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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsTom and Jerry: 80 years of cat v mouse
A cartoon cat, sick of the annoying mouse living in his home, devises a plot to take him out with a trap loaded with cheese. The mouse, wise to his plan, safely removes the snack and saunters away with a full belly.
You can probably guess what happens next. The story ends as it almost always does: with the cat yelling out in pain as yet another plan backfires.
The plot may be familiar, but the story behind it may not be. From Academy Award wins to secret production behind the Cold War's Iron Curtain - this is how Tom and Jerry, who turn 80 this week, became one of the world's best known double-acts.
Short presentational grey line
The duo was dreamt up from a place of desperation. MGM's animation department, where creators Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera worked, had struggled to emulate the success of other studios who had hit characters like Porky Pig and Mickey Mouse.
Out of boredom, the animators, both aged under 30, began thinking up their own ideas. Barbera said he loved the simple concept of a cat and mouse cartoon, with conflict and chase, even though it had been done countless times before.
Puss gets the Boot was the first they released, in 1940. The debut was a hit and won the studio an Oscar nomination for best animated short. Despite their work, the animators were not credited.
Managers initially told them not to put all their eggs in one basket. A change of heart came only when a letter arrived from an influential industry figure in Texas asking when she would see another one of those "wonderful cat and mouse cartoons".
Jasper and Jinx, as they were first known, became Tom and Jerry.
More at link
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51357832
SWBTATTReg
(22,065 posts)full pages of a Tom and Jerry's comic book. I think they are hilarious. I picked up the tinplate in the long long course of my collecting career (primarily Disney-related items), and you know how it is, when you collect stuff, you go primarily for your stuff, and during the course of looking at it, run across other stuff).
Thanks for sharing this history, I did not know this tidbit about Hanna and Barbera (I knew the name of course, but not the artists themselves, I know names such as Carl Barks (Disney), and others).
Take care!
Ohiogal
(31,907 posts)I guess we are both kids at heart! I always watched these when I was young and have laughed at them ever since. I almost forgot T & J comic books! Im sure I had a few that my mother eventually thre away!
Freddie
(9,256 posts)I watch my grandson in the morning, he goes to half-day kindergarten in the afternoon. They show a lot of the old Tom and Jerry cartoons on the Boomerang cable channel. He loves them! Its neat that we can enjoy a cartoon together thats from well before my time (Im 63).