Tom and Jerry | Tom and Jerry Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Tom and Jerry Wiki Share Tom and Jerry is an American animated series of theatrical shorts, television shows and specials, feature film, home films created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer that centered on a never-ending rivalry between a cat ( Tom ) and a mouse ( Jerry ) whose chases and battles often involved slapstick comedy. Hanna and Barbera wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons at the MGM cartoon studio in Hollywood, California between 1940 and 1957, when the animation unit was closed. The original series is notable for having won the Academy Award for the Best Short Film seven times, tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the theatrical animated series with the most Oscars. Tom and Jerry has a worldwide audience that consists of children, teenagers and adults, and has also been recognized as one of the most famous and longest-lived rivalries in American cinema. In 2000, TIME named the series one of the greatest television shows of all time.

The four title cards used in the Tom and Jerry shorts Beginning in 1960, in addition to the original 114 H-B cartoons, MGM had new shorts produced by Rembrandt Films, led by Gene Deitch in Eastern Europe. Production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones's Sib Tower 12 Productions in 1963; this series lasted until 1967, making it a total of 161 shorts. The cat and mouse stars later resurfaced in television cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera and Filmation Studios during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; a feature film, Tom and Jerry: The Movie , in 1992 (released domestically in 1993); and in 2000, their first made-for TV short, Tom and Jerry: The Mansion Cat for Boomerang . The most recent Tom and Jerry theatrical short, The Karate Guard , was written and co-directed by Barbera and debuted in Los Angeles cinemas on September 27, 2005.

Today, Time Warner (via its Turner Entertainment division) owns the rights to Tom and Jerry (with Warner Bros. . handling distribution). Since the merger, Turner has produced the series, Tom and Jerry Tales for The CW 's Saturday morning " The CW4Kids " lineup, as well as the recent Tom and Jerry short, The Karate Guard , in 2005 and a string of Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films - all in collaboration with Warner Bros. Animation . In February 2010, the cartoon celebrated its 70th anniversary and a DVD collection of 30 shorts, Tom and Jerry Deluxe Anniversary Collection, was released in late June 2010 to celebrate the animated duo's seventh decade. Currently, Tom and Jerry is re-ran on Turner's Boomerang channel, along with Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts (times vary each day).

Tom and Jerry cartoons carry racism warning - BBC News BBC News Tom and Jerry cartoons carry racism warning By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent 1 October 2014 Image copyright Other Image caption Tom and Jerry cartoons come with a warning about prejudice Tom and Jerry cartoons on television are being accompanied by a warning that they may depict scenes of "racial prejudice". The classic cat and mouse cartoons, some made more than 70 years ago, carry a warning for subscribers to Amazon Prime Instant Video. There have been claims of racist stereotyping in the depiction of a black maid in the cartoon series. Amazon's warning says such prejudice was once "commonplace" in US society. Tom and Jerry, once a staple of children's television on British television, is being presented with a cautionary note about "ethnic and racial prejudices". 'Trigger warnings' Amazon's streaming subscription service, formerly branded as LoveFilm, includes the cartoons in its comedy collection. But Tom and Jerry: The Complete Second Volume is accompanied by the caution: "Tom and Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today." The wording is similar to disclaimers accompanying some collections of the cartoons on DVD.

The warning was attacked as "empty-headed" by cultural commentator and professor of sociology, Frank Furedi, who said it was a form of a "false piousness" and a type of censorship which "seems to be sweeping cultural life". "We're reading history backwards, judging people in the past by our values," said Prof Furedi from the University of Kent. Tom and Jerry was first produced by the MGM film studio in 1940. The cartoons, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby, ran until 1957, with carefully choreographed chase scenes set in the homes and gardens of suburban America. There were more than a hundred short films made in this original series, winning seven academy awards. These included the Cat Concerto in 1946, the Two Mouseketeers in 1951 and Johann Mouse in 1952. In the subsequent decades there have been numerous re-launched television versions of the series, with varying styles and varying degrees of critical approval. The claims of racism are longstanding. When the original versions were shown on US television in the 1960s some scenes were edited.

There have also been complaints about the characters smoking cigarettes, with changes made to recent screenings. 'Superb' animation Steve Abrahart, senior lecturer in animation at De Montfort University, said the quality of animation in the early Tom and Jerry films was "superb". The cartoons are still seen as being among the best made, he said. But Mr Abrahart said the attention to detail of the early versions was lost in some of the later re-makes. On the question of the portrayals of race and ethnicity, he said today's animation students were not shocked by what they saw in old cartoons. He said they understood how attitudes changed over time. As well as racial stereotypes, he said there were questions about the representation of women and other nationalities in animations from the 1940s. The idea of running warnings ahead of potentially upsetting moments in films or books has become a controversial topic in US universities. There have been calls for the use of "trigger warnings" which could flag up to students that they are about to come across descriptions of physical brutality, aggressive language or sexual violence. The suggestion that these should be inserted into lessons about classic texts has angered some academics.

Prof Furedi said calls for such trigger warnings were a form of "narcissism", with the concerns not really being about the content of a book or work of art but about individual students asserting their own importance. "A tolerant society needs to discuss disturbing art," he said. Tom and Jerry, 12 Episode - Baby Puss (1943) - YouTube Tom and Jerry, 12 Episode - Baby Puss (1943) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 7, 2014 "Baby Puss" (fragment), is a 1943 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 12th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby, Baby Puss was released to theaters on Christmas day, December 25, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

This is the first Tom and Jerry short to be animated by Ray Patterson, who arrived from Walt Disney Productions after working on The Old Army Game, a Donald Duck cartoon also released in 1943. Except some time spent at Walter Lantz Productions in the 1950s, Patterson would continue to work for Hanna and Barbera into the 1980s. Interesting facts: This is the first appearance of white hostess Tom. In this cartoon were first used new end credits. This is one of the twelve cartoons in which the Tom and Jerry are both losing. In this cartoon first appears trio of street cats. All rights reserved Warner Bros. Entertainment. Category Tom and Jerry Cartoon Movie Poster | animation art Tom and Jerry Cartoon Movie Poster The Two Mouseketeers 1952 MGM Studios The Two Mouseketeers is an animated cartoon and is the 65th Tom and Jerry short, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on March 15, 1952 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley.

The cartoon was animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Irven Spence. The character of Nibbles was voiced by Francoise Brun-Cottan, then six years old. The Two Mouseketeers won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. Cartoon America - Animation | Exhibitions - Library of Congress Library of Congress Sections: Imaginary Worlds: Illustration | The Ungentlemanly Art: Political Illustrations | Revelation From A Magic Pen: Caricature | Zip! Whoosh! Zing!: Animation | Punch Lines: Gag & Single Panel Cartoons | Laughs! Tears! Thrills!: Comic Strips This select array of animation art features classic characters from early animated films by some of the most gifted creators in the field of cartoon art. A brilliant, color presentation drawing of the seven dwarfs in their characteristic poses represents Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of Art Wood's favorite films. Other characters—drawn with zip! and a zing! that were meant to induce a whoosh!

of action—included are Fleischer Studios' Betty Boop, Popeye in a struggle with a jellyfish, and Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry, the famous cat and mouse duo. Also featured in this section are film clips showing how several of these drawings were used in final production. Cover Art for Cartoon America Richard A. Williams The Library of Congress commissioned this original painting by artist Richard A. Williams (b. 1950) to grace the cover of Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress, a comprehensive publication that celebrates 250 years of American cartooning. This 324-page hardcover volume features 275 full-color illustrations of cartoon art treasures from the Library's collections and inspiring essays by Art Wood and a host of other leading writers and artists. In his whimsical rendition of Mount Rushmore, Williams immortalizes cartoon characters Charlie Brown, Ignatz Mouse, Zippy the Pinhead, and Popeye. Enlarge Richard A. Williams. Cover art for Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress . New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., in association with the Library of Congress, 2006. Acrylic on canvas Commissioned by the Library of Congress.

Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-13217 (103). © 2006 Richard A. Williams. Used with permission Bookmark this item: #obj103 Jerry of “Tom and Jerry” Cartoons Joseph Barbera This model, sheet for the impish, animated mouse Jerry showed artists working for Hanna-Barbera Studio how to be consistent, right down to the “rompers” in the legs. William Hanna (1910–2001) and Joseph Barbera (b. 1911) were early animators who met at the MGM Studios. They won their first Oscar in 1940 for the mouse-and- cat pair in Puss Gets the Boot. They concentrated their efforts on the award-winning duo, relying on sight gags, rather than dialogue, to amuse audiences. In 1957, Hanna and Barbera formed their own studio and produced such popular television shows as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Joseph Barbera. Jerry of “ Tom and Jerry ,” ca. 1940. Graphite and blue pencil.

Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-06459 (81) Bookmark this item: #obj81 The Seven Dwarfs Gustav Tenggren Each of the seven dwarfs: Bashful, Sleepy, Doc, Happy, Dopey, Grumpy, and Sneezy, is differentiated from the other in form, facial expression, and pose in this captivating presentation drawing attributed to Swedish-born children's book illustrator Gustaf Tenggren (1896–1970). Minor characters in the Grimm brothers' version of Snow White, they took on new life in the popular classic movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs created by Walt Disney (1901–1966). Tenggren worked on the later stages of Snow White, mainly providing inspirational sketches and publicity materials. Gustav Tenggren. The seven dwarfs , ca. 1937. Ink and watercolor over graphite underdrawing. Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-03342 (82).

© Disney Enterprises, Inc. Bookmark this item: #obj82 Snow White Holding a Bird Walt Disney Productions This entrancing animation cel portrays Snow White, who has captured the hearts of generations of Americans, reaching for a songbird. Snow White was the first American feature-length animated film and the first Technicolor feature. Although produced at the extraordinary cost of $1.5 million during the depths of the Depression, Snow White earned $8 million in its first release, a phenomenal sum in 1937. More than 750 Disney artists worked on the film during the years of production, 1934 -1937. The beauty of the art and the enchanting story have made Snow White a perennial favorite. Walt Disney Productions. Snow White holding a bird , 1937. Animation cel on acetate and paper with black ink and acrylic paints. Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsc-02838 (83) © Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Bookmark this item: #obj83 Gertie the Dinosaur Winsor McCay Pioneering animator Winsor McCay (1869–1934) used this line drawing for the scene in which Gertie encounters a woolly mammoth in the first commercially successful animated film, Gertie the Dinosaur. McCay first presented his animated dinosaur as part of a vaudeville act in which he stood on a stage and introduced Gertie, who then “walked out” on a movie screen. He asked her to perform tricks and she complied. Audiences, unaccustomed to film, often thought Gertie was real. Winsor McCay. Gertie the dinosaur standing on a cliff edge looking at a mastodon , tracing, ca. 1980, from 1914 drawing. Ink on rice paper.

Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsc-02839, LC-USZC4-9477 (84) Bookmark this item: #obj84 Tom of “Tom and Jerry” Cartoons Joseph Barbera This model sheet for the animated character Tom showed artists working for Hanna-Barbera Studio how to draw the cat consistently, from the tips of his ears to the end of his toes. Early animators Joseph Barbera (b. 1911) and William Hanna (1910–2001) formed the partnership that produced the Tom and Jerry animated cartoons at MGM Studios from around 1940 until 1957. The award-winning series featured the gray cat Tom perpetually pursuing his mischievous co-star Jerry, a brown mouse. More than 150 shorts chronicled the pair chasing and teasing one another, ending up only occasionally as friends. Joseph Barbera. Tom of “ Tom and Jerry ,” ca. 1940. Graphite and blue pencil.

Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-06460 (85) Bookmark this item: #obj85 Dumbo in a Tub Spouting Water Walt Disney Productions The bathing baby elephant Dumbo happily spouts water through his trunk in this drawing that captures his joyful spirit. Disney's animated feature film Dumbo the Elephant, released in 1941, tells the story of the little elephant born with oversized ears, the other elephants' rejection of him, and his triumph as the flying circus star. Bill Tytla (1904–1968), the main animator for the film, reportedly drew inspiration from his infant son in developing his concept of Dumbo. Based on a little-known story by Helen Aberson, Dumbo, the shortest of Disney's features, won popular and critical acclaim as a classic. Walt Disney Productions. Dumbo in a tub spouting water through his trunk , ca. 1940. Watercolor and graphite.

Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-06461 (93) © Disney Enterprises, Inc Bookmark this item: #obj93 Popeye Fighting His Way Out of a Jellyfish Fleischer Studios Popeye, who was always strong to the finish, raises his fist to pummel his way out of a jellyfish in this preparatory drawing for Females is Fickle. Introduced as a comic strip character in 1929, Popeye became the subject of 105 black-and-white short films and 3 full-length Technicolor features produced by Fleischer Studios between 1933 and 1942. Max Fleischer (1883–1972) and his brother Dave Fleischer (1894–1979) produced and directed animated films about enduring characters, including Popeye, Superman, and Betty Boop. Enlarge Fleischer Studios. Popeye fighting his way out of a jellyfish , 1940.

Preparatory drawing for Females is Fickle, directed by Dave Fleischer, animated by David Tendlar and William Sturm, and released by Fleischer Studios on March 8, 1940. Graphite and colored pencil. Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-12917 (97) Bookmark this item: #obj97 Story Board Drawing of Stag for “Bambi” Tyrus Wong This sensuous, pastel drawing by Tyrus Wong (b. 1910) evokes the forest scene when Bambi's father, the Great Prince, appears after the death of Bambi's mother. Based on Felix Salten's book of the same name, Bambi, a timeless classic, has remained a must-see film for generations of American children. Wong emigrated from his native China as a child and began his career as a concept artist and production illustrator for Walt Disney and Warner Brothers studios after he graduated from the Otis Art Institute. Famous for his work on Bambi, Wong also created images for such Warner Brothers non-animated classics as Rebel Without a Cause. Enlarge Tyrus Wong.

Impressionistic story board drawing with stag on top of rocky tor with sparse trees , ca. 1942. Preparatory drawing for Bambi, directed by David Hand and released by Walt Disney Studio in August 1942. Pastel. Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-USZC4-13071 (94). © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Bookmark this item: #obj94 Betty Boop Animation Model Sheet Fleischer Studios This Betty Boop model sheet provided detailed instructions to Fleischer Studios artists to “feature her feature.” Betty Boop wiggled her way into the world in 1930 and has remained a cultural icon ever since. Originally a poodle, Betty took on human form in 1932. When she danced to Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher, she became a sex symbol. Betty became more modest when the Motion Picture Association of America began enforcing its Production Code in 1934. Her dress fell to her knees and her neckline went up. Fleischer Studios ended production of Betty Boop animated short films in 1939. Fleischer Studios.

Betty Boop , between 1932 and 1934. Graphite. Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-12918 (96). © King Features Syndicate, Inc., used with permission Bookmark this item: #obj96 Reproduction of Animation Cel showing Mickey Mouse in Fantasia Walt Disney Productions Mickey Mouse is seen here in the “The Sorcerer's Apprentice,” a folktale popularized by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and set to music by the French composer Paul Dukas. Begun as a Silly Symphony and expanded into short suites within a larger film, Fantasia is set to music conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Walt Disney developed “Fantasound” to maximize audience potential for hearing the music well. Walt Disney (1901–1966) worked at several animation studios in the Midwest before moving to Hollywood in 1923. His innovative ideas and desire to work with the best artists led to the development of his entertainment empire. Walt Disney Productions.

Animation cel showing Mickey Mouse dressed in a red robe from “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” sequence of the animated film Fantasia , ca. 1940. Copyprint of tempera on nitrate celluloid taped to watercolor on paper. Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division , Library of Congress LC-USZC4-13060, LC-DIG-ppmsca-12837 (95). © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Bookmark this item: #obj95 Tom and Jerry | The Cartoon Network Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Ongoing Wiki Tom and Jerry is a series of theatrical musical cartoon shorts created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that centered on a never-ending rivalry between a housecat (Tom) and a mouse (Jerry) whose chases and battles often involved comic violence. Hanna and Barbera ultimately wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons at the MGM cartoon studio in Hollywood, California between 1940 and 1957, when the animation unit was closed down.

The original series is notable for having won the Academy Awards for Best Short Subject seven times, tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the most-awarded theatrical animated series. The series has also won more Oscars than any other animated series. Beginning in 1960, in addition to the originals, MGM had new shorts produced by Rembrandt Films, led by Gene Deitch in Eastern Europe. Production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones' Sib-Tower 12 Productions in 1963; this series lasted until 1967, making it a total of 161 shorts. The cat and mouse stars later resurfaced in their own television cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera and Filmation Studios during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, a feature film, Tom and Jerry: The Movie , in 1992 and released domestically in 1993 and in 2000, their first TV special, Tom and Jerry in: The Mansion Cat for Cartoon Network . Today, Warner Bros.

(via its Turner Entertainment division) owns the rights to Tom and Jerry, and also produced the series, Tom and Jerry Tales for The CW's Saturday morning "The CW4Kids" lineup, as well as the recent Tom and Jerry short, The KarateGuard, in 2005 and a string of Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films. Contents [ show ] Plot and format The plots of each short usually center on Tom's (the cat) numerous attempts to capture Jerry (the mouse) and the mayhem and destruction that ensues. Since Tom rarely attempts to eat Jerry and because the pair actually seem to get along in some cartoon shorts it is unclear why Tom chases Jerry so much. Some reasons given may include normal feline/murine enmity, duty according to his owner, Jerry's attempt at ruining a task that Tom is entrusted with, revenge, Jerry saving other potential prey (such as ducks, canaries, or goldfish) from being eaten by Tom or competition with another cat, among other reasons. Tom rarely succeeds in catching Jerry, mainly because of Jerry's cleverness, cunning abilities, and luck and sometimes due to Tom's own stupidity.

Interestingly enough, many of the title cards show Tom and Jerry smiling at each other which seems to depict a love-hate relationship rather than the extreme annoyance each displays towards the other in each cartoon. There are also several instances within the cartoons where they display genuine friendship ("Springtime for Thomas") and concern for each other's well-being (such as in "Jerry and the Lion" where Jerry in one instance tricks Tom into thinking he has shot Jerry and subsequently comes running with the first aid kit). The shorts are famous for some of the most violent gags ever devised in theatrical animation: Jerry slicing Tom in half, shutting his head in a window or a door, Tom using everything from axes, pistols, explosives, traps and poison to try to murder Jerry, Jerry stuffing Tom's tail in a waffle iron, kicking him into a refrigerator, plugging his tail into an electric socket, pounding him with a mace, club or mallet, causing a tree to drive him into the ground, and so on. Despite all its popularity, Tom and Jerry has often been criticized as excessively violent. Despite the frequent violence, there is no blood or gore in any scenes.

A recurring gag involves Jerry hitting Tom when he's preoccupied, with Tom initially oblivious to the pain—and only feeling the effects moments later, and vice versa; and another involves Jerry stopping Tom in midchase (as if calling for a time-out), before he does something, usually putting the hurt on Tom. The cartoon is also noteworthy for its reliance on stereotypes, such as the blackening of characters following explosions and the use of heavy and enlarged shadows (e.g., Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse). Resemblance to everyday objects and occurrences is arguably the main appeal of visual humor in the series. The characters themselves regularly transform into ridiculous but strongly associative shapes, most of the time involuntarily, in masked but gruesome ways. Music plays a very important part in the shorts, emphasizing the action, filling in for traditional sound effects, and lending emotion to the scenes. Musical director Scott Bradley created complex scores that combined elements of jazz, classical, and pop music; Bradley often reprised contemporary pop songs, as well as songs from MGM films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me In St. Louis.

Generally, there is little dialogue as Tom and Jerry almost never speak, however minor characters are not similarly limited. For example, the character Mammy Two Shoes has lines in every episode in which she appears (except for the exception of The Little Orphan). Most of the dialogue from Tom and Jerry are the high-pitched laughs and gasping screams, which may be provided by a horn or other musical instrument. Before 1954, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in the standard Academy ratio and format; from late 1954 to 1955, some of the output was dually produced in both Academy format and the widescreen CinemaScope process. From 1956 until the close of the MGM cartoon studio a year later, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in CinemaScope, some even had their soundtracks recorded in Perspecta Stereo. The 1960s Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones shorts were all produced in Academy format, but with compositions that made them compatible to be matted to Academy widescreen format as well. All of the Hanna and Barbera cartoons were produced in three-strip Technicolor; the 1960s entries were done in Metrocolor.

Characters Tom is a Russian Blue cat, who lives a pampered life, while Jerry is a small brown house mouse who always lives in close proximity to him. "Tom" is a generic name for a male cat or tomcat (the Warner Bros. cartoon character Sylvester was originally called "Thomas"). Tom was originally called "Jasper" in the very first short, Puss Gets the Boot, while Jerry was unnamed, though the animators gave him the nickname "Jinx". Tom is very quick-tempered and thin-skinned, while Jerry is independent and opportunistic. Jerry also possesses surprising strength for his size, lifting items such as anvils with relative ease and withstanding considerable impacts with them. Despite being very energetic and determined, Tom is no match for Jerry's brains and wits. By the "iris-out" of each cartoon, Jerry usually emerges triumphant, while Tom is shown as the loser. However, other results may be reached; on rare occasions, Tom triumphs, usually when Jerry becomes the aggressor or when he crosses some sort of line. Sometimes, usually ironically, they both lose or they both end up being friends (only for something to happen so that Tom will chase Jerry again).

Both characters display sadistic tendencies, in that they are equally likely to take pleasure in tormenting each other. However, depending on the cartoon, whenever one character appears to be in mortal danger (in a dangerous situation or by a third party), the other will develop a conscience and save him. (For instance, in one short, Tom develops a guilty conscience after tossing Jerry out into the cold one winter night and goes outside to save the little mouse, bringing him inside) Sometimes, they bond over a mutual sentiment towards an unpleasant experience and their attacking each other is more play than serious attacks. Multiple shorts show the two getting along with minimal difficulty, and they are more than capable of working together when the situation calls for it, usually against a third party who manages to torture and humiliate them both. In one short, Tom shows genuine concern for Jerry when he believes that he has accidentally shot him and immediately rushes to get a first-aid kit. Despite several shorts depicting Tom's apparent "death" at the end of the short, he never actually dies throughout the series, and even reads about a flashback of his own apparent death in Jerry's Diary. Although many supporting and minor characters speak, Tom and Jerry rarely do so themselves.

Tom, most famously, sings while wooing female cats; for example, Tom sings Louis Jordan's "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" in the 1946 short Solid Serenade. In a couple of shorts, Tom, when romancing a female cat, woos her in a French-accented voice similar to that of screen actor Charles Boyer. Co-director William Hanna provided most of the squeaks, gasps, and other vocal effects for the pair, including the most famous sound effects from the series, Tom's leather-lunged scream (created by recording Hanna's scream and eliminating the beginning and ending of the recording, leaving only the strongest part of the scream on the soundtrack) and Jerry's nervous gulp. The only other reasonably common vocalization is made by Tom when some external reference claims a certain scenario or eventuality to be impossible, which inevitably, ironically happens to thwart Tom's plans - at which point, a bedraggled and battered Tom appears and says in a haunting, echoing voice "Don't you believe it!", a reference to some famous World War II propaganda shorts of the 1940's.

In one episode, Tom hires a mouse exterminator who, after several failed attempts to dispatch Jerry, changes profession to Cat exterminator by crossing out the "Mouse" on his title and writing "Cat", resulting in Tom spelling out the word out loud before reluctantly pointing at himself. One short, 1956's Blue Cat Blues, is narrated by Jerry in voiceover (voiced by Paul Frees). Both Tom and Jerry speak more than once in the 1943 short The Lonesome Mouse. Tom and Jerry: The Movie is the first (and so far only) installment of the series where the famous cat-and-mouse duo regularly speak to both humans and other anthropomorphic animals; it is possible that Tom and Jerry do have full speech capabilities, but choose not to use them aside from a few short phrases, preferring to leave the talking to other characters.

Recurring characters &nbsp In his attempts to catch Jerry, Tom often has to deal with the intrusions of Butch, a scruffy black alley cat who wants to catch and eat Jerry, and Spike (sometimes billed as "Killer" or "Butch"), an angry, vicious guard bulldog who tries to attack Tom for bothering his son Tyke while trying to get Jerry. Spike spoke often, using a voice and expressions (performed by Daws Butler ) modeled after comedian Jimmy Durante. Spike's coat has altered throughout the years between grey and creamy pink. The addition of Spike's son Tyke in the late 1940s led to both a slight softening of Spike's character and a short-lived spin-off theatrical series (Spike and Tyke). Tom changes his love interest many times. The first love interest is Sheikie and speaks in a haughty tone in The Zoot Cat, and calls him "Tommy" in The Mouse Comes to Dinner. The second and most frequent love interest of Tom's is Toodles Galore, who never has any dialogue in Tom and Jerry cartoons.

From the beginning, Tom also has to deal with Mammy Two Shoes (voiced by Lillian Randolph), a stereotyped African-American domestic housemaid. In the earliest shorts, Mammy is depicted as the maid taking care of the often opulent home in which Tom and Jerry reside. Later Tom and Jerry shorts are set in what appears to be Mammy's own house. Her face is never seen (with the exception of 1950's Saturday Evening Puss, in which her face is very briefly seen as she runs towards the camera), and she usually wallops the cat with a broom when he misbehaves. When Mammy was not present, other humans would sometimes be seen, usually from the neck down as well. Mammy would appear in many cartoons until 1952's Push-Button Kitty. Later cartoons would instead show Tom and Jerry living with a 1950s Yuppie-style couple. Soon after, virtually all humans in the series had visible faces. Jerry adopted a little gray mouse foundling named Nibbles (also later known as Tuffy), coming from a certain "Mrs.

Bide-a-Wee Mouse Home." In Nibbles' earliest appearances, he is depicted as constantly hungry and he also wears a diaper. In later years, Nibbles lost the gluttonous element of his personality and often spoke, usually in a foreign accent or language keeping with the theme and setting of the short (for example, French in Touché, Pussy Cat!, British in Robin Hoodwinked). Another recurring character in the series was Quacker the duckling, who was later adapted into the Hanna-Barbera character Yakky Doodle. He appears in Little Quacker, The Duck Doctor, Just Ducky, Downhearted Duckling, Southbound Duckling, That's My Mommy, Happy Go Ducky and The Vanishing Duck. The last recurring character is a small unnamed green devil that looks like Jerry. He only appears in three episodes , Springtime for Thomas, and Smitten Kitten. Whenever Tom falls in love with a female cat, the devil advises Jerry to try to break the two apart. There is an unnamed mouse who appeared in Neapolitan Mouse, he beat up Tom and saved Jerry, then beat up a dog and saves Tom. He shows them the sights of Napoli.

History and evolution Hanna-Barbera at MGM era (1940 – 1958) William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were both part of the Rudolf Ising unit at the MGM cartoon studio in the late 1930s. Barbera, a storyman and character designer, was paired with Hanna, an experienced director, to start directing films for the Ising unit; the first of these was a cat-and-mouse cartoon called Puss Gets the Boot. Completed in late 1939, and released to theatres on February 10, 1940, Puss Gets The Boot centers on Jasper, a gray tabby cat trying to catch an unnamed rodent, but after accidentally breaking a houseplant and its stand, the African-American housemaid Mammy (Later Tom's owner) has threatened to throw Jasper out ("O-W-T, out!" [as Mammy spells it]) if he breaks one more thing in the house. Naturally, the mouse uses this to his advantage, and begins tossing wine glasses, ceramic plates, teapots, and any and everything fragile, so that Jasper will be thrown outside.

Puss Gets The Boot was previewed and released without fanfare, and Hanna and Barbera went on to direct other (non-cat-and-mouse related) shorts. "After all," remarked many of the MGM staffers, "haven't there been enough cat-and-mouse cartoons already?" The pessimistic attitude towards the cat and mouse duo changed when the cartoon became a favorite with theatre owners and with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which nominated the film for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons of 1941. It lost to another MGM cartoon, Rudolph Ising's The Milky Way. Producer Fred Quimby, who ran the MGM animation studio, quickly pulled Hanna and Barbera off the other one-shot cartoons they were working on, and commissioned a series featuring the cat and mouse. Hanna and Barbera held an intra-studio contest to give the pair a new name by drawing suggested names out of a hat; animator John Carr won $50 with his suggestion of Tom and Jerry. The Tom and Jerry series went into production with The Midnight Snack in 1941, and Hanna and Barbera rarely directed anything but the cat-and-mouse cartoons for the rest of their tenure at MGM.

Tom's physical appearance evolved significantly over the years. During the early 1940s, Tom had an excess of detail--shaggy fur, numerous facial wrinkles, and multiple eyebrow markings--all of which were streamlined into a more workable form by the end of the 1940s- and looked like a realistic cat; in addition from his quadrupedal beginnings Tom became increasingly, and eventually almost exclusively, bipedal. By contrast, Jerry's design remained essentially the same for the duration of the series. By the mid-1940s, the series had developed a quicker, more energetic (and violent) tone, due to the inspiration from the work of the colleague in the MGM cartoon studio, Tex Avery , who joined the studio in 1942. Even though the theme of each short is virtually the same - cat chases mouse - Hanna and Barbera found endless variations on that theme. Barbera's storyboards and rough layouts and designs, combined with Hanna's timing, resulted in MGM's most popular and successful cartoon series.

Thirteen entries in the Tom and Jerry series (including Puss Gets The Boot) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons; seven of them went on to win the Academy Award, breaking the Disney studio's winning streak in that category. Tom and Jerry won more Academy Awards than any other character-based theatrical animated series. Tom and Jerry remained popular throughout their original theatrical run, even when the budgets began to tighten somewhat in the 1950s and the pace of the shorts slowed slightly. However, after television became popular in the 1950s, box office revenues decreased for theatrical films, and short subjects. At first, MGM combated this by going to all-CinemaScope production on the series. After MGM realized that their re-releases of the older shorts brought in just as much revenue as the new films, the studio executives decided, much to the surprise of the staff, to close the animation studio. The MGM cartoon studio was shut down in 1957, and the final of the 114 Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts, Tot Watchers, was released on August 1, 1958.

Hanna and Barbera established their own television animation studio, Hanna-Barbera Productions , in 1957, which went on to produce many famous TV shows and movies. Gene Deitch era (1960 – 1962) In 1960, MGM decided to produce new Tom and Jerry shorts, and had producer William L. Snyder arrange with Czech-based animation director Gene Deitch and his studio, Rembrandt Films, to make the films overseas in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The Deitch/Snyder team turned out 13 shorts, many of which have a surrealistic quality. Since the Deitch/Snyder team had seen only a handful of the original Tom and Jerry shorts, the resulting films were considered unusual, and, in many ways, bizarre. The characters' gestures were often performed at high speed, frequently causing heavy motion blur. As a result, the animation of the characters looked choppy and sickly. The soundtracks featured sparse music, spacey sound effects, dialogue that was mumbled rather than spoken, and heavy use of reverb.

Fans that typically rooted for Tom criticized Deitch's cartoons for having Tom never become a threat to Jerry, and the only time when Tom ever attempts to hurt Jerry is when he gets in his way. Tom's new owner, a corpulent white man, was also more graphically brutal in punishing Tom's mistakes as compared to Mammy. Surprisingly, the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry cartoons are still rerun today on a semi-regular basis. These shorts are among the few Tom and Jerry cartoons not to carry the "Made In Hollywood, U.S.A." phrase at the end. Due to Deitch's studio being behind the Iron Curtain, the production studio's location is omitted entirely on it Chuck Jones era (1963 – 1967) After the last of the Deitch cartoons were released, Jones had just ended his thirty-plus year tenure at Warner Bros. Cartoons and started his own animation studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions, with partner, Les Goldman. Beginning in 1963, Jones and Goldman went on to produce 34 more Tom and Jerry shorts, all of which carried Jones' distinctive style (and a slight psychedelic influence).

However, despite being animated by essentially the same artists who worked with Jones at Warner, these new shorts had varying degrees of critical success. Jones had trouble adapting his style to Tom and Jerry's brand of humor, and a number of the cartoons favored poses, personality, and style over storyline. The characters underwent a slight change of appearance: Tom was given thicker, Boris Karloff-like eyebrows (resembling Jones' Grinch or Count Blood Count), a less complex look (including the color of his fur becoming gray), and furrier cheeks, while Jerry was given larger eyes and ears, a lighter brown color, and a sweeter, Porky Pig-like expression. Some of Jones's Tom and Jerry cartoons are reminiscent of his work with Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner , included the uses of blackout gags and gags involving characters falling from high precipices. Jones co-directed the majority of the shorts with layout artist Maurice Noble. The remaining shorts were directed by Abe Levitow and Ben Washam, with Tom Ray directing two shorts built around footage from earlier Tom and Jerry cartoons directed by Hanna and Barbera. Various vocal characterisations were made by Mel Blanc and June Foray.

MGM finally ended production on Tom and Jerry in 1967, by which time Sib Tower 12 had become MGM Animation/Visual Arts, and Jones had moved on television specials and the feature film, The Phantom Tollbooth. Tom and Jerry hit television Beginning in 1965, the MGM Tom and Jerry shorts created by Hanna and Barbera began to appear on television in heavily edited form: the Jones team was required to take the cartoons featuring Mammy (such as Saturday Evening Puss), rotoscope her out, and replace her with a thin white woman, with Lillian Randolph's original voice tracks replaced by June Foray. However, in local telecasts of the cartoons, and in the ones shown on Boomerang , Mammy, featured in the other shorts, could once again be seen, and more recently, with a new, less stereotypical black voice supplied, which is done by Thea Vidale. Much of the extreme violence in the cartoons were also edited out. Starting out on CBS' Saturday Morning schedule on September 25, 1965, Tom and Jerry moved to CBS Sundays two years later and remained there until September 17, 1972.

Tom and Jerry's new owners In 1986, MGM was purchased by WTBS founder Ted Turner . Turner sold the company a short while later, but retained MGM's pre-May 1986 film library, thus Tom and Jerry became the property of Turner Entertainment (where the rights stand today via Warner Bros.), and have in subsequent years appeared on Turner-run stations, such as TBS , TNT , Cartoon Network , Boomerang, and Turner Classic Movies. Tom and Jerry outside the United States When shown on terrestrial television in the United Kingdom (from 1967 to 2000, usually on the BBC) Tom and Jerry cartoons were not cut for violence and Mammy was retained. As well as having regular slots, Tom and Jerry served the BBC in another way. When faced with disruption to the schedules (such as those occurring when live broadcasts overrun), the BBC would invariably turn to Tom and Jerry to fill any gaps, confident that it would retain much of an audience that might otherwise channel hop.

This proved particularly helpful in 1993, when Noel's House Party had to be canceled due to an IRA bomb scare at BBC Television Centre - Tom and Jerry was shown instead, bridging the gap until the next programme. Recently, a mother has complained to OFCOM of the smoking scenes shown in the cartoons, since Tom often attempts to impress love interests with the habit, resulting in reports that the smoking scenes in Tom and Jerry films may be subject to censorship. Due to its lack of dialog, Tom and Jerry was easily translated into various foreign languages. Tom and Jerry began broadcast in Japan in 1964.

A 2005 nationwide survey taken in Japan by TV Asahi, sampling age groups from teenagers to adults in their sixties, ranked Tom and Jerry #85 in a list of the top 100 "anime" of all time; while their web poll taken after the airing of the list ranked it at #58 - the only non-Japanese animation on the list, and beating anime classics like Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, A Little Princess Sara, and the ultra-classics Macross, Ghost in the Shell, and Rurouni Kenshin (it should be noted that in Japan, the word "anime" refers to all animation regardless of origin, not just Japanese animation). Tom and Jerry is also well-known in Saudi Arabia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Mongolia, and South Korea. Tom and Jerry have long been popular in Germany. However, the cartoons are overdubbed with rhyming German language verse that describes what is happening onscreen and provides additional funny content. The different episodes are usually embedded in the episode Jerry's Diary (1949), in which Tom reads about past adventures.

In South East Asia, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Romania, Venezuela, and other Latin American countries Cartoon Network still airs Tom and Jerry cartoons everyday. In Russia, local channels also air the show in its daytime programming slot. Tom and Jerry was one of the few cartoons of western origin broadcast in Czechoslovakia (1988) before the fall of Communism in 1989. In indonesia ANTV currently broadcasts Tom and Jerry and also Looney Tunes shorts with Indonesian Captions the show is rated ABO in Indonesian rating system by ANTV. Controversy Like a number of other animated cartoons in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Tom and Jerry was not considered politically correct in later years. There were at least twenty-four cartoons that featured either racism or with characters shown in blackface following an explosion, which are subsequently cut when shown on television today, although The Yankee Doodle Mouse blackface gag is still shown in other countries. The black maid, Mammy Two Shoes, is often considered racist because she is depicted as a poor black woman who has a rodent problem.

Her voice was redubbed by Turner in the mid-1990s in hopes of making the character sound less stereotypical. One cartoon in particular, His Mouse Friday, is often banned from television due to the cannibals being seen as racist stereotypes. If shown, the cannibals' dialogue is edited out, although their mouths can be seen moving. In 2006, United Kingdom channel Boomerang made plans to edit Tom and Jerry cartoons being aired in the UK where the characters were seen to be smoking in a manner that was "condoned, acceptable or glamorised." This followed a complaint from a viewer that the cartoons were not appropriate for younger viewers, and a subsequent investigation by UK media watchdog OFCOM. It has also taken the U.S. approach by editing out blackface gags, though this seems to be random as not all scenes of this type are cut. Many say that this type of censoring is like cutting out history. Later shows, specials and shorts In 1975, Tom and Jerry were reunited with Hanna and Barbera, who produced new Tom and Jerry cartoons for Saturday mornings.

These 48 seven-minute short cartoons were paired with The Great Grape Ape Show and Mumbly cartoons, to create The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show , The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show , and The Tom and Jerry/Mumbly Show , all of which ran on ABC Saturday Morning from September 6, 1975 to September 3, 1977. In these cartoons, Tom and Jerry (now with a red bow tie), who had been enemies during their formative years, became nonviolent pals who went on adventures together, as Hanna-Barbera had to meet the stringent rules against violence for children's TV. The Tom and Jerry Show is still airing on the Canadian channel, TELETOON, and its classical counterpart, TELETOON Retro. Filmation Studios (in association with MGM Television) also tried their hands at producing a Tom and Jerry TV series. Their version, The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show , debuted in 1980, and also featured new cartoons starring Droopy, Spike (another bulldog created by Tex Avery), and Barney Bear, not seen since the original MGM shorts.

The thirty Filmation Tom and Jerry cartoons were noticeably different from Hanna-Barbera's efforts, as they returned Tom and Jerry to the original chase formula, with a somewhat more "slapstick" humor format. This incarnation, much like the 1975 version, was not as well received by audiences as the originals, and lasted on CBS Saturday Morning from September 6, 1980 to September 4, 1982. One of the biggest trends for Saturday morning television in the 1980s and 1990s was the "babyfication" of older, classic cartoon stars, and on September 7, 1990, Tom and Jerry Kids , co-produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Turner Entertainment Co. debuted on ABC. It featured a youthful version of the famous cat-and-mouse duo chasing each other. As with the 1975 H-B series, Jerry wears his red bowtie, while Tom now wears a red cap.

Spike and his son Tyke, and Droopy and his son Dripple, appeared in back-up segments for the show, which ran until November 19, 1993, then 1996 the show return to Kids' WB! on The WB until the show dropped Kids' WB! in 2000, then rerun again from 2002-2007. In 2000, a new television special entitled, Tom and Jerry in: The Mansion Cat premiered on Cartoon Network . It featured Joe Barbera (who was also a creative consultant) as the voice of Tom's owner, whose face is never seen. In this cartoon, Jerry, housed in a habitrail, is as much of a house pet as Tom is, and their owner has to remind Tom to not "blame everything on the mouse". In 2005, a new Tom and Jerry theatrical short, entitled The KarateGuard, which had been written and directed by Barbera and Spike Brandt, storyboarded by Joseph Barbera and Iwao Takamoto and produced by Joseph Barbera, Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone.

also Jeff Bergman as the voices of Tom Cat / Jerry Mouse premiered in Los Angeles cinemas on September 27, 2005. As part of the celebration of Tom and Jerry's sixty-fifth anniversary, this marked Barbera's first return as a writer, director and storyboard artist on the series since his and Hanna's original MGM cartoon shorts. Director/animator Spike Brandt was nominated for an Annie award for best character animation. The short debuted on Cartoon Network on January 27, 2006. During the first half of 2006, a new series called Tom and Jerry Tales was produced at Warner Bros. Animation. Thirteen half-hour episodes (each consisting of three shorts) were produced, with only markets outside of the United States and United Kingdom signed up. The show then came to the U.K. in February 2006 on Boomerang, and it went to the U.S. on Kids' WB! on The WB. Tales is the first Tom and Jerry TV series that utilizes the original style of the classic shorts, along with the violence. This recently is the last Tom and Jerry-based cartoon show for television as the show ended on March 22, 2008.

Feature films In 1945, Jerry made an appearance in the live-action MGM musical feature film Anchors Aweigh, in which, through the use of special effects, he performs a dance routine with Gene Kelly. In this sequence, Gene Kelly is telling a class of school kids a fictional tale of how he earned his Medal of Honor. Jerry is the king of a magical world populated with cartoon animals, whom he has forbidden to dance as he himself does not know how. Gene Kelly's character then comes along and guides Jerry through an elaborate dance routine, resulting in Jerry awarding him with a medal. Jerry speaks and sings in this short film; his voice is performed by Sara Berner. Tom has a cameo in the sequence as one of Jerry's servants. Both Tom and Jerry appear with Esther Williams in a dream sequence in another big-screen musical, Dangerous When Wet. In the film, Tom and Jerry are chasing each other underwater, when they run into Esther Williams, with whom they perform an extended synchronized swimming routine. Tom and Jerry have to save Williams from a lecherous octopus, who tries to lure and woo her into (many of) his arms.

In 1988, the duo were lined-up to appear in the Oscar-winning Touchstone/Amblin Entertainment film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a homage to classic American animation, but their inclusion in the film was scrapped due to legal complications. &nbsp 1992 saw the overseas release of Tom and Jerry: The Movie the film was released to theaters in Europe of that year and then by Miramax Films domestically in 1993. Joseph Barbera, co-creator of the characters served as creative consultant for the picture and was produced and directed by Phil Roman. A musical film with a structure similar to Metro Goldwyn Mayer's blockbusters, The Wizard of Oz and Singin' in the Rain, the movie was criticized by reviewers and audiences alike for being predictable and for giving the pair dialogue (and songs) through the entire movie. As a result, it failed at the box office. In 2001, Warner Bros. (which had, by then, merged with Turner and assumed its properties) released the duo's first direct-to-video movie, Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring, in which Tom covets a ring which grants mystical powers to the wearer, and has become accidentally stuck on Jerry's head.

It would mark the last time both Hanna and Barbera co-executive produced a Tom and Jerry, as William Hanna died shortly after The Magic Ring was released. Four years later, Bill Kopp scripted and directed two more cat and mouse features for the studio, Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars and Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, the latter one based on a story by Barbera. Both were released on DVD in 2005, marking the celebration of Tom and Jerry's 65th anniversary. In 2006, another direct-to-video film, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, tells the story about the pair having to work together to find the treasure. Joe came up with the initial idea and storyline for the next feature, Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, which would be his last Tom and Jerry due to his passing in December 2006. The holiday-set animated film was released on DVD in late 2007, and dedicated to Barbera. It is rumored that the next direct-to-video feature, Tom and Jerry: A Little Learning, will be released. No release date has been announced and no plot made yet for the upcoming title.

Other formats Tom and Jerry began appearing in comic books in 1942, as one of the features in Our Gang Comics. In 1949, with MGM's live-action Our Gang shorts having ceased production five years earlier, the series was renamed Tom and Jerry Comics. The pair continued to appear in various books for the rest of the 20th century. The pair have also appeared in a number of video games as well, spanning titles for systems from the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES to more recent entries for Playstation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo Gamecube. Cultural influences Throughout the years, the term and title Tom and Jerry became practically synonymous with never-ending rivalry, as much as the related "cat and mouse fight" metaphor has. The Simpsons characters, Itchy & Scratchy, of the eponymous cartoon on the Krusty the Clown Show, are spoofs of Tom and Jerry--a "cartoon within a cartoon." The extreme cartoon violence of the Tom and Jerry is parodied and intensified, as Itchy (the mouse) dispatches Scratchy in various gratuitous, gory fashions.

In The Simpsons episode, Itchy and Scratchy and Marge Marge gets violence banned from TV and Itchy and Scratchy became friends (that whacking intro of theirs is replaced by gift-exchanging), causing the downfall of the series. It was later changed back to the way it used to be because Marge decides that you shouldn't censor art because she didn't want Michaelangelo's David's nudity to be covered up. The Simpsons also parodied the Gene Deitch era cartoons. In the episode Krusty Gets Kancelled, the Itchy & Scratchy characters are replaced with the badly drawn Worker & Parasite. The duo are also parodied in the original Sally the Witch anime (1966), the Fairly Oddparents TV movie, Channel Chasers (2004), and two episodes of Garfield and Friends . An episode of Disney's Kim Possible also featured a parody of Tom and Jerry called Scamper and Mr. Bitey. Tom and Jerry were mentioned in Baby Mama when Angie mentions Tom and Jerry as a partnership she and Kate should aim to work together like, and Kate points out that Tom and Jerry hate each other.

Tom and Jerry on DVD There have been several Tom and Jerry DVDs released in Region 1 (the United States and Canada), including a series of two-disc sets known as the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection. There have been negative responses to Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, due to some of the cartoons included on each having cuts and redubbed Mammy Two-Shoes dialogue. A replacement program offering uncut versions of the shorts on DVD was later announced. There are also negative responses to Vol. 3, due to Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat being excluded from these sets and His Mouse Friday having an extreme zooming-in towards the end, no replacement program for Vol. 3 is announced. There have been two Tom and Jerry DVD sets in Region 2. In Western Europe, most of the Tom and Jerry shorts have been released (only two, namely The Million Dollar Cat and Busy Buddies, were not included, for unknown reasons) under the name Tom and Jerry - The Classic Collection. Almost all of the shorts contain re-dubbed Mammy Two-Shoes tracks.

Despite these cuts, His Mouse Friday, the only Tom and Jerry cartoon to be completely taken off the airwaves in some countries due to racism, is included, unedited with the exception of extreme zooming-in towards the end to avoid showing a particularly racist caricature. One must note, though, that these are regular TV prints sent from the U.S. in the 1990s. Shorts produced in CinemaScope are presented in pan and scan. Fortunately Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat are presented uncut on as part of these sets. Tom and Jerry - The Classic Collection is available in 6 double-sided dvds (issued in the United Kingdom) and 12 single-layer dvds (issued in whole Western Europe, including the United Kingdom). The other Tom and Jerry Region 2 DVD set is available in Japan. Same as Tom and Jerry - The Classic Collection in Western Europe, Almost all of the shorts (including His Mouse Friday) contain cuts. Slicked-up Pup, Tom's Photo Finish, Busy Buddies, The Egg and Jerry, Tops with Pops and Feedin' the Kiddie are excluded from these sets. Shorts produced in CinemaScope are presented in pan and scan.

Filmography The following cartoons won the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Short Subject: Cartoons: 1943: The Yankee Doodle Mouse 1944: Mouse Trouble MGM Studio Directory -Alternate: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | BCDB MGM Studio Directory -Alternate: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Alternate Studio Title: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer As is obvious from the hyphenated name, Metro-Golwdyn-Mayer was formed from many components. Richard A. Rowland founded the original Metro Pictures Corporation in 1915, and their biggest star was Francis X. Bushman. The studio was based in New York City, Fort Lee, New Jersey, and in Los Angeles. Marcus Loew of Loews Theaters purchase purchased the studio in 1920. Loew next bought up Goldwyn Pictures, which was founded in 1916 by Samuel Goldfish and Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn. Samuel added the "wyn' to his name, but lost the studio to Lee Shubert. Read More Loew bought the studio in 1924, and hired Louis B. Mayer to head production at the combined production facilities.

Mayer added his name to the studio title in 1925, with Loews blessing. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and the studio far outgrew his ambitions for just a studio to provide content for his theater chain. The studio was single-handed credited for inventing the Hollywood star system; their stable of stars went on to dominate the box office in the 1930s and 1940s. Animation came to MGM in 1930 when the studio was called on to distribute a series of cartoons from longtime Disney collaborator Ub Iwerks Studio that starred a character named Flip the Frog . The first Flip cartoon- Fiddlesticks - was notable for being the first sound cartoon to be produced in two-color Technicolor. The series ran to nearly forty entries before running out of steam in 1933, and was succeeded by Willie Whopper . Iwerks distribution deal lapsed in 1934, and MGM wanted to keep an animation component at the studio. First they contracted with producers/directors Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising to produce a new series of color cartoons.

Harman and Ising brought their popular Looney Tunes character Bosko with them to MGM when they left Warner Bros. Their first series was Happy Harmonies and in many ways resembled the Looney Tunes' sister series, Merrie Melodies . The Happy Harmonies regularly ran over budget, and MGM dismissed Harman-Ising in 1937 to start its own animation studio. The MGM Studios first self-produced series was Captain and the Kids , based on the characters created by Rudolph Dirks. The series did not prove to be too popular with movie-goers. Reversing direction, the studio re-hired Harman and Ising in 1939. Ising created the studio's first successful animated character, Barney Bear . However, MGM's biggest cartoon stars would come in the form of the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry , created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940. The Tom and Jerry cartoons won seven Academy Awards between 1943 and 1953. In 1941, Tex Avery, another Schlesinger/Warner Bros. alumnus, joined the animation department.

It was Avery who gave the unit its image and style, with successes like Red Hot Riding Hood , Swing Shift Cinderella , and the Droopy series. Avery left the studio in 1953, leaving Hanna and Barbera to focus on the popular Tom and Jerry and Droopy series. After 1955, all cartoons were filmed in wide screen CinemaScope until MGM closed its cartoon division in 1957. Hanna and Barbera started their own studio, and became synonymous with television cartoons. MGM MGM was based in Hollywood, California. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio | Rarebit Early Animation Wiki 1957 Description Active from 1929 to 1957, MGM produced some of the most well-known and well-liked cartoons syndicated all over the world, featuring characters such as Barney Bear, Droopy, and the now-iconic Tom and Jerry. MGM’s first foray into animation was through the purchase of Flip the Frog cartoon series, which featured a singing frog. This was produced by Ub Iwerks, who originally worked for Disney. In 1943, MGM signed the Harman-Ising team to work on a series of color cartoons.

They released the Happy Harmonies cartoon series, included a handful of cartoons with Bosko, the “Inkspot” kid. The directors at this time strived to compete with the immensely popular Silly Symphonies which were produced by Disney. As Harman-Ising repeatedly went over budget for Happy Harmonies, MGM decided to retaliate by creating their own studio instead in February of 1937, hiring away much of their staff. In March 1937, MGM took on Fred Quimby who was a film sales executive to set up and run the MGM cartoon department. He raided other studios for talent, taking Friz Freleng from Schlesinger, as well as Joseph Barberra from Terrytoons. The official MGM cartoon studio on Overland and Montana Ave. opened its doors on August 23rd, 1937. The first series produced was The Captain and the Kids, but the humor was difficult to translate into animation from its original comic strip by Rudolph Dirks, and folded after 15 episodes.

In October 1938, Harman and Ising were hired by Quimby as the new creative heads again, and in charge of their employees, many who had defected from them a year before. Ising’s first star creation for MGM was Barney Bear, while Harman focused on one-shot cartoons, creating the serious animation Peace on Earth in 1939 which was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize. Peace on Earth detailed the possibility of a post-apocalyptic world only populated by animals, and tells the story of their attempt to build a non-violent society after the fall of the human race. Bill Hanna and Joseph Barberra started making cartoons together at the Fred Quimby’s instigation, a partnership that would last 60 years, as Harman and Ising were not able to make as many cartoons per year as MGM had wanted. After Freleng ‘s departure to work for Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1939, Quimby wanted to find more people to make cartoons. Barberra first started working as a gag and story-sketch artist for Freleng at MGM, and both Hanna and Barberra were members of Rudy Ising’s unit.

Under Ising’s unit, Barberra and Hanna began writing on May 8th 1939 a story pitting a large gray cat against a small brown mouse, an animation titled Puss Gets the Boot, which Ising later credited to Barberra as doing most of the story sketches and Hanna with most of the directing. This one-reel cartoon was the first Tom and Jerry short, though not credited as such at the time, and was produced by Ising, with music supervised by Scott Bradley . MGM announced the creation of the Barberra and Hanna unit in 1939, taking the cat and mouse creation with them to their new unit. The Hanna-Barberra unit could produce much more gag-driven cartoons than Ising could, and made themselves valuable to Quimby. Gus Arriola began working for Hanna and Barberra , and remarked that Barberra came up with 75% of the gags, as well as drawing the character layouts. After Officer Pooch, Hanna and Barbera made almost exclusively Tom and Jerry cartoons, as the series was overwhelmingly popular, competing with other aggressive, gag-driven cartoons such as Woody Woodpecker.

By 1942, the pace of Tom and Jerry was picking up, breaking free from the grid based musical timing inherited from Ising, and through Ising, Disney. Tom and Jerry cartoons of the mid 40′s manifested well the Terrytoons sensibility, and the MGM gloss hid well the base origins of violence and danger in the cartoon realities of Tom and Jerry, shifting from cute to brutal and back again. It was during this time of seeming aesthetic incompatibilities between Hanna and Barbera that they got their formula down, as Tom and Jerry were being nominated by the Academy Awards as regularly as Disney had in the previous decade, and was the first to defeat the 8 time streak held by Disney for best Animation. Avery came to work for MGM in the early 40′s, leaving WB behind, and had no roots to the Studio’s “normal” way of doing things. He was known for his extreme characters placed in hilarious and wild situations, and for the precise timing of his gags.

On Avery’s unit included writers such as Heck Allen, Bob Allen’s brother who had been writing for Ising for many years, who returned to MGM in 1942, as well as people who had left Disney in the midst of the ’41 strike. In 1943, Avery and his team worked on Red Hot Riding Hood, featuring a sexy nightclub singer drawn in a realistic, humanoid style, by the team of animators in Avery’s unit that had previously worked at Disney. The cartoon took on an immensely sexual nature, and the howls of arrousal as exhibited by Wolfie had to be censored as it was deemed too explicit. Avery’s style took on a level of self-awareness not present in cartoons before, as his animations yearned for a type of subtlety that the comedy and gags scorned, delivering many ‘mock-apologies’ on screen for the gags pulled. In 1944, Avery created a star character for MGM, the Screwy Squirrel who appeared in Screwball Squirrel, as well as Avery’s next three cartoons, and modelled his character on Walter Lantz ‘ Woody Woodpecker.

In his third year at MGM in 1944, Avery began to find his footing, as he had with Schlesinger in the past at Warner Brothers, and created the mock western Wild and Woolfy in 1945. For the most part during this period the Avery unit’s cartoons released had no close connection with the Hanna-Barbera unit, seeming to come from two separate studios. Avery created his best-known MGM character in 1943, Droopy, an anthropomorphic dog. The third unit at MGM which was formerly headed by Ising became head by George Gordon in 1942 after Ising’s leaving to head the Army Air Force’s Animation unit. Gordon whom was a former Terrytoons animator had a similar sensibility to the Hanna-Barbera team. After Gordon left a year later in 1943, there was a small hiatus for about three years, and a third team was put together briefly with Preston Blair and Mike Lah to continue the Barney Bear cartoons. By the mid 40′s, Tom and Jerry cartoons had a successful formula down, and was consistently doing well at the Academy Awards as well as being very popular in theatres.

A high level of expertise manifested itself in the Tom and Jerry cartoons from the mid-40′s onwards, as the collaboration between the animators and supervisors was slick and set, and Scott Bradley ‘s musical accompaniment perfectly mirrored the rapid, deranged atmosphere of the cartoons themselves. Bradley’s musical accompaniment style was much more opportunistic in style than his counterpart Stalling at Warner Brothers , and he took the score into his own hands and tried to create excitement onscreen even when the cartoons were not the greatest, unlike Stalling’s scores which seem to emphasize it when he recognized a bad cartoon. In the 50′s, MGM felt the loss of Avery due to overwork in May 1950, and Dick Lundy who had previously worked for Walter Lantz was brought in to replace Avery. Avery returned in October, 1951 and directed many more cartoons for MGM. In 1953, MGM decided to shut down the cartoon unit due to the introduction and growing popularity of 3-D that they feared would overtake the market, but Avery as well as Hanna-Barbera staff stayed at the studio despite the closure, working on commercial animations.

The studio reopened in 1954, but due to the budget constraints in place the quality of Hanna-Barbera’s Tom and Jerry was undermined, and directed Pet Peeve, the first CinemaScope cartoon by MGM. A number of sporadic Tom and Jerry CinemaScope features were also released within the decade. After Quimby’s retirement in 1955, Hanna and Barbera took over the studio, and Mike Lah returned as well to supervise some Droopy and Tom and Jerry cartoons. MGM found that they could make money off of the reissuing of past cartoons, and decided it could save six hundred thousand dollars per year by ending new productions. The studio close in May 1957, and Hanna-Barbera formed their own production company, Hanna-Barbera Productions. They sold their cartoons for television to distribute through Columbia Pictures, which became one of the most successful television animation companies in the world, distributing shows such as Huckleberry Hound Show, Yogi Bear and The Jetsons. References: Barrier, J M. Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.

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Question: Which film studio produced the 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons?
Answer: METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER (MGM)