Safety Second

Plot synopsis:
The cartoon short opens with Jerry and Nibbles asleep in their beds. Jerry looks at his calendar and seeing it's the 4th of July, he wakes up Nibbles. He instantly brings out firecrackers, but Jerry puts them back into the shed. The mouse gives his calendar a look again and sees his daily quotation: "Make it safe and sane", meaning that fireworks aren't allowed this year.
Jerry and Nibbles then go outside and enjoy their holiday with noisemakers with Jerry showing him it's still the 4th of July without fireworks, before Nibbles (not one to follow the quotation from earlier) lights a firework from his diaper. Jerry grabs it and then fails to throw it off before the firecracker explodes on him. Jerry then holds out his hand as if to say, "Give me the rest of them." Nibbles hands him another tiny firework from his diaper and smiles before dashing away. Seeing through this, Jerry then picks up Nibbles and turns him upside down, and he finds that Nibbles had a sizable amount of fireworks hidden in his diaper. To give him a timeout, Jerry gets him to stand in a corner, but no sooner does Nibbles repeat his transgression with a firework under the bed before leaving, and Jerry is blown up again before he can toss it out of the door. Nibbles then hides under his quilt.
Jerry then goes outside to relax in a hammock while Tom lights a firework underneath Jerry. The firework explodes and wakes up the mouse who, believing that the explosion was Nibbles' doing, walks around the tree to see if the little mouse was there but runs into Tom instead, who slaps Jerry with his own eyelid and traps him. When Tom lets go, Jerry is kneeling over a clenched fist. The mouse points at it, and Tom inspects it, and Jerry responds by using his other fist to punch the cat in the eye. Jerry jumps into a hole in the ground and Tom uses a pickaxe to try and dig the mouse out. Nibbles, who observes this event, loads a rocket into the drainpipe, which picks up the cat and sends him on a ride across the yard and into the clothesline.
Jerry hides from the raging cat in a barrel and Tom uses a garbage can lid to trap him. Nibbles, again watching from a distance, paints another firework with glue and "graciously" hands it to the cat. Tom lights the firework and tries to throw it into the barrel, but spots the situation before he runs too far away and continues to attempt to throw it, but fails as it is stuck to his hand. Tom now tries to soften the explosion by sitting on the firework, but made a bad choice as to where: under the flowerbox. The explosion propels Tom headfirst into the flowerbox, making him smash through it, and a pot fall on his head.
Now ready for revenge, Tom chases Nibbles who runs into the back end of a firework. Nibbles lights the firework, empties the gunpowder, and chases the cat. He corners Tom, but after the fuse runs out the ruse is exposed. Nibbles pops out and is caught. However, he throws a tiny firework at Tom and leaves as Tom takes it, believing it to be harmless, laughs at it, and balances it on his nose. At that point, the tiny firework explodes in his face.
Tom then loads a bunch of fireworks outside Jerry's front door and lays out the gunpowder, but Jerry breaks the connection to his door and lights the gunpowder. After he is finished laying out the gunpowder, Tom prepares to light it, but Jerry's flame does the work for him. Tom sees a big explosion of the gunpowder can is imminent, but cannot escape it in time. Tom chases both mice, and they use a firework to shoot colorful fireballs at Tom. Tom runs away through a barrel and the basement window and sneaks behind Jerry and Nibbles, who have lit another rocket firework and have loaded it into the barrel where Tom was. Tom grabs the firework from them, only to get launched into the air by it, resulting in a firework display of death.
Jerry then wipes his hands together and heads over to Nibbles and his noisemakers while Nibbles lights one more firecracker. With nowhere else to hide it, he stashes it into Jerry's noisemaker. Jerry pats Nibbles on the head and proceeds to blow his noisemaker. Knowing the consequences, Nibbles attempts to stop Jerry from doing so, but Jerry just pats him on the head again, then blows his noisemaker and the firecracker inside it explodes, giving him a blackface appearance. Jerry looks at Nibbles, annoyed, and Nibbles smiles innocently and plays with his noisemakers.

Tags: comic

Review:
That Nibbles Is A Real 'Firecracker!'.
"Nibbles" is back in this 1950 Tom and Jerry.
He's the little orphan that was dropped off at the door several years back and has appeared in a few episodes, usually stories about the little gray mouse's appetite.
This one has nothing to do with food or drink, but fireworks.
It appears it was going to be a good moral story for little kids, warning them about the dangers of fireworks.
Instead, it turns out the opposite.
This is NOT a good message but it IS a funny cartoon!Jerry looks at the calendar one morning and sees it is July 4, points that out to Nibbles who then goes and gets a big box overflowing with fireworks.
Jerry is not happy, puts the 'works back in the closet and points out what it says on the bottom of the calendar: "make it safe and sane." Anyway, Nibbles is not happy as most kids wouldn't be with Jerry putting away the goodies.
He wants to see some explosions, not some stupid hats-and-horns New Year's Eve-type stuff Jerry is doing.
Funny things happen after that, beginning with Jerry discovering an entire arsenal of fireworks hidden in Nibbles' diaper!
The little guy is always producing a firecracker no matter what his elder is doing.
Finally, he gets banished to his room.When Jerry goes to sleep in the hammock outside, Tom starts fireworks of his own.
From there, it's predictable - but funny in spots - that Nibbles and his arsenal comes in handy and the little mice get a bang out of what happens to Tom in the second half of the story..
Amusing cartoon about Nibbles and his fireworks....
Typically amusing Tom & Jerry cartoon in which the star part goes to Nibbles, the mischievous little mouse with a penchant for getting into trouble.
Jerry awakens in the morning and the wall calendar tells him it's July 4th.
When Nibbles awakes, he brings him over to view the calendar which warns "Stay safe"--but the lesson is apparently lost on the little one.He's got fireworks in hidden spots all over the place, including his own diapers.
He gleefully sets about lighting them whenever he has a chance--always at the expense of Jerry who gets the worst of it when he attempts to defuse the situation.Later in the day, while resting in a hammock, Tom finally appears with his own big firecracker ready to light under Jerry.
Nibbles quickly goes into action so that the result will literally backfire on Tom.Amusing stuff, but kiddies aren't likely to learn their lesson from this one!.
Not quite a classic, but still a lot of fun.
I may be biased as I have always loved Tom and Jerry since childhood.
Safety Second is not one of their absolute best, there are moments where it is a little too routine and predictable, but it has the ingredients that make Tom and Jerry so entertaining.
The animation is still wonderful, with a lot of detail in the backgrounds and luscious colouring.
Tom, Jerry and Nibbles are all well-drawn as well.
The music has always been a large part of Tom and Jerry's energy, in Safety Second I can't make any exception.
The lively tempos and lush orchestration makes for very characterful music indeed that succeeds in enhancing the humour.
And the gags are enormously entertaining to watch, thick, fast and never laboured.
The story is not much new, but is never dull.
Tom and Jerry are as likable as ever and true to character, while Nibbles is adorable and is charmingly endearing in his curiosity and innocence.Overall, a lot of fun even if it falls this short of being a classic.
9/10 Bethany Cox. Danger First.
It's Independence Day, and Jerry's nephew Nibbles is determined to get himself blown up by playing around with all kinds of fireworks, leading to Jerry getting blasted every time.
Tom appears and torments the mice, and a war breaks out between them leading to the usual tricks, chases and fights.Safety Seconds repeats a lot of jokes from previous cartoons and is treading water for most of the running time.
One thing I don't get is why Nibbles wears a diaper.
I mean, neither he nor Jerry are toilet trained and mice just defecate wherever they please.
So surely it would be more hygienic for Nibbles to do just that rather than going around with it all mashed-up between his butt cheeks.An average cartoon regardless..
Don't expect explosive laughter..
It's July 4th and cloyingly cute orphan mouse Nibbles wants to celebrate Independence Day by lighting firecrackers; however, his safety-conscious pal Jerry keeps trying to spoil the fun by confiscating the fireworks.
Unfortunately for Jerry, Nibbles isn't the only one armed with explosives: Tom has fireworks too and is intent on causing trouble with them.An extremely one-note comedy caper, virtually all of Safety Second's gags revolve around either Tom or Jerry being blown up, which isn't exactly groundbreaking material (they even roll out the classic 'blackface' joke for the finalé, although this has been cut from certain versions).
Ironically, as far as Tom and Jerry cartoons go, this one is a bit of a damp squib..
Nobody is safe when Nibbles is around fireworks!.
This short sees the return of Nibbles; the grey orphaned mouse who presents a greater threat to Jerry than Tom ever could!
As the story begins Jerry looks at the calendar and notices that it is the fourth of July; he points this out to Nibbles and he promptly pulls out a firework!
Jerry confiscates it and tries to demonstrate a safer but less fun way of celebrating the holiday...
Nibbles is unimpressed and just pulls another firework from his nappy!
Jerry takes it off him just as it explodes; he then turns Nibbles upside down and shakes a huge pile of fireworks out of his nappy.
He sends Nibbles to bed then goes to relax in a hammock...
only to have Tom place a firework underneath him...
this leads to the usual shenanigans as the two fight and Tom chases Jerry who is repeatedly saved by Nibbles use of fireworks.
In the end it looks as if the two mice are going to be victorious but ultimately only Nibbles is as he plays with his safe devices while Jerry is left with a blackened face after nearly getting blown up again.The inclusion of Nibbles makes this short more fun than if it had just featured Tom and Jerry; there is a certain innocent charm to the character despite the fact that he is a menace to friend and foe alike.
There are plenty of great gags; nearly all of which end up with Tom or Jerry getting blown up...
this doesn't include the most painful looking moment though; that is when an angry Jerry punches Tom right in the eye!
This might not be a classic episode but it provides plenty of laughs so is definitely worth watching.