a new series is put together using limited animation. The results fell short of those achieved in the early years.
· 1986 Turner Broadcasting Systems acquire the rights to the MGM library and start airing the old theatrical era shorts.
· 1989 Hanna-Barbera start production on a new Sunday morning TV series Tom and Jerry Kids featuring the cat and mouse as kids.
· Cartoon Network continues to air ever-popular episodes of the cat and mouse duo daily on Cartoon Network – the best place for cartoons.
The Hanna-Barbera Years
PUSS GETS THE BOOT 1940
THE MIDNIGHT SNACK 1941
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 1941
FRAIDY CAT 1942
DOG TROUBLE 1942
PUSS ‘N’ TOOTS 1942
THE BOWLING ALLEY 1942
FINE FEATHERED FRIEND 1942
SUFFERIN’ CATS 1943
THE LONESOME MOUSE 1943
THE YANKEE DOODLE MOUSE 1943
BABY PUSS 1943
THE ZOOT CAT 1944
THE MILLION DOLLAR CAT 1944
THE BODY GUARD 1944
PUTTIN’ ON THE DOG 1944
MOUSE TROUBLE 1944
THE MOUSE COMES TO DINNER 1945
MOUSE IN MANHATTAN 1945
TEE FOR TWO 1945
FLIRTY BIRD 1945
QUIET PLEASE 1945
SPRINGTIME FOR THOMAS 1946
THE MILKY WAIF 1946
TRAP HAPPY 1946
SOLID SERENADE 1946
CAT FISHIN’ 1947
PART TIME PAL 1947
THE CAT CONCERTO 1947
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. MOUSE 1947
SALT WATER TABBY 1947
A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE 1947
THE INVISIBLE MOUSE 1947
KITTY FOILED 1948
THE TRUCE HURTS 1948
OLD ROCKIN’ CHAIR TOM 1948
PROFESSOR TOM 1948
MOUSE CLEANING 1948
POLKA DOT PUSS 1949
THE LITTLE ORPHAN 1949
HATCH UP YOUR TROUBLES 1949
HEAVENLY PUSS 1949
THE CAT AND THE MERMOUSE 1949
LOVE THAT PUP 1949
JERRY’S DIARY 1949
TENNIS CHUMPS 1949
LITTLE QUACKER 1950
SATURDAY EVENING PUSS 1950
TEXAS TOM 1950
JERRY AND THE LION 1950
SAFETY SECOND 1950
TOM AND JERRY IN THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL 1950
THE FRAMED CAT 1950
CUE BALL CAT 1950
CASANOVA CAT 1951
JERRY AND THE GOLDFISH 1951
JERRY’S COUSIN 1951
SLEEPY-TIME TOM 1951
HIS MOUSE FRIDAY 1951
SLICKED-UP PUP 1951
NIT-WITTY KITTY 1951
CAT NAPPING 1951
THE FLYING CAT 1952
THE DUCK DOCTOR 1952
THE TWO MOUSEKETEERS 1952
SMITTEN KITTEN 1952
TRIPLET TROUBLE 1952
LITTLE RUNAWAY 1952
FIT TO BE TIED 1952
PUSH-BUTTON KITTY 1952
CRUISE CAT 1952
THE DOG HOUSE 1952
THE MISSING MOUSE 1953
JERRY AND JUMBO 1953
JOHANN MOUSE 1953
THAT’S MY PUP 1953
JUST DUCKY 1953
TWO LITTLE INDIANS 1953
LIFE WITH TOM 1953
PUPPY TALE 1954
POSSE CAT 1954
HIC-CUP PUP 1954
LITTLE SCHOOL MOUSE 1954
BABY BUTCH 1954
MICE FOLLIES 1954
NEAPOLITAN MOUSE 1954
DOWNHEARTED DUCKLING 1954
PET PEEVE 1954
TOUCHE, PUSSY CAT 1954
SOUTHBOUND DUCKLING 1955
PUP ON A PICNIC 1955
MOUSE FOR SALE 1955
DESIGNS ON JERRY 1955
TOM AND CHERIE 1955
SMARTY CAT 1955
PESCO PEST 1955
THAT’S MY MOMMY 1955
THE FLYING SORCERESS 1956
THE EGG, AND JERRY 1956
BUSY BUDDIES 1956
MUSCLE BEACH TOM 1956
DOWNBEAT BEAR 1956
BLUE CAT BLUES 1956
BARBECUE BRAWL 1956
TOPS WITH POPS 1957
TIMID TABBY 1957
FEEDIN’ THE KIDDIE 1957
MUCHO MOUSE 1957
TOM’S PHOTO FINISH 1957
HAPPY GO DUCKY 1958
ROYAL CAT NAP 1958
THE VANISHING DUCK 1958
ROBIN HOODWINKED 1958
TOT WATCHERS 1958
THE GENE DEITCH YEARS
SWITCHIN’ KITTEN 1961
DOWN AND OUTING 1961
IT’S GREEK TO ME-OW 1961
HIGH STEAKS 1962
MOUSE INTO SPACE 1962
LANDING STRIPLING 1962
CALYPSO CAT 1962
DICKY MOE 1962
THE TOM AND JERRY CARTOON KIT 1962
TALL IN THE TRAP 1962
SORRY SAFARI 1962
BUDDIES THICKER THAN WATER 1962
CARMEN GET IT! 1962
THE CHUCK JONES YEARS
PENTHOUSE MOUSE 1963
THE CAT AND THE MOUSE BELOW 1964
IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE MOUSE 1964
MUCH ADO ABOUT MOUSING 1964
SNOWBODY LOVES ME 1964
THE UNSHRINKABLE JERRY MOUSE 1964
AH, SWEET MOUSE-STORY OF LIFE 1965
TOM-IC ENERGY 1965
BAD DAY AT CAT ROCK 1965
THE BROTHERS CARRY-MOUSE-OFF 1965
HAUNTED MOUSE 1965
I’M JUST WILD ABOUT JERRY 1965
OF FELINE BONDAGE 1965
THE YEAR OF THE MOUSE 1965
THE CAT’S ME-OUCH 1965
JERRY GO-ROUND 1965
DUEL PERSONALITY 1966
JERRY, JERRY QUITE CONTRARY 1966
LOVE ME, LOVE MY MOUSE 1966
PUSS ‘N’ BOATS 1966
FILET MEOW 1966
MATINEE MOUSE 1966
THE A-TOM-INABLE SNOWMAN 1966
CATTY CORNERED 1966
CAT AND DUPLI-CAT 1967
O-SOLAR MEOW 1967
GUIDED MOUSE-ILLE 1967
ROCK ‘N’ RODENT 1967
CANNERY RODENT 1967
THE MOUSE FROM H.U.N.G.E.R 1967
SURF-BORED CAT 1967
SHUTTER BUGGED CAT 1967
ADVANCE AND BE MECHANIZED 1967
PURR-CHANCE TO DREAM 1967
William Hanna was born in Melrose New Mexico on July 14th 1910 and moved with his family to California about seven years later. Brought up in the Watts district of LA, Hanna showed an aptitude for music, which was to stand him in good stead in later years.
In college he studied journalism and engineering, which was abruptly halted with the stock market crash of 1929. He found himself taking a variety of jobs to get by, including washing cars and working for an engineering firm building the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.
William Hanna landed a job at the Harman-Ising cartoon studio washing old cells for reuse. After a couple of months he was promoted to ink and paint cells. His break came when Hugh Harman needed music and lyrics written for some of his cartoons. Hanna was the only one in the studio who could do it.
Putting music on exposure sheets was very much like directing cartoons. Within a year he was a fully-fledged cartoon director. His work came to the attention of Fred Quimby, who was setting up a new animation unit at MGM, which until now had been contracting its cartoons out to Harman-Ising. Hanna found himself hired.
Born on New York’s Lower East Side March 24th 1911, Joe Barbera discovered his talent for drawing early copying pictures from the Bible onto the school blackboard. This ability was forced to take a back seat with the arrival of the Great Depression. Graduating from school he found himself working for the Irving Trust Company. He detested the job but dared not quit and spent his spare time studying and submitting his cartoons to papers and magazines. He was also becoming interested in the art of animation and started night classes at the Pratt Institute in New York. He had a brief spell working at the studio which produced Popeye as an inker but quit after 4 days when he learned that a fellow inker had been doing the same job for two years.
Laid of by the bank he found himself working as an in-betweener for Van Beuren Cartoon Studio before moving on to work for Terrytoons in New Rochelle, from where he was hired by the new MGM Cartoon Department. It was there in 1937 that Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera first met.
Gene Dietch had spent a time as artistic director at Terrytoons where he had created the critically acclaimed Tom Terrific for the children’s TV programme Captain Kangaroo and Munro - an Oscar winning theatrical short. He was signed by MGM in 1960 to produce 13 new Tom and Jerry shorts. He carried out the work at his studio, which he had relocated to Prague, Czechoslovakia. MGM did not renew his contract.
Chuck Jones was a long time Warner Brothers animator. When the studio closed its animation department in 1963 Jones was immediately offered the job of creating a new series of Tom and Jerry cartoons. His work at Warner had included the development of Warner stars such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and their brethren. Jones produced 34 Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Cartoon Network premiered the brand-new Tom & Jerry cartoon Mansion Cat. Made in 2001 and featuring the voice of Joseph Barbera, Mansion Cat was the first new Tom & Jerry cartoon to be made in 30 years.
In Mansion Cat Tom’s feline fine as he’s left in charge of a stately mansion. The homeowner (Joseph Barbera) warns him, “We’re going out, the house is spick and span and I want to find it that way when we get back. And don’t try to blame the mouse like you did last time.” But what’s a cat to do, when there’s a mouse in the house?
The mansion is soon in chaos as Tom & Jerry embark on a cat-astrophic chase through the house. Crash! Tom slides into the video and turns into a video tape as Jerry wields the remote. Bang! Jerry bursts out of the ‘Cuppa Jo’ coffee machine. Wallop! Tom’s all washed up by the dishwasher.
Careering past real-life framed photographs of the Hanna Barbera team, the furry foes puncture a waterbed, vanquish a vacuum cleaner and send priceless antiques crashing. Tom even finds time to eat the hapless owner out of mansion and home, helping himself to the contents of the well-stocked fridge.
Few characters from the golden age of cartoons have proved to be as enduring as Tom & Jerry. The duo began in a one-shot MGM short called Puss Gets The Boot, released to theatres in February 1940. Until 1958 all Tom & Jerry cartoons were directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. This new Tom & Jerry cartoon Mansion Cat is directed and written by Karl Toerge, with Joseph Barbera as Story Consultant and providing the voice of the hapless mansion owner.
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