The Yankee Doodle Mouse

Produced by
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 Animation by
Pete Burness
Kenneth Muse
George Gordon
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***The Yankee Doodle Mouse*** is a 1943 American one-reel animated cartoon. It is the 11th *Tom and Jerry* short produced by Fred Quimby, and directed byWilliam Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradleyand animation by Irven Spence, Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse and George Gordon. Jack Zander was credited on the original print, but his credit was omitted in the 1951 reissue[*citation needed*]. It was produced in Technicolor and released to theaters on June 26, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

The short features Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse chasing each other in a pseudo-warfare style, and makes numerous references to World War IItechnology such as jeeps and dive bombers. *The Yankee Doodle Mouse* won the 1943 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, making it the first of seven *Tom and Jerry* cartoons to receive this distinction.[1]

## Plot

Tom pursues Jerry through a cellar, but the mouse dives into his mousehole. Jerry launches a tomato and then several eggs into Tom's face. Jerry then shoot corks off a champagne case, knocking the cat into a tub of water, before launching a brick from a spatula, sinking the cat. Jerry then writes a war communiqué, saying "Sighted cat – sank same".

Tom then approaches Jerry with a mallet, while Jerry uses a pipe as aperiscope to observe. Jerry opens the ironing board cupboard onto Tom's head and runs over Tom with a jeep, but the jeep then crashes into a wall, sending flour tumbling down. Jerry grabs the sack and spreads asmokescreen to block Tom's vision. The mouse then smacks the cat with a board four times.

Tom, now wearing a bowl as a helmet, throws dynamite towards Jerry, but Jerry immediately throws it back; this continues until Jerry takes it from Tom, provoking the cat to steal it back until Jerry leaves Tom to hold it as the stick explodes. Jerry then jumps into a tea kettle, but Tom throws anotherfirecracker into the kettle. The mouse escapes as no explosion occurs. The puzzled cat opens the kettle's lid, after which the firecracker goes off, leaving him resembling a blackface sunflower.

Tom then launches a paper airplane with a firecracker inside it, but Jerry blows it back to Tom, and it explodes underneath Tom. Jerry then plants an enormous stick of dynamite behind Tom. The cracker splits into successively smaller sticks. Tom, relieved, picks it up, but the dynamite explodes powerfully.

Jerry hides in a barrel and launches an egg carton, dropping light bulbs and a banana bomb at the cat's face, but Tom shoots down Jerry's plane with a roman candle. Jerry uses a brassiere to parachute from the plane, but is again shot down by Tom. Jerry flees to his mousehole, but Tom pushes another roman candle into the hole and fires off shots.

Tom watches in a barrel as the fireballs pursue Jerry, but the mouse leads them into a hose and shoots them back at the cat. The barrel explodes, leaving Tom riding the remaining parts as a bicycle, which then crashes into the wall. Tom fires adart gun at Jerry, and catches him by the tail before he dives into his mousehole. Tom tries to tie Jerry to an ignited rocket, but Jerry tricks Tom into tying his hands around the rocket. Tom rockets high into the sky and the rocket explodes as flag of the United States, which Jerry salutes. Jerry then writes a final communiqué, saying "Send more cats!". [2]

## Edited versions

The teapot exploding gag, which causes Tom's face to turn into a blackfaced sunflower, was removed when the short was shown on Cartoon Network in the early 1990s. Since then the gag has been restored and included on the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection DVD set. It is also included on the iTunes Store uncut.