Springtime for Thomas is a 1946 American 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 23rd 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

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

 directed by William Hanna

William Hanna

William Denby Hanna was an American animator, director, producer, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century. When he was a young child, Hanna's family moved frequently, but they settled in Compton, California, by...

 and Joseph Barbera

Joseph Barbera

Joseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....

 and produced by Fred Quimby

Fred Quimby

Frederick C. "Fred" Quimby was an American cartoon producer, best known as a producer of Tom and Jerry cartoons, for which he won seven Academy Awards...

.

Plot

It is a beautiful spring day and Jerry wants to play with Tom, but Tom is too busy, fixated with a female cat sunbathing in the yard outside. Tom stares dreamily at her for hours, until eventually approaching her and falling head over heels in love with her. As Jerry watches, a small devil (looking like Jerry, but smaller, green, and possessing a barbed tail, small horns, and pointed ears that look like Tom's) convinces Jerry to break things up between Tom and his new-found love. Jerry sends a forged letter laced with perfume to Butch, Tom's rival, whom was humming at the time "Over The Rainbow

Over the Rainbow

"Over the Rainbow" is a classic Academy Award-winning ballad song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. It was written for the movie The Wizard of Oz, and was sung by Judy Garland in the movie...

". Butch reads the letter aloud: "Dear Dream Boy, I have always admired your physique . Drop in for tea at 3:00. Swooningly yours, Toodles". The race is on between Butch and Tom for Toodles' affections.

First Butch lies on the sun lounger, next to Toodles

Toodles

Toodles is a term which may mean several things:* A shortened, more casual version of the French expression à tout à l'heure , meaning goodbye* Toodles Galore, a female cat in the Tom and Jerry cartoons...

. Tom finds a croquet mallet and hits Butch on the head with it. Unusually, Butch does not react to the pain. Instead, he grabs Tom and throws him into the swimming pool.

Tom gets out of the pool as Butch is serenading Toodles. Tom grabs the end of the sun-lounger and wheels it over to the pool, and throws Butch into the pool.

Butch now gets out of the pool and hits a croquet

Croquet

Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...

 ball at Tom. Tom, drinking from a tall glass, gets cracked on the back of the head and falls down. Butch hits Tom through a number of croquet rings and he crashes into the central pole. Tom is then thrown onto a barbecue and turned around on a rotisserie.

Butch is now laid down again. Jerry, and his green evil-conscience, place a pin onto a spring under the lounger. Butch says "You know? I'm expecting Cupids'

Cupid

In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...

 arrow, any minute." And he is then caught in the rump by the pin, which sticks out of the lounger (and for the first time in T&J history, Tom's trademark leather-lung scream can be heard)... just as Tom walks over (Toodles is not seen again from this point on). Tom picks it up - and Butch assumes that Tom had caught him with the pin. He chases Tom, who hits Butch by turning a statue as Butch is running towards Tom.

Butch then chases Tom off a diving board; after landing in the water, Tom quickly drinks all the water, causing Butch to crash to the bottom of the pool.

Tom then runs to a swing, places a flower pot on it, and hurls the swing at Butch. Butch gets hit, but then throws the swing back, catching Tom on the seat. Tom swings back, helplessly, and Butch hits him with his guitar, baseball-style. Tom flies over the fence and out of the garden. Tom was kicked out and frowns. Tom says: Oh, fool!.

Jerry runs up to Tom, and the two shake hands as they agree that Tom is finished with Toodles. Tom then gives chase to Jerry, with each wearing happy expressions on their faces. However, this chase ends prematurely, as Jerry hypocritically finds a female play-mate and falls in love with her. He pushes Tom out of the way and snuggles up to his new-found girlfriend.

Voice cast

• Frank Graham
  Frank Graham (voice actor)
  Frank Lee Graham was an American radio announcer and cartoon voice actor.-Biography:Graham was born in Michigan to Frank L. Graham and opera singer Ethel Briggs Graham and travelled with his mother on tour....
  
  as Jerry's conscience & Butch the cat (uncredited)