Favorite Tom & Jerry cartoon(s)

Tom and Jerry were at the top of their game while Joe Barbera and the late Bill Hanna were directing them. The later Gene Deitch and Will Snyder counterfeits make me cringe. Even the Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow versions fail to recapture the nuances of the cat / mouse dynamic.

Oneuglybunny has almost every Tom and Jerry release: Whiskers Away, Wild & Wacky Adventures, Greatest Chases, Spotlight Collections One and Two, Tom and Jerry the Movie, and Tom and Jerry and the Magic Ring. Clearly, I'm a big Tom and Jerry devotée, and I'm sorely pressed to single out particulars. Here goes anyway:

1. The Flying Cat - Absolutely ingenious! Tom gains the ability to fly, and pursues both Jerry Mouse and that little yellow bird. And that flight music has to be the happiest scoring I've ever heard! Gorgeous gags, too. Unbeatable humor after Tom crashes into the mailbox: little flying cats circle his head. Out of ten stars, this one scores a twelve.

2. The Cat and the Mermouse - Ultimately a delirium sequence, having a cat explore an underwater world is magnificent! Though Tom pursues the mermouse for most of the short, at the end, the mermouse tries mightily to pull Tom free of a malicious octopus's grasp. This is where all the later directors go wrong: right from Puss Gets the Boot, Tom intends only to tease and torment Jerry Mouse, rarely meaning to cause bloodshed or death. Their relationship isn't hateful, it's more like sibling rivalry, which is why they can form a partnership when the need arises (The Tot Watchers, for instance). Notice how this short ends with Jerry resuscitating Tom, having apparently rescued him from drowning.

3. Puss Gets the Boot - The debut for Jasper and Jinx, who would later be renamed Tom and Jerry. This is our introduction to the cat and the mouse, and defines who they are and how they interact. The chemistry is there, as are the "sets" and the scoring, and theater audiences ate it up and clamored for more.

4. Push Button Kitty - I've chosen this for no better reason than it portrays Tom purely as the victim. He starts out as a comfortable, contented house cat ... then suddenly, he's an obsolete discard. In one horrible minute, his whole life threw snake eyes, and his future went bankrupt. "It's progress," Mammy tells him, and Tom nods as though he understands. [see attachment] But the look in his eyes says he can't understand: "Why me? Why now? Why all at once?" And just like that, poor Tom is a nowhereling.


5. The Night Before Christmas - One of their early works, and the first to show Tom has a conscience. Yes, the cat chases the mouse ... and rescues him from a snowdrift. True, the mouses pummels the cat with a boxing glove ... and prevents the cat from getting his tongue caught in a mousetrap.

Obviously, there is a tremendous range to these characters, and in the masterful hands of their creators, Tom and Jerry became the comedy team of an era. Earlier, ZavKram and I kicked about some analyses of The Karateguard. It had Joe Barbera writing the gags, and it stayed largely on-model with the characters ... but it lacked the warmth and the subtlety that the late William Hanna lent to his productions.

Pardon me for saying this, but any present-day attempt to resurrect the Tom and Jerry duo will not give us the beloved cat and mouse we remember; instead, we will see only two zombies going through the motions. Far better would be original characters that come without the nostalgic baggage. But that's just my ugly head roaring.

These are my favs:

Yankee Doodle Mouse
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse
Heavenly Puss
The Cat Concerto
The Night Before Christmas

The music and action/gags compliment each other very well.

Solid Serenade, the power of song wins me over.

I concur with Solid Serenade--That one's a downright classic. The entire scene of Tom crooning to Toodles "Is you is or is you ain't my baby?" is pure magic, not to mention catchy. I felt this short was the best use of giving Tom a voice--as this one fits him perfectly--especially when he tricks Spike into chasing the stick. Yet, it's not just the song that is so good--it's the gags--the timing of each one is perfect--Tom unwittingly romancing Spike, Tom smacking Spike in the head with a brick, Tom getting his head caught in the window and making that weird sound--not to mention the bit where Tom thinks he's won and goes inside the doghouse letting out an evil laugh--only for Jerry to lead Spike inside, and Spike letting out an evil laugh.

I have a few others as well.

"Johann Mouse" I love Johann Strauss II's music--it's downright gorgeous. This short is charming in a storybook way--Tom can play the piano fantastically and Jerry is quite the dancer.

"A Puppy's Tail"--What can I say? That puppy is adorable, and the story is rather sweet without overdoing it. It's good to see Tom actually has a conscious and searches in the rain for Jerry and the puppy, who have to save him in the end.

"Mice Follies" My favorite Jerry and Nibbles short-- the idea of flooding the kitchen to transform it into a skating rink is brilliant--not to mention using the Sleeping Beauty waltz and jello for colored spotlights.

"Baby Puss" I'll admit, I used to hate this one, because I found it rather to be a rather cruel short for Tom, being dressed up like a baby and made fun of by the other cats. However, the truth is, I've warmed up to it because it's actually quite funny. The scene with Jerry in the dollhouse bathtub bathing--and smacking a peeping Tom with a tiny brush is hilarious. However the highlight for me has to be the musical sequence of "Mamãe eu quero" as the cats sing and dance--and of course abuse the heck out of Tom--the best being Meathead(the red headed cat) "innocently" rubbing a hanger against Tom's whiskers while Butch flat out uses the poor cat as a musical instrument. Also, the castor oil scene at the end is great.

"Mouse Trouble" another one I had to warm up to--as a middle schooler I found it kind of violent, but it's definitely a classic. I love the part where Tom is inside a box dressed as a present and Jerry sticks pins and knives in it--finally sawing the box in half and becoming disturbed at what he sees inside. Oh, and that windup doll--funny stuff.

"Jerry's Cousin" Don't mess with Jerry's cousin. Amusing that Jerry actually has to call for backup on this one since he usually gets the best of Tom anyway, but it is fun to see Muscles beat the crap out of Tom, especially the part where Muscles blows the bullets out of Tom's gun into his eyes and then proceeds to whack him with a hammer. Ouch! Also, those three cats Tom calls in--got to love how their tails bounce up and down to the music.

"Tom and Jerry at the Hollywood Bowl" Again a good mixture of Tom, Jerry and classical music.

"Jerry and the Goldfish"-- I just find something rather charming about Jerry befriending and saving the goldfish from Tom trying to eat it.

"Jerry and Jumbo" The "Giant mouse" bits have me in stitches.

Oh, and I forgot about Pecos Pest! Crambone!

Just FYI, that song played in Mouse in Manhattan is Tommy Dorsey's "Manhattan Serenade", made famous by Jo Stafford.

My compliments to BMode for remembering "Solid Serenade." Some folks have wondered what Tom and Jerry would have been like had Fred "Tex" Avery directed them. Looking at "Solid Serenade" and "Puttin' On The Dog", I cannot honestly say that Tex Avery didn't have a strong hand in these cartoons, among others. Anybody could have scripted Jerry Mouse throwing a convenient meringue pie at Tom to make him shut up. I dare you to tell me that Tex Avery didn't suggest adding the steam iron to the pie before Jerry threw it. *ping* No, no, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera and Fred Avery were too closely allied as friends and coworkers that Avery's influence had to bleed across to the Tom and Jerry cartoons, despite producer Quimby's segregation.

I just saw Tee for Two, man this one is fast passed and incredibly timed, much like in the style of Tex Avery as John suggests above. The golf swing sound effect is right in rhythm with the music making it quite percussive. Honorable Mention for sure on my list.

You know, Dave... I burst out laughing just now when I read the initial post in this thread. I was impressed with your comments about the five cartoons listed and I was thinking to myself, "Wow, Dave likes these cartoons for the exact same reasons I do.." and then, suddenly, I realized: "Wait a minute, this is one of my previous threads from the old forum!" It was the description of "Cat Fishin'" that I recognized as my own... Man, I must have posted that, what, 7 years ago? I had failed to see my old signature at the bottom. Thanks for moving it over here!

To my original list, above, I'll add the following:

"The Night Before Christmas"

I had a chance to see this particular cartoon a number of times this holiday season and I've grown to appreciate it all the more for it. This was the first cartoon in the long-running series to explore the complicated relationship between the two protagonists. In the recently-restored version for Blu-Ray the colors in this cartoon just pop. Hanna-Barbera had pulled out all the stops for this production with regard to layouts and backgrounds. The story manages to be cute and not overtly sentimental. My favorite scene is when Jerry attempts to sidetrack Tom by holding up some mistletoe.

"The Cat and the Mermouse"

Another T&J cartoon with a strong fantasy element; the action takes place almost entirely underwater. Al Grandmain receives animator credit on this and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse". I can't confirm whether or not he was responsible for all of bubble effects in this cartoon or for the heavy use of shadows in the latter. This, like "Heavenly Puss" was also released in 1949 and also boasts a masterful Scott Bradley score.

"Designs On Jerry"

I have to admit that my truly favorite T&J cartoons come from the mid-to-late 40's. Starting around '52 or '53 there are already signs that the series is becoming more streamlined and predictable. This entry, however, shows much imagination and wit. Here, Tom attempts to build the proverbial "better mousetrap" ( a Rube Goldberg-like contraption that defies all logic but is fun to watch in action). The bulk of the action takes place on Tom's drawing board while he catches 20 winks: Jerry and Tom are depicted as simple stick figures but with no less personality than their "flesh-and-blood" counterparts.

"The Little Orphan"

Here's another T&J cartoon that whenever I watch it seems to epitomize everything I normally associate with a great MGM cartoon: just the right amount of sentimentality that manages not to be too cloying, deft handling of animation, gags, and timing.

It's been discussed on other forums how MGM, for a number of years, had brought a lot of influence to bear on the nomination process for the Academy Awards ceremony; but I think that this particular cartoon was fully deserving of its Oscar.

OUB: while it's obvious from watching the T&J cartoons, from 1942 onward, that Tex Avery had exerted an influence on the timing and outrageous gags; I have never heard or read anything to the effect that Avery actually suggested gags or story lines to Hanna-Barbera while they were at MGM. It seems more likely that H-B drew inspiration simply from seeing the cartoons when they were shown to Fred Quimby and the rest of the cartoon staff. I could be wrong though.

I had read somewhere that Avery may have been jealous and even resentful about the fact that H-B were the apparent apple of Quimby's eye. It has been said that Avery would hide anything he was sketching whenever H or B walked past. If he was resentful, however, he must have kept it to himself; because decades later he finished out his long career by working for his old colleagues (at their invitation) on a segment for one of their Saturday morning series.

Going by his biography A Cast Of Friends, Bill Hanna states that Fred "Tex" Avery and Joe Barbera and himself were close friends, and often got together outside the studio for some good-ol'-boy breeze-shootin'. Again, from the same source, Hanna recalls that only Avery and Hanna had vehicles, and would routinely carpool themselves and other animators to and from MGM studios. There was favoritism by Fred Quimby toward Hanna and Barbera: multiple sources confirm this. But as far as I can research, Avery had no animosity toward Bill and Joe. If anything, animosity would be directed at the humorless, penny-pinching, segregationist Quimby.

There probably is no sure way to ascertain how much Fred Avery influenced the Tom and Jerry cartoons. However, despite Quimby's efforts to segregate the H-B unit from the Avery unit, the camaraderie of these three animation enthusiasts practically guarantees bleed-through of creativity.