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CAT AND MOUSE TALES:MGM's Tom and Jerry Cartoons1940-1958Part Two - 1943-44Intro: Mammy Two-Shoes... Sufferin' Cats... The Lonesome Mouse... Yankee Doodle Mouse... Baby Puss... The Zoot Cat... The Million Dollar Cat... The Bodyguard... Putting on the Dog... Mouse Trouble... |
Mammy Two-Shoes
Mammy Two-Shoes,
usually voiced by actress Lillian Randolph, was one of the most beloved
characters in the Tom and Jerry
series
and, significantly, the only human being of any real importance in Tom
and Jerry's world.
She made her first appearance in Puss Gets the Boot,
1940's
prototype cat and mouse cartoon in which Tom was named Jasper.
A large black woman whose face or head were rarely
seen, she
was
Tom's owner, much to his regret. Her life consisted of
cleaning
up around the house and threatening to throw Tom out,
whether for making a mess, breaking things, or some other infraction of
Mammy's rules. ("Tom, if you'se in dat icebox... start prayin'!").
In many cartoons, she gets her own share of laughs,
such as
when she spies
Jerry the Mouse for the first time, leaps up on a chair and pulls her
her house dress - and fifteen different undergarments besides.
When Jerry starts rocking the chair, the contents of Mammy's
pocket - a straight razor, a pair of dice, a diamond ring - reveals a
rich and fascinating side of her life that never gets explored
in
the films.
In short, Mammy was a hoot. Yes, she was a racial
stereotype, speaking in black dialect commonly found in movies of the
same time, but she was no more a stereotype than the Irish cop or the
Italian grocer you might find in other cartoons. Mammy was an
admirable character, a no-nonsense, hard-working firebrand who made
every cartoon she appeared in a little funnier.
In later years, characters like Mammy
Two-Shoes were
considered racist and offensive. In the 1960s Chuck
Jones, who was doing
his own Tom and Jerry
series
for MGM at that time, was called on to reanimate Mammy's scenes for CBS
television, redrawing her as a white woman. New vocal tracks
were provided by
June Foray. In other words, Mammy got a complete racial
makeover, quite a
strange solution for what many cartoon fans felt was
not really much of a problem to begin with. A more recent
compromise kept the original "black mammy" footage but with a
newer,
more grammatically correct voice dubbed in, which only made Mammy less
funny. As kids, we didn't laugh at Mammy because she said
"is"
for "are", "dat" for "that" or spelled "out" as "O-W-T". We
laughed at her because the
character was beautifully animated and the actress who played her knew
how to ring every drop of humor out of her lines.
Though she is known as Mammy Two-Shoes,
her name
was never mentioned in the cartoons. And in the 1950 short Saturday Evening Puss,
you can actually see her face if you freeze-frame your DVD or video at
just the right moment. She looks angry.
Tom was probably in that icebox again.
SUFFERIN' CATS
(1943)
With Tom, Jerry, Orange Cat ("Meathead")STORY: While running away from Tom, Jerry encounters another cat and is subsequently chased by both.
A real gem of a cartoon that shows off the gag
sense and
exquisite timing of Hanna and Barbera. They knew exactly when
somebody should be hit in the head with a lead pipe, how hard,
how
long the character should react, and when to cut away from the violent
mayhem to show a little pantomimic character comedy. As
stated in
the intro to the 1940-42 section, the gags are usually nothing special,
but the timing and animation make them memorable.
The level of violence in the T&J cartoons was increasing with each new release. In Sufferin' Cats, H&B offer their first really grisly gag - Tom and the Orange Cat planning to chop a captured Jerry Mouse in half with an axe. Of course, it never happens, but sometimes in a Tom and Jerry cartoon, just the thought of a gag can make you want to turn your head from the screen.
THE LONESOME MOUSE
(1943)
With Tom, Jerry, Mammy Two-ShoesSTORY: Jerry gets Tom kicked out of the house once again, but finds life without Tom so completely tedious, he schemes to get Tom a reprieve.
Hanna and Barbera were now so sure of themselves and the direction they were going with Tom and Jerry, they could begin to give us a little insight to the characters. In The Lonesome Mouse, we discover that Jerry without Tom is Hardy without Laurel, Bud without Lou. Tom may be a pain - often literally - but without him, life is dull. If Tom needs to chase Jerry, it is equally true, that Jerry needs to be chased. What else is a mouse to do for a little fun? So he lets Tom in on his plan - Jerry scares Mammy, Mammy lets Tom back in the house, Tom "kills" mouse, everything will be back to normal.
The chase in this cartoon is a parody played up melodramatically and comically. But midway through, Tom axe swings in Jerry's direction are so accurate, the mouse has to stop things to ask "Hey, we're still kiddin' around, right?". Of course, once Tom vanquishes "the mouse" (actually a tomato under a rug) for Mammy, it takes all of ten seconds for the usual antagonistic relationship the pair has to reestablish itself. There are some things you just cannot change.
THE
YANKEE DOODLE MOUSE
(1943)
With Tom, JerrySTORY: It's war!
The first Tom and Jerry cartoon to win an Academy Award, The Yankee Doodle Mouse is also the first to fully acknowledge World War II. (In the previous cartoon The Lonesome Mouse, Jerry defaces a picture of Tom, turning him into Hitler.) This acknowledgment is really just a pretense to create nonstop visual gags like Jerry using "hen grenades" (eggs) on Tom and Tom using a roman candle as an anti-aircraft gun to shoot down Jerry's makeshift plane. More fun than funny, and, it should go without saying by now, perfectly executed and timed. A blackface gag when a firecracker explodes in Tom's face was usually edited for television, though I am not sure if the same can be said about Jerry using a brassiere as a parachute.
BABY PUSS
(1943)
With Tom, Jerry, Butch and palsSTORY: When Tom finds himself enjoying being treated like a baby by a little girl, Jerry invites his pals over to humiliate him.
Baby Puss proves that Hanna and Barbera could make a funny Tom and Jerry cartoon without relying on chases and violence. Although the short contains moments of both, the humor of Baby Puss is more based on personality, character and sheer nonsense than the usual elements. When the obnoxious little girl who owns Tom in this cartoon (where's Mammy Two-Shoes?) dresses Tom as a baby, shoves him in a crib and force feeds him a bottle of milk, Tom finds he likes the milk so much, he starts making mock baby noises like "da-da" and "a-goo!" to himself. The minute Jerry spots him, the little mouse can't resist making the same noises in Tom's direction, jumpstarting a mini chase in which Jerry takes refuge in a dollhouse. Later, when Tom is back in his crib with his bottle, Jerry gets the attention of Tom's alley cat buddies, and over they come to take the mickey out of him as well. There is some violence - one of Tom's pals hits him on the head with a polo mallet to keep him still while his pals change Tom's diaper - but the fun is mostly in watching Tom play baby, Jerry's and the cats' reactions and Tom's reactions to them. And seeing it all wind up, for no damn good reason, with a three-cat (and one mouse) version of the Carmen Miranda hit "Mama Yo Quiero".
THE ZOOT CAT
(1944)
With Tom, Jerry, TootsSTORY: Pegged as a square by his girlfriend, Tom gets hep to the jive.
Another cartoon that focuses more on personality than violence. When Tom shows up at Toots's house, he is called every single negative jive term one can think of. But once he fashions himself a Zoot Suit (out of Toots's horrid yellow and green striped hammock) he's no longer a "goon from Saskatoon" but rather a "mellow little fellow". But Jerry is there... well, we're not sure why Jerry is there, but he does his best to ruin Tom's date.
Jerry's use of a hotfoot (using at least a dozen matches) begins the inevitable chase that leads to the inevitable humiliation of Tom and the inevitable end credits. Along the way, there are not a lot of gags, but rather some unforgettable moments, such as seeing how the animators use just a handful of drawings repeated over and over to create the wild jitterbugging of Tom and Toots. There's also Tom's hilarious imitation of Charles Boyer, and some explosive, eye-popping takes from Toots and Jerry that inarguably show the influence of Tex Avery.
THE MILLION DOLLAR CAT
(1944)
With Tom, JerrySTORY: Tom inherits a million dollars, provided he doesn't hurt another living soul... not even a mouse.
The Million Dollar Cat is obviously inspired by two other cartoons: Friz Freling's The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (1942) and Tex Avery's first Droopy Dog cartoon Dumb Hounded (1943). Freling provides the basic plot while Avery provides the running gag of a character always popping up in the most unexpected places. Both of these cartoons are superior to The Million Dollar Cat for different reasons. The Wabbit Who Came to Supper is funnier because Bugs has much more personality than Jerry, so it is more amusing to see him exploit Elmer Fudd's situation than it is watching Jerry exploit Tom's. Dumb Hounded is wilder because Tex Avery directs it at such a fast clip one character almost runs out of the film frame entirely.
The Million Dollar Cat is a perfectly adequate Tom and Jerry cartoon on its own, with the usual assortment of outstanding gags and clever moments. But if you've seen either the Freling or Avery shorts, you've seen this story and some of the gags done better.
THE BODYGUARD
(1944)
With Tom, Jerry, SpikeSTORY: Jerry gets a friend for life (or at least for one cartoon) when he rescues Spike from the clutches of the dog catcher.
In The Million Dollar Cat, Hanna and Barbera borrowed a running gag from their fellow MGM director Tex Avery. In The Bodyguard, H&B devised a plot that Tex Avery would later borrow for his 1949 classic Bad Luck Blackie. Avery took the basic plot device - one character shows up to help anytime the other character whistles - and turned it into one of the most universally praised cartoons of all time.
The Bodyguard, on the other hand, is just another Tom and Jerry cartoon. That's not a bad thing at all. Hanna and Barbera excelled at creating consistently funny Tom and Jerry films. During their 18-year Tom and Jerry run at MGM, they rarely made a bad cartoon. Almost all Tom and Jerry cartoons are seven to eight minutes of wild action, perfectly-timed violence and high-speed chases choreographed to the brassy swing music of the MGM orchestra. Conversely, because they didn't experiment much with the T&J formula, Hanna and Barbera rarely reached the stratospheric artistic heights some of their competitors. As a result, Tom and Jerry cartoons are as funny as any of the best cartoons you can think of, but few really stand out. It is fairly easy to name the greatest Bugs Bunny, Popeye and Tex Avery cartoons. The best Tom and Jerry? Reach into a film vault and grab one at random.
PUTTING ON THE DOG
(1944)
STORY: When Jerry finds sanctuary in a dog pound, Tom disguises himself as a dog.
See the last two sentences of the review above and then take this film as an example. Somebody somewhere could probably pull this one out of a film vault at random and call it the greatest Tom and Jerry cartoon ever. I'm not saying it is, but it has everything you need for a great Tom and Jerry film - Tom, Jerry and a promising situation. And it is indeed a great Tom and Jerry film, yet there is nothing about it that stands out as classic or makes it all that different from the previous one or the one after it. That is both the strength and the weakness of the series. Like so many others in the series, Putting on the Dog is simply a nonstop display of the genius of Hanna Barbera at making funny cartoons. Not a frame is wasted, every single drawing it took to make the cartoon is there for a reason. The timing is exquisite, the character animation is perfect, the film is loaded with gags, coming at you one after the other. And, unlike the greatest Popeye or Bugs Bunny cartoons, not a single word is uttered throughout.
Yet when lists of the greatest individual cartoon are compiled, you'll find plenty of Bugs Bunnys, Mickey Mouses and Tex Averys, but precious few Tom and Jerrys. Yet if you compiled a list of the top five cartoon characters or series of all time, Tom and Jerry would be right there. *
* That last sentence is purely subjective. The following organizations and websites actually did polls of the top cartoons, characters and series. Here are the results:TV Guide's Top 50 (2002): Bugs Bunny, #1. Tom and Jerry, #50. Fifty? And Angelica Pickles of Rugrats in the top 10?
Bulls-Eye.com's All-Time Best: Bugs Bunny, #1. Tom and Jerry, #7. That's more like it.
100 Greatest Cartoons (2004 British Documentary). The Simpsons, #1. Tom and Jerry, #2. All the talking heads in this TV special loved the violence, Tom's later blood-curdling scream, and Mammy Two-Shoes. Makes me wonder why we ever revolted against the Brits
Any list of Greatest Cartoons I've seen invariably lists The Cat Concerto... and nothing else from Tom and Jerry. Which proves my point, I guess, assuming I had one.
MOUSE TROUBLE
(1944)
With Tom, JerrySTORY: Tom turns to a book about mouse catching, but Jerry has all the answers.
A beautiful series of blackouts notable not only for being funny, charming and painful, but for breaking one of the cardinal rules of animation. Usually, when something bad happens to a character (broken teeth, face blackened by an explosion, etc.), by the next scene, all evidence of injury is gone. Here, when Tom accidentally blows the hair off his head with a shotgun (it could happen), he wears an orange toupee throughout the rest of the film. By the latter stages of the cartoon, he is wearing multiple bandages, including one around his midriff from the time he accidentally got sawed in half (it could happen.) These bandage do disappear after one blackout, but the toupee remains. Even when Tom accidentally blows up the house (it could happen) and ascends to Heaven, he is still wearing the toupee. Now that's a quality hairpiece!
Marx Brothers fans may wish to know that this is the cartoon in which "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" from 1937's A DAY AT THE RACES made its first appearance as Tom and Jerry background music.
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Copyright © 2008 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee