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The flagship
cartoon from the veteran team of William Hanna and Joseph
Barbera, Tom and Jerry featured an ever-dueling cat and mouse
who never spoke. They first appeared in the 1940, theatrical
short "Puss Gets The Boot" (in which Tom was called Jasper),
and were an instant hit with audiences. Although initially
intended as a one-shot cartoon, the pressure from distributors
for more cat-and-mouse stories resulted in the development of
the Tom and Jerry series.
The two had a familiar relationship - Tom chased Jerry and
usually ended up being outsmarted by the plucky little mouse.
A typical afternoon for the feuding pair: Tom, a gray cat with
a devilish, Machiavellian glint in his eyes, and Jerry, a
small, brown, cherubic yet cheeky mouse, chased each other
around a kitchen, demolishing the ice box, ironing board,
plate rail, a whole sink full of dishes and littering the
floor with egg shells, dripping yolks and oozing jam. The
kitchen battle waged on, its final outcome unknown to the
participants. But to the people watching in the darkness of
the theater, there was little doubt as to the identity of the
victor - it would be the little mouse.
In 1965, the Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts came to
television, packaged with episodes of Tex Avery's Barney Bear
and Droopy. Even though their long-running theatrical career
came to an end two years later, when MGM Studios closed their
animation department for good, the feuding duo would not be
resigned to cartoon limbo forever. In 1975, ABC tried another
version, The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show (this time created
by Hanna-Barbera Studios). In 1980 they appeared along with
new versions of their old friends Droopy, Barney the Bear and
Spike and Slick, in The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (with
animation by Filmation), and appeared again several years
later as younger versions of themselves in 1990's Tom and
Jerry Kids. |
