Tom and Jerry are a cartoon team of cat and mouse, respectively, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940 in a series of MGM theatrical shorts. While not the first cartoons about a cat pursuing a mouse, they defined the type and led to various imitators. Tom, the pursuing house cat, and Jerry, the mischievous mouse, engaged in often physically violent encounters and in the original shorts usually did not speak dialogue, with few exceptions.
Solo, Jerry danced with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh.
After Hanna-Barbera moved to TV, MGM revived the shorts under directors Chuck Jones and Gene Deitch, while HB would reuse the characters on TV (as did Filmation) and others.
References[]
- The cover of the Gold Key comic book Tom and Jerry #266 (cover date September 1972), is displayed on the door of Hooper's Store in Sesame Street Episode 0596.
- In Sesame Street Episode 2064, one of the kids has two goldfish named Tom and Jerry. When Olivia learns of their names, she says, "Well, I won't go into that."
- The updated Muppet Babies series episode "The Copy Cub" features references to classic Looney Tunes and MGM cartoon shorts. The song "Rozzies Everywhere" includes specific gags drawn from Tom & Jerry shorts, including bowling gags from The Bowling Alley-Cat (1942) and Jerry's Cousin (1951) and the Rozzies cavorting among the hammers inside a piano as Jerry did in The Cat Concerto (1947).
Connections[]
- Utkarsh Ambudkar voiced Real Estate Rat in Tom & Jerry (2021)
- Daws Butler voiced Spike and others in the original theatrical shorts
- Bobby Cannavale voiced Spike in Tom & Jerry (2021)
- Michael Giacchino wrote the music for the 2005 short The Karate Guard
- Ken Jeong played Chef Jackie in Tom & Jerry (2021)
- Colin Jost played Ben in Tom & Jerry (2021)
- Richard Kind voiced Tom in Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992)
- Chloë Grace Moretz played Kayla Forester in Tom & Jerry (2021)
- John Stephenson voiced Spike, the narrator, and others on The Tom and Jerry Show (1975-1977)
- Allen Swift voiced Tom's owner and others in the Gene Deitch shorts
- Frank Welker voiced Tom, Jerry, and others on Filmation's The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (1980-1982) and reprised the parts (plus more) on Tom and Jerry Kids (1990-1994)