Tom and Jerry were an animated cat
(Tom) and mouse (Jerry) team who formed the basis of
a massively successful series of theatrical short cartoons
created, written, and directed by animators William
Hanna and Joseph
Barbera (later of Hanna-Barbera fame)
and produced by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer from 1940 to 1958.
MGM later had more Tom & Jerry cartoons produced
by outside studios in the 1960s (Gene Deitch's Rembrandt
Films from 1961 to 1962, and Chuck
Jones' Sib Tower
12 Productions from 1963 to 1967).
Tom and Jerry later
resurfaced in TV cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera
Productions (1975-1977; 1990-1993) and Filmation Studios
(1980 - 1982). The original Hanna and Barbera shorts
are notable for having won seven Academy Awards, more
than any other character-based cartoon series.
The plots of each short usually centre on Tom's frustrated
attempts to catch Jerry, and the mayhem and destruction
that ensues.
Reasons given may include normal feline
hunger, the simple enjoyment of tormenting him, revenge
for being slighted, or a misunderstanding between the
previous cohabitators. However, Tom never succeeds in
capturing Jerry, mainly because of Jerry's own craftiness
and cunning.
The shorts are famous for using some of
the most destructive and violent gags ever devised for
theatrical animation: Jerry slicing Tom in half, Tom
using everything from axes, pistols, rifles, dynamite,
and poison to try and murder Jerry, Jerry stuffing Tom's
tail in a waffle iron, and so on. A recurring gag has
Jerry causing some sort of an explosive to blow up in
his adversary's face, causing Tom to appear in blackface.
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