The Great American Cat And Mouse.

I know. I know. I should have started my threads with Tom and Jerry, since Hanna and Barbera created them long before the TV cartoons. But, due to their enduring legacy, and the fact that there were no made for TV cartoons about them until 1975, I saved them up for this holiday.

It's only fair to begin at the beginning, when Hanna and Barbera produced the early theatrical shorts for MGM. Of all these, I have my own personal top three:

In third place is "The Bodyguard." Spike becomes Jerry's ally, and advises him to whistle whenever he's in trouble. Jerry does so, until Spike's picked up by the dogcatcher. Oh boy.

But what I really remember about this one is that it's one of the very few in which Tom spoke. His sinister laugh, followed by, "In me power!" sent shivers down my spine back then--and it still does today!

In the runner-up spot is "Heavenly Puss." Tom has a nightmare about going to the other place, where Spike's a devil dog, so to speak. Tom's efforts to redeem himself fail, but, thankfully, he wakes up, and decides to be nice to Jerry.

And the short I voted number one is one I'm sure everyone here will agree with: "The Cat Concerto."

Tom tries to play Lizst's "Hungarian Rhapsody 2," but Jerry simply won't have it. Hilarity ensues from beginning to end. The plot of a mouse ruining what starts out as a perfect concert hall performance was used in cartoons from other studios, like "Rhapsody Rabbit," "Philharmaniacs," and "Animal Faire."

T & J's influence rubbed off on the public in other ways, too. They swam with Esther Williams in "Dangerous When Wet." And Jerry's song and dance sequence in "Anchors Aweigh," inspired the video for Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract," in which she sings and dances with the animated MC Skat Kat, instead of a human boyfriend. And the adversarial relationship between cat and mouse was widely imitated, even by H-B themselves!

The duo even had a Fourth Of July-themed short, "Yankee Doodle Mouse," complete with fireworks.

The shorts were repackaged for "The Tom And Jerry Show," which aired on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 1965-72. I liked seeing these in their Sunday slot. The show also featured Droopy, Spike and Tyke, and Barney Bear. Which reminds me of something odd I noticed. "The Bee-Deviled Bruin" was included in the mix, even though it wasn't produced by MGM, let alone H-B. Maybe the network mistook it for a Barney Bear short. Who knows?

But H-B had no intention of retiring these characters. In 1975, they brought them back in a new series of made for TV cartoons under the title "The Tom And Jerry/Grape Ape Show."

For the new T & J shorts, the rivalry was forgotten, and I actually liked that. My faves from this iteration were "Planet Of The Dogs," in which they landed on Planet Dogstar, where cats and mice were enemies of the canine populace. There was also a very funny one, in which they were forest rangers contending with a bear. The running gag here was that a couple was there on a camping trip. Each time the wife told her slacker of a husband all that was going on, he just repeatedly said, "Yes, dear."

The Great Grape Ape. I did see him and Beegle Beagle, but not until the cartoons resurfaced on USA Cartoon Express. They were certainly funny for their time. I especially liked the two-parter, "SPLAT's Back," in which they went after the Chicken, who trained birds to steal. Sorry, but I never saw the original "SPLAT-" an acronym for Special Police League Of Animal Trainees, in case you were wondering.

Two years later, Grape Ape joined the cast of "Scooby's All Star Laff-A-Lympics." Here, he was the only newbie on The Yogi Yahooeys. And yes, he still said nothing more than "Grape Ape. Grape Ape."

Then, in 1976, Mumbly joined the lineup. When I saw him, I, like so many others, said, "That's just Muttley in a trench coat." I only saw one episode of this, a spoof of "Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde," in which the good doctor was merely trying to develop a new soft drink, but forgot the fizzle. A year later, he, too, joined the cast of "Laff-A-Lympics" as the captain of The Really Rottens. Why the change from good guy to bad guy? Some people say he and Dread Baron were meant to be the new Dastardly and Muttley. Notice the resemblance?

Afterwards, there were many other T & J animated series and movies. But none of these were produced by H-B, except for....

"Tom And Jerry Kids." Like others before it, this series showed T & J in their younger days. Tom was a kitten, and Jerry, well, a baby mouse like Tuffy/Nibbles. This also had new shorts about Spike and Tyke, as well "Droopy And Dripple," the latter being Droopy's son. This father and son team eventually got their own series a few years later, "Droopy: Master Detective." I saw none of these including new "Screwball Squirrel" cartoons, probably because I'd had my fill of seeing classic cartoon characters as little kids.

Currently, there's a new T & J show on Cartoon Network. I haven't seen it as yet, since I'm not sure if it's anything like the old school classics.

But all in all, on this Fourth Of July, I say, "Three cheers for Tom and Jerry!"

Trivia Question 42: In the Big Little Book "Tom And Jerry Meet Mr. Fingers," what type of flowers did the title villain plant near the city reservoir?

Answer: Daffodils.

Actually, I'm fairly certain that Don Messick voiced Droopy in those shorts, Welker voiced McWolf while Charlie Addler voiced Dripple. Yeah, I had a weak spot for the Tom and Jerry Kids--although the Droopy and Dripple segments were my favorite.

Without formal credits to acknowledge who did what, there's no way to know for certain who supplied that snippet of dialogue. It is known that Bill Hanna supplies Tom's yips, yipes, and yowls in other Tom and Jerry cartoons. Which means that all-around nice guy Bill Hanna may well have given us that awesomely fiendish laugh and gloat. Talk about them inner demons ....