Tom Cat
Encyclopedia
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
. Tom was originally known as "Jasper" during his debut in that short, however, beginning from his next appearance in The Midnight Snack
and onwards, he is known as "Tom" or "Thomas".
s. He is very rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons (such as Tom & Jerry Tales' League of Cats) and "Tom and Jerry: The Movie
". He is continuously after Jerry Mouse
, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to him rather than Jerry. Tom rarely sets out to eat Jerry, only to hurt or compete with him, going to great lengths in order to torment Jerry. However, Tom is shown to get along with Jerry at times.
Tom has changed remarkably over the years, especially after the first episodes. For example, in his debut, he was quadrupedal and had normal cat intelligence. However, over the years (since the episode Dog Trouble
), he has become almost completely bipedal and has human intelligence. As a slapstick cartoon character, Tom has a superhuman level of elasticity. When acting as Jerry's antagonist, Tom is usually defeated in the end, although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
musical
Anchors Aweigh
where Tom briefly appears as a butler for Jerry, the latter who has a dance sequence with Gene Kelly
, and also in another musical with the same studio Dangerous When Wet
(1953),where, in a dream sequence, main character Katie Higgins (Esther Williams
) does an underwater ballet with Tom and Jerry, as well as animated depictions of the different people in her life.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
and half of the academy-award winning 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...
cartoon cat-and-mouse duo. He is a blue/grey anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
who first appeared in the 1940 animated short Puss Gets the Boot
Puss Gets the Boot
Puss Gets the Boot is a one-reel animated cartoon and the first Tom and Jerry short, although not billed as such in the cartoon. It was released on June 24, 1940 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer...
. Tom was originally known as "Jasper" during his debut in that short, however, beginning from his next appearance in The Midnight Snack
The Midnight Snack
The Midnight Snack is a 1941 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 2nd Tom and Jerry short, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on July 19, 1941 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and re-released in 1948 and 1957. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with...
and onwards, he is known as "Tom" or "Thomas".
Tom and Jerry cartoons
His full name "Tom Cat" is based on "tomcat", a phrase which refers to male catCat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s. He is very rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons (such as Tom & Jerry Tales' League of Cats) and "Tom and Jerry: The Movie
Tom and Jerry: The Movie
Tom and Jerry: The Movie is a 1992 American animated musical film directed by Phil Roman, and produced by Film Roman and Turner Pictures. It is a film adaptation of the Tom and Jerry series of theatrical shorts....
". He is continuously after Jerry Mouse
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...
, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to him rather than Jerry. Tom rarely sets out to eat Jerry, only to hurt or compete with him, going to great lengths in order to torment Jerry. However, Tom is shown to get along with Jerry at times.
Tom has changed remarkably over the years, especially after the first episodes. For example, in his debut, he was quadrupedal and had normal cat intelligence. However, over the years (since the episode Dog Trouble
Dog Trouble
Dog Trouble is a 1942 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 5th Tom and Jerry short. It was produced in Technicolor, released to theatres on April 18, 1942 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and reissued for re-release in 1952. It was animated by George Gordon, Irven Spence, Jack Zander, Cecil Surry and Bill...
), he has become almost completely bipedal and has human intelligence. As a slapstick cartoon character, Tom has a superhuman level of elasticity. When acting as Jerry's antagonist, Tom is usually defeated in the end, although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry.
Anchors Aweigh & Dangerous When Wet
Tom and Jerry appeared together in the 1945 TechnicolorTechnicolor
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...
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...
musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
Anchors Aweigh
Anchors Aweigh (film)
Anchors Aweigh is a 1945 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney in which two sailors go on a four-day shore leave in Hollywood, accompanied by music and song, meet an aspiring young singer and try to help her get an audition at MGM...
where Tom briefly appears as a butler for Jerry, the latter who has a dance sequence with Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
, and also in another musical with the same studio Dangerous When Wet
Dangerous When Wet
Dangerous When Wet is an Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical starring Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas, and Jack Carson, directed by Charles Walters, and featuring an animated swimming sequence starring Williams with the famous cat-and-mouse duo, Tom and Jerry.-Plot summary:Katie Higgins is...
(1953),where, in a dream sequence, main character Katie Higgins (Esther Williams
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...
) does an underwater ballet with Tom and Jerry, as well as animated depictions of the different people in her life.
Voice actors
- Red CoffeeRed CoffeeRed Coffey was a voice actor and comedian best known for playing Quacker in the Tom and Jerry cartoons at MGM from 1950 to 1957.Coffey's first role in animation appears to have been in Little Quacker , and he subsequently was hired to play the little duck in another seven cartoons...
: Vocal Effects in The Hanna-Barbera era (1940–1941) - William HannaWilliam HannaWilliam 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...
: Vocal Effects in The Hanna-Barbera era (1942–1958) shorts, The Lonesome MouseThe Lonesome MouseThe Lonesome Mouse is a 1943 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 10th Tom and Jerry short. This is notable for being the first speaking role of the cat and mouse duo. It was created and released in 1943, and re-released to theatres in 1950. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph...
, The Million Dollar CatThe Million Dollar CatThe Million Dollar Cat is a 1944 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 14th Tom and Jerry short. It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on May 6, 1944 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer... - Billy BletcherBilly BletcherWilliam "Billy" Bletcher was an American actor, comedian, and voice artist, a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.-Career:...
: 1944 Shorts: The BodyguardThe Bodyguard (1944 film)The Bodyguard is a 1944 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 15th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby and animated by Ken Muse, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence and Pete Burness. The cartoon features Spike the bulldog in his second role,...
, Zoot Cat, Quiet Please! - Daws ButlerDaws ButlerCharles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
: 1956 Short: Mucho MouseMucho MouseMucho Mouse is the 108th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1956, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. It was released on September 6, 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
(and a few others as well) - Allen SwiftAllen SwiftIra Stadlen , known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American voice actor, known for playing characters including Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the Underdog cartoon show...
: Vocal Effects in the Gene Deitch era (1961–1962) shorts - Mel BlancMel BlancMelvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
: Vocal Effects in the Chuck Jones era (1963–1967) Shorts, Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?Is There a Doctor in the Mouse? is a 1964 cartoon directed and produced by Chuck Jones. The title is a pun on the famous phrase "Is There a Doctor in the House?"- Plot :... - Terence Monck: 1964 Short: The Cat Above and the Mouse BelowThe Cat Above and the Mouse BelowThe Cat Above and The Mouse Below is second of thirty-four Tom and Jerry shorts produced by Chuck Jones, released in 1964.-Plot:In a concert entitled "Signor Thomasino Catti-Cazzaza Baritone", Tom is a baritone singer who will perform at a concert to sing Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville...
- Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
: Tom & Jerry Kids, The Tom and Jerry Show, The Tom and Jerry Comedy ShowThe Tom and Jerry Comedy ShowThe Tom and Jerry Comedy Show is an animated television program produced by Filmation for MGM Television in 1980, on CBS for Saturday mornings. The show lasted two seasons and the individual episodes were eventually added to syndicated Tom and Jerry packages, and also occasionally appeared on... - Richard KindRichard KindRichard John Kind is an American actor known for his roles in the sitcoms Mad About You and Spin City .- Early life :...
: Tom and Jerry: The MovieTom and Jerry: The MovieTom and Jerry: The Movie is a 1992 American animated musical film directed by Phil Roman, and produced by Film Roman and Turner Pictures. It is a film adaptation of the Tom and Jerry series of theatrical shorts....
(speaking voice only) - Bill KoppBill KoppBill Kopp is an American animator and film director who animated the Whammy on the 1980s game show Press Your Luck, and voiced the title character on Nelvana's Eek! The Cat and Kutter in The Terrible Thunderlizards, which he created with Savage Steve Holland...
: Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to MarsTom and Jerry: Blast Off to MarsTom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars is a Tom and Jerry outer-space-themed direct-to-video film produced by Warner Bros. Animation.-Plot:...
, Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the FurryTom and Jerry: The Fast and the FurryTom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry is a 2005 animated direct-to-video film starring the oscar-winning cat and mouse pair, Tom and Jerry. The subtitle is a parody of the hit Universal Studios film, The Fast and The Furious. It was released theatrically in select cites of the U.S...
, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me WhiskersTom and Jerry: Shiver Me WhiskersTom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers is a 2006 animated made-for-video motion picture starring Tom and Jerry.-Plot:The movie starts above a big ocean, which was having a huge storm with very loud thunder. A group of jolly pirates are sailing on their ship, and all of them are scared of the thunderstorm... - Jeff Bennett: Tom and Jerry: The Magic RingTom and Jerry: The Magic RingTom and Jerry: The Magic Ring is a 2001 animated direct-to-video film starring Tom and Jerry. This was the first made-for-video attempt to recapture the style of Hanna and Barbera's original Tom & Jerry theatricals...
- Don Brown: 2005 Short: The Karate Guard, Tom and Jerry TalesTom and Jerry TalesTom and Jerry Tales is an animated television series which began production in 2005, and premiered in the United States on September 23, 2006 and cancelled on March 22, 2008 on Kids' WB!. It is the fourth television show in the franchise that continues the chase and violence of the cat and mouse...
- Billy WestBilly WestWilliam Richard "Billy" West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival...
: Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker TaleTom and Jerry: A Nutcracker TaleTom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale is a 2007 holiday themed animated direct-to-video film starring Tom and Jerry produced by Warner Bros. Animation...
, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock HolmesTom and Jerry Meet Sherlock HolmesTom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes is a 2010 animated direct-to-video film starring Tom and Jerry produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is the first Tom and Jerry direct-to-video film to be produced without any of its original creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera...
, Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of OzTom and Jerry and the Wizard of OzTom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz is a 2011 animated direct-to-video film starring Tom and Jerry, produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is a crossover film version of MGM's famed 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, with characters from the Tom and Jerry/Droopy universe sharing screen with Dorothy and her...
Love interests
Apart from chasing Jerry, Tom has multiple love interests with female cats. Their names start with "T", like Tom. They are :- Toots, a fluffy beige cat who appears in Puss n' TootsPuss n' TootsPuss 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...
and The Mouse Comes to DinnerThe Mouse Comes to DinnerThe Mouse Comes to Dinner is a 1945 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 18th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby.- Plot :...
, the latter being her only speaking role. This version of Toots also appeared in some 1940s Tom and Jerry comics. - Toots, a different cat by the same name who appears in The Zoot CatThe Zoot CatThe Zoot Cat is a 1944 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 13th Tom and Jerry short. It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on February 26, 1944 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer...
. (She has occasionally, erroneously been referred to as "Sheikie," but this is actually Tom's nickname, as seen on a gift card in the cartoon.) - An unnamed, non-speaking cat who appears very briefly in The BodyguardThe Bodyguard (1944 film)The Bodyguard is a 1944 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 15th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby and animated by Ken Muse, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence and Pete Burness. The cartoon features Spike the bulldog in his second role,...
. She was made as a mere object of slap-stick humor, as when Tom gave her a wolf-whistleWolf-whistlingWolf-whistling or finger whistling is a type of whistling in which fingers are inserted in the mouth to produce a louder and more penetrating tone....
he ironically gave himself away to Spike, who was supposed to protect Jerry every time he whistles. - Tara, a non-speaking cat who appears in Texas TomTexas TomTexas Tom is a 1950 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 49th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence and Ed Barge and released to theatres on March 11, 1950...
. - Toodles Galore, a non-speaking recurring cat who sometimes adores Tom—and sometimes treats him badly (particularly in Love Me, Love My MouseLove Me, Love My MouseLove Me, Love My Mouse is a 1966 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed and produced by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Ben Washam. The title Love Me, Love My Mouse is a play-on-words of the phrase "Love me, love my dog." Unlike most other cartoons this one shows Jerry in a deliberately malicious light with...
). She appears in multiple shorts.
See also
- Tom and JerryTom and JerryTom 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...
- List of Hanna-Barbera characters
- Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer cartoon studio