Feb 10th 2020

February 10, 1940 - Tom and Jerry make their screen debut with Puss Gets the Boot. The never-ending battle between crafty cat and mischievous mouse. Tom and Jerry were two of the most successful cartoon characters in film and TV history. The cat and mouse who fight a seemingly never-ending battle for supremacy were featured in the animated short Puss Gets the Boot, made for MGM cartoons by legendary animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

In the nine-minute short, Tom (then known as Jasper), a blue-grey long-haired cat, is happily toying with small brown mouse Jerry (unnamed on screen, but called Jinx in the script), when he is threatened with being thrown out of his owner’s house if he causes any more breakages. Jerry then causes as much mayhem as he can to land Tom in trouble – a storyline that would provide a template for most of the duo’s adventures – and is left to celebrate when Tom is inevitably turfed out by his owner. This cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award that year.

Tom and Jerry shorts were nominated 13 times for an Oscar, their seven wins coming for The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943), Mouse Trouble (1944), Quiet, Please (1945), The Cat Concerto (1947), Mouse Cleaning (1948), Two Mouseketeers (1952), and Johann Mouse (1953).

Tom and Jerry animations are notable for their extreme ‘cartoon violence’ – Tom would chase Jerry with clubs, axes, weaponry and traps, which would usually end up being turned on himself – but neither character would show any long-lasting effects of their injuries.

Hanna and Barbera would write and direct a total of 114 short Tom and Jerry cartoons before MGM closed their animation department in 1957. Then Hanna and Barbera formed their own animation studio in 1957 and would have TV success with characters such as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo.

Nothing much to report.

Out of the house by 7:30am

Or 7:30 ugly o'clock!

Remicade and home.

I yawned all day

And slept and relaxed the whole time.

Ended with pain killers

But hoping for a good day tomorrow.

Good night from John Street