Puss n' Toots
Encyclopedia
Puss n' Toots is a 1942
one-reel animated cartoon
and is the 6th Tom and Jerry
short. It was produced in Technicolor
and released to theatres on May 30, 1942 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
and re-issued in 1957. It was animated by Pete Burness
, George Gordon
, Jack Zander
, Irven Spence
, and Bill Littlejohn
.
The cartoon opens with Tom
watching Jerry
as he runs around an empty fishbowl. Jerry tries to escape the bowl but Tom pushes him back in. Then the doorbell rings and Mammy Two Shoes goes to answer it. Tom then puts the flowers back in the bowl, grabs Jerry, and hides him in a filing cabinet under the letter "M" for mouse.
Tom now has to hide under the cabinet as Mammy comes directly towards him, and she answers the door to receive a cute female cat to take care of temporarily. Mammy sits her up on the couch as Tom sees her and instantly falls in love. The cat is struck by Cupid's arrow and dresses up by smoothing down his hair, curling his whiskers and tail, and spraying himself with cologne. He then proudly walks over to her and she smiles back. He offers her a goldfish and a canary, but she is not hungry for either.
Seeing a chance to humiliate Jerry, Tom instead goes over to the filing cabinet to release him. Jerry escapes and runs away, but Tom takes his time looking through a magazine to shake him off his tail before giving chase. Tom catches Jerry by his tail just before he runs through his mousehole, releases him, and sits on the couch. As Jerry runs toward him, Tom holds out his arm for Jerry to climb, and Jerry climbs it and is then caught between the cat's fingers.
Tom then holds Jerry in his hands, blows into them and makes Jerry disappear like a magician, although the camera shows that he is holding Jerry by his tail. Tom pokes his fingers into the bow around the girl cat's neck and reveals Jerry. This makes the cat smile as she apparently begins to fall for Tom.
Tom rolls up his hands, grabs a box of chocolates and opens it to reveal Jerry is sitting in the middle of it. Tom then grabs a handkerchief and stuffs Jerry into it before throwing the handkerchief in the air, and Jerry parachutes down to the couch. The cat quickly covers Jerry, then hides him fast enough for the girl not to notice. Then, he opens the handkerchief and Jerry has "disappeared", though of course, Tom is actually sitting on Jerry.
Underneath the cat's rear, Jerry tries to escape, but he can't, so he grabs a ribbon which pulls part of a hat with a hat pin in it into the mouse's reach. Jerry grabs the pin and sticks Tom, allowing him to escape. The mouse leaves the pin out for Tom to (almost) stick himself on on the fall, and then runs over to the desk and quickly raises the telephone to call for help. Since there is no response, Jerry then runs inside a full automatic record player
, but Tom turns on the turntable, causing the mouse to go nowhere fast. Tom then presses the button to change records, but forgets he is sitting on one. Jerry flops himself to get off the turntable just before Tom falls onto it and is "played" by the turntable due to the record on his tail. The girl cat now wonders where her beau is and peeks at the developing scene.
Jerry, inside needle container in a record player, digs himself out only to see he has been impaled repeatedly with the needles. After shaking them out of him, Jerry avenges himself by causing the records to change again, and it hits Tom's head, causing the cat to assume a Zen Buddhist caricature as the table spins. (For more on this, read Censorship.) Happy with himself, Jerry dances to the Oriental music, then changes the record to a Spanish tango, which causes Tom's rear to gyrate in time, supplemented by Jerry kicking it. The mouse continues to dance to the music, but accidentally sits on the Stop button, freeing the cat. Tom is eager for revenge of his own and pounces at the mouse, but Jerry takes stock of the situation fast enough to restart the player as Tom jumps through the record passer, causing Tom to be lodged in it. Now, the cat tries to escape the turntable, but is forcibly slapped back onto it by the needle whenever he does, and is then planted directly on the record and smacked by the reader as he makes the revolutions. Jerry then presses the start button to stop Tom and get him running on a record again. Jerry then starts pressing random buttons and waves at the helpless girl cat as records fly at her and then continually break over Tom's head, except for one that doesn't. Eventually, with help from the needle holding Tom into place, the last record knocks Tom out as it breaks and Tom is thrown through the player as it self-destructs.
Jerry then goes over to the mirror, cleans himself up, kisses the girl cat and walks proudly into his mousehole.
World War II
During 1942, USA had already joined the battles of World War II since Attack on Pearl Harbor
was broken. The end of the film featured a message about war bonds: "America needs your money. Buy war bonds and stamps every pay day" to collect the money by the watcher of this film.
1942 in film
The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...
one-reel animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
and is the 6th Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
short. It was produced in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
and released to theatres on May 30, 1942 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
and re-issued in 1957. It was animated by Pete Burness
Pete Burness
Wilson D. "Pete" Burness was an American animator and animation director. He won two Academy Awards during his career and was perhaps best known for his work on the Mr. Magoo series. He also contributed to the Tom and Jerry series, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, and Rocky and His Friends.Burness...
, George Gordon
George Gordon (animator)
George Gordon was a film and TV animator and director of animated productions. Starting in film in 1930, he moved to TV in its early days. He is credited with hundreds of cartoons spanning the period 1937-1983....
, Jack Zander
Jack Zander
Jack Zander was an American animator whose career lasted from the "golden age" of theatrical animation into the 1980s.-Biography:Jack Zander was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan...
, Irven Spence
Irven Spence
Irven Spence was an American animator. He is best known for his work on MGM's Tom and Jerry animated shorts. Spence has been credited variously as Irven Spence, Irvin Spence, and Irv Spence....
, and Bill Littlejohn
Bill Littlejohn
William Charles Littlejohn was an American animator and union organizer. Littlejohn worked on both animated shorts and features from the 1930s through to the 1990s...
.
Plot
Tom Cat
Thomas "Tom" Cat is a fictional character and half of the academy-award winning Tom and Jerry cartoon cat-and-mouse duo. He is a blue/grey anthropomorphic cat who first appeared in the 1940 animated short Puss Gets the Boot...
watching Jerry
Jerry Mouse
Jerry Mouse is a fictional animated character, one of the main characters in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon short films. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Jerry is a brown anthropomorphic mouse, who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss...
as he runs around an empty fishbowl. Jerry tries to escape the bowl but Tom pushes him back in. Then the doorbell rings and Mammy Two Shoes goes to answer it. Tom then puts the flowers back in the bowl, grabs Jerry, and hides him in a filing cabinet under the letter "M" for mouse.
Seeing a chance to humiliate Jerry, Tom instead goes over to the filing cabinet to release him. Jerry escapes and runs away, but Tom takes his time looking through a magazine to shake him off his tail before giving chase. Tom catches Jerry by his tail just before he runs through his mousehole, releases him, and sits on the couch. As Jerry runs toward him, Tom holds out his arm for Jerry to climb, and Jerry climbs it and is then caught between the cat's fingers.
Tom then holds Jerry in his hands, blows into them and makes Jerry disappear like a magician, although the camera shows that he is holding Jerry by his tail. Tom pokes his fingers into the bow around the girl cat's neck and reveals Jerry. This makes the cat smile as she apparently begins to fall for Tom.
Underneath the cat's rear, Jerry tries to escape, but he can't, so he grabs a ribbon which pulls part of a hat with a hat pin in it into the mouse's reach. Jerry grabs the pin and sticks Tom, allowing him to escape. The mouse leaves the pin out for Tom to (almost) stick himself on on the fall, and then runs over to the desk and quickly raises the telephone to call for help. Since there is no response, Jerry then runs inside a full automatic record player
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
, but Tom turns on the turntable, causing the mouse to go nowhere fast. Tom then presses the button to change records, but forgets he is sitting on one. Jerry flops himself to get off the turntable just before Tom falls onto it and is "played" by the turntable due to the record on his tail. The girl cat now wonders where her beau is and peeks at the developing scene.
Jerry, inside needle container in a record player, digs himself out only to see he has been impaled repeatedly with the needles. After shaking them out of him, Jerry avenges himself by causing the records to change again, and it hits Tom's head, causing the cat to assume a Zen Buddhist caricature as the table spins. (For more on this, read Censorship.) Happy with himself, Jerry dances to the Oriental music, then changes the record to a Spanish tango, which causes Tom's rear to gyrate in time, supplemented by Jerry kicking it. The mouse continues to dance to the music, but accidentally sits on the Stop button, freeing the cat. Tom is eager for revenge of his own and pounces at the mouse, but Jerry takes stock of the situation fast enough to restart the player as Tom jumps through the record passer, causing Tom to be lodged in it. Now, the cat tries to escape the turntable, but is forcibly slapped back onto it by the needle whenever he does, and is then planted directly on the record and smacked by the reader as he makes the revolutions. Jerry then presses the start button to stop Tom and get him running on a record again. Jerry then starts pressing random buttons and waves at the helpless girl cat as records fly at her and then continually break over Tom's head, except for one that doesn't. Eventually, with help from the needle holding Tom into place, the last record knocks Tom out as it breaks and Tom is thrown through the player as it self-destructs.
Jerry then goes over to the mirror, cleans himself up, kisses the girl cat and walks proudly into his mousehole.
Censorship
- There is a very short scene when a record discGramophone recordA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
lands on Tom's head. Tom's eyes become slanted and his whiskers straighten downwards, making him appear like a ChineseChinese peopleThe term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
caricature, and Jerry then proceeds to imitate his foe's predicament. This is cut from a number of network and cable stations in the USUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(including Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
) as it is deemed "racially insensitive" towards Chinese people. (It is, though, uncut on the Spotlight Collection, Volume Two DVD) - Mammy Two Shoes' appearance in the beginning was removed on local syndication.
World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
During 1942, USA had already joined the battles of World War II since Attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
was broken. The end of the film featured a message about war bonds: "America needs your money. Buy war bonds and stamps every pay day" to collect the money by the watcher of this film.
Voice cast
- Lillian RandolphLillian RandolphLillian Randolph was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. An African American, she worked in entertainment from the 1930s well into the 1970s, appearing in hundreds of radio shows, motion pictures, short subjects, and television shows.-Early years:Born...
as Mammy Two Shoes (uncredited) - Thea VidaleThea VidaleThea Vidale , is an American stand-up comedian and actress.She began her career doing stand-up comedy in comic clubs in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles...
as Mammy Two Shoes (re-dubbed) (uncredited) - Clarence NashClarence NashClarence Charles "Ducky" Nash was an American voice actor, best known for providing the voice of Donald Duck for the Walt Disney Studios...
and Willam Hanna as Tom (Both uncredited) - Willam Hanna as Jerry Mouse(Uncredited)