Hatch Up Your Troubles

**Hatch Up Your Troubles** is a 1949 *Tom and Jerry* short.

## Plot

High up in a tree, a mother woodpecker lays in a nest, knitting while sitting on her egg. Suddenly, she has to leave, so she wraps the egg up in a blanket and leaves a sign reading "Gone to lunch—back in 10 minutes." The egg pops out of the blanket and rolls around the edge of the nest before falling off and rolling into Jerry's mousehole, where it rests on Jerry's bed. The egg hatches to reveal a baby woodpecker. The woodpecker immediately thinks Jerry is its mother and starts pecking through Jerry’s drawers, his lamp, and his wall. Jerry gives him a small piece of a cracker to eat instead, which the woodpecker quickly eats. The woodpecker pecks away a stool that Jerry is about to sit on. This prompts Jerry to take the woodpecker back to his nest. It gets up and follows him, but Jerry doesn't know until he enters his house. He takes the woodpecker back outside, but it pecks through his door. This proves to be the final straw for Jerry, who tells the woodpecker to leave.

Distraught, the woodpecker wanders into Tom's yard, where he is relaxing in a beach chair while reading a magazine. The woodpecker pecks at the chair a little, so Tom pours some of his drink on the bird. Angry, the bird pecks at Tom's chair, causing it to close up. Tom begins chasing after the bird, so Jerry pulls out a rake and uses it to block Tom. The cat picks up the rake and traps Jerry in it. The woodpecker pecks the rake apart, flinging Tom into a mailbox. The cat tosses the other half of the rake at Jerry and the woodpecker, but the latter quickly pecks it away. Tom chases the woodpecker around a tree and eventually consumes it, but the bird begins pecking inside Tom, prompting the cat to consume a bucket of water, revealing that the bird poked holes in his torso. Jerry runs up behind Tom, grabs his tail, and slams it on the ground, allowing the bird to peck through Tom's exposed teeth.

Jerry runs into an axe, knocking him out. Tom grabs the axe, but the woodpecker pecks at Tom's head. Finally, Tom grabs a cork and sticks it on the bird's beak, then ties it to a pole. The woodpecker pulls the cork off its beak. Tom puts his finger on Jerry’s tail while trying to chop him up with the axe, with the mouse dodging each time. The woodpecker pecks away at the string, then uses a pencil and paper to plot a diagram on how to make the pole drop on Tom. The woodpecker pecks away at the pole, knocking Tom into the ground. Mother Woodpecker arrives and is reunited with her child. Jerry sighs sadly, but the woodpecker returns to give Jerry a smooch. The mouse waves goodbye to the bird.

## Availability

* DVD - *Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection: Volume 3*, Disc 1 (unrestored; Warner Bros.)
* DVD - *Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 2* (restored; Warner Bros.)

## Notes

* Academy Award nominee for 1950
* The cartoon was remade in 1955 in CinemaScope, titled *The Egg and Jerry*.
* The magazine that Tom was reading while sitting on the deckchair is called "*Saturday Evening Puss*". That name would later be used in an upcoming cartoon in the '50s.

## References

1. ↑ Of Mice and Magic p. 444
2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041446/fullcredits
3. ↑ https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1950