With Disc Two of Tom & Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology, we get into the very best of the series in 1946-49, with things starting to slack off in the last year of the decade. As the art of cartoon character animation hit its peak at all of the studios even as the wartime energy is winding down, Tom & Jerry was obviously more influential than some of the directors may want to admit, if perhaps for business sense rather than creative reasons. Making a tight cast work (often it was just the cat and mouse) was something everyone began doing as budgets began to shrink, and the rousing success of the Hanna-Barbera unit’s sticking to one series made just about every studio have their own version of certain series tied to one unit.
In these cartoons, the designs get finalized to their slickest by Harvey Eisenberg and Dick Bickenbach, the battalion of Ken Muse, Irv Spence, Ray Patterson, and Ed Barge get really good at their jobs (Mike Lah, the best MGM animator, lands a hand on the first year of shorts here and steals the show every time); Scott Bradley’s music works with the material; and the direction of Hanna and Barbera is their sharpest and funniest. What’s not to love?
SPRINGTIME FOR THOMAS (Prod. #137)
The first (and best) of the Tom versus Butch for Toodles’ affections battles, the highlight being an extended chase sequence by Irv Spence that is the very definition of “free-flowing” (with Tom inhaling the entire contents of a swimming pool just in time for Butch to crack his skull).
THE MILKY WAIF (Prod. #142)
Diaper-wearing Nibbles is introduced to the series as a milk-hungry orphan. Jerry brutally beats Tom himself when the cat spanks the kid in some of Ed Barge and Mike Lah’s best animation of the series. The grey mouse had been appearing as Jerry’s second banana Tuffy in the Tom & Jerry feature of the Our Gang Comics since its first issue in 1942. To this day, the names are used interchangeably.
TRAP HAPPY (Prod. #145)
Tom recruits Butch to exterminate Jerry, only to end up being gunned down himself after one pratfall too many. One of the series’ highlights (animated by Ray Patterson) is here, with a whole wall coming down on Butch’s fingers and Jerry playing “Yankee Doodle” on the other end.
SOLID SERENADE (Prod. #149)
The one with Tom singing “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” (voiced by “Buck” Woods, not Fred Quimby as some headcases have vandalized on various websites). Easily my very favorite Tom & Jerry cartoon, where every pose and joke lands flawlessly. This one also has my favorite scene in the series: the one, animated by Mike Lah, involving Tom, Spike, and the brick.
CAT FISHIN’ (Prod. #155)
Tom uses Jerry as bait to fish on private property, leading up to a grand finale of Tom hooking and reeling in Spike to a classic rendition of “The Trolley Song”. This one and Solid Serenade indicated there was a missed opportunity to make a few cartoons with just the cat and dog without the mouse. With the series in its stride, we’re seeing that arguably some of the funniest moments are Tom and Spike’s interplay.
PART TIME PAL (Prod. #153)
Paying homage to Chaplin’s City Lights, every time Tom gets drunk, he becomes Jerry’s best pal and “Mammy’s” worst enemy. One of only two times we see above her torso in plain view (animated by Mike Lah), briefly.
THE CAT CONCERTO (Prod. #165)
Oscar-bait with Tom performing a piano recital that won out, perhaps unfairly, over the oddball but much funnier Rhapsody Rabbit by Friz Freleng. I dissected the circumstances behind the two cartoons’ similarities years ago [Click Here] and drew the conclusion that it was purely coincidental.
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. MOUSE (Prod. #157)
Tom turns mad doctor and tries to poison Jerry, but only succeeds turning the mouse into a super being. In a bit of sweet justice, the Tom & Jerry four-year Oscar streak ends with this one losing to Freleng’s Tweetie Pie.
SALT WATER TABBY (Prod. #158)
Poor Tom just wants some lovin’ at the beach, but Jerry’s there to spoil the romance. Utterly no real plot or stakes can’t stop this from being a hopelessly fun cartoon, particularly in some Mike Lah animated scenes of Tom’s failed dives.
A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE (Prod. #162)
“Mammy” (in a powerfully intimidating performance from Lillian Randolph) tells Tom and Butch whoever catches Jerry can stay, and arguably some of the best crafted comedy in the series ensues, including Tom getting shot in the head and a rigged wrestling match. Production order-wise, this is Dick Bickenbach’s first Tom & Jerry work (he animated the scenes where Tom and Butch each disguise as “Mammy”). He animated on a handful of cartoons before replacing Harvey Eisenberg as the series’ layout artist. Eisenberg, of course, went on to draw the Tom & Jerry comics forever for Western Publishing, and, much later, the Hanna-Barbera TV characters, becoming easily the best cartoonist after Carl Barks at Western.
THE INVISIBLE MOUSE (Prod. #163)
A pedestrian sci-fi follow-up to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse, but Fred Quimby was probably happy with the dollars saved by keeping Jerry invisible for most of the cartoon.
KITTY FOILED (Prod. #167)
Gags and pacing are fast and furious with Tom in pursuit of Jerry and a canary, with a “death” scene and toy train crash.
THE TRUCE HURTS (Prod. #173)
Tom, Jerry, and Spike sign a peace treaty that lasts until a steak is dropped at their feet. The best scene in this savage cartoon is the one with Spike rescuing Tom from an alley dog who actually tries to eat the cat (a sight that always causes mass laughter whenever I’ve seen it at a screening).
OLD ROCKIN’ CHAIR TOM (Prod. #172)
Almost a reworking of Lonesome Mouse, showing the growth of the Hanna-Barbera unit’s animation and storytelling. “Mammy’s” new hire Lightin’ kicks both Tom and Jerry out, so the two use an iron and a magnet to oust the interloper.
PROFESSOR TOM (Prod. #179)
Tom tries educating Topsy on the finer points of mousing, but the kid ends up taking on Jerry as is teacher. Topsy fortunately would be strictly used as the “shorty” in Tom’s gang after this mediocre entry.
MOUSE CLEANING (Prod. #182)
Tom must keep the house clean of his and Jerry’s messes or face “Mammy’s” wrath. One of those rare cartoons where not a frame of film is wasted (maybe the funniest scene is just the shot of “Mammy’s” gelatinous walk up the street set to a terrifying rendition of “Shortnin’ Bread”), and everything builds to an immensely satisfying and hilarious conclusion.
The fan outrage over this cartoon’s original banishment from the Blu-rays was entirely justified, and the new transfer here is a stunning cartoon restoration.
POLKA-DOT PUSS (Prod. #184)
Tom fakes a cold to stay indoors, so Jerry convinces the cat he has measles. Rides on some of the high octane energy of Mouse Cleaning, but doesn’t quite gel as well.
THE LITTLE ORPHAN (Prod. #191)
Nibbles returns, and the crew demolishes a Thanksgiving dinner. This routine picture winning the Oscar over one of Chuck Jones’ greatest films, Mouse Wreckers, is definitely one of the Great Sins of the Academy.
HATCH UP YOUR TROUBLES (Prod. #186)
A baby woodpecker mistakes Jerry for his mama, and the two rescue each other from the relentless Tom. Joe Barbera has now fully realized a cloying cutesy animal as Jerry’s sidekick is good Oscar-bait, so they would proceed to make many more of them, heralding the death knell of the series more than anything. Similar to the 1947 Oscar race, this cartoon lost to the previous Warners loser, Chuck Jones, who got the Oscar for his “rebranding” of the Pepe Le Pew series, For Scent-imental Reasons. (Given the rut that series found itself in, one wishes Mouse Wreckers won and we got fifteen more cartoons with Hubie and Bertie gaslighting Claude Cat instead.) This is one of the cartoons that received a superior new transfer, although the old one was pretty good.
HEAVENLY PUSS (Prod. #189)
Tom is crushed by a piano and dies, and finds out his terrifying pursuit of Jerry got him in trouble with the man upstairs. A very unique cartoon, perhaps a bit forceful and sappy, but still gets the job done. Unfortunately, the rotten transfer here is the biggest disappointment of the whole set, an utter embarrassment that all but obliterates any of this unique cartoon’s detail and art direction.
THE CAT AND THE MERMOUSE (Prod. #194)
An unremarkable underwater chase that’s a whole less funnier and hornier than when Bugs Bunny did it years earlier. A lot of this was repurposed for the Dangerous When Wet sequence years later.
LOVE THAT PUP (Prod. #197)
Tom’s pursuit of Jerry causes annoyances for Spike and his son Tyke (in his first appearance). The puppy is a little easier to take than the other “cutesy” characters since you have the benefit of always having Spike, a great character, in the role of the overprotective father (a dynamic Hanna, Barbera, and Mike Maltese reused for Auggie Doggie and Doggie and Doggie Daddy, right down to another Jimmy Durante impression). This cartoon is the first to use the “finalized” arrangement of what would become the standard Tom & Jerry theme, which is why in cue sheets it’s identified as… “Love That Pup”!
JERRY’S DIARY (Prod. #198)
The first cheater of the series, incorporating footage from Tee for Two, Mouse Trouble, Solid Serenade, and Yankee Doodle Mouse. If nothing else, it gifted us the opening shot with Tom’s arsenal around Jerry’s mousehole.
TENNIS CHUMPS (Prod. #200)
Butch returns as Tom’s tennis rival, with Jerry as the unwilling assistant. Noteworthy for being a fantastic showcase of what the late Clay Croker called Irv Spence’s “flying shit” animation. (As I made the screenshots, I realized for the first time that Tom and Butch’s crash actually causes several spectators to fly out of their seats, too.)
CORRECTIONS AND COMMENTS: A few readers rightfully noted I was wrong when I said Jerry didn’t talk in the shorts after The Zoot Cat. Jerry actually speaks, in ethnic “dialects” in The Milky Waif, His Mouse Friday, and Mucho Mouse, and there’s also that rant of Jerry’s you can barely hear (and got muted out in the ‘60s version) in Saturday Evening Puss.
About the noise on noise reduction… A considerable number of the transfers, mostly those done for Tom & Jerry Golden Collection Vol. 1 and earlier released compilations, have had considerable additional noise reduction applied when they hadn’t before. (Read: grain smoothing, not erasing the animation.) This has caused no end of catty sniping in various corners of the Internet, mostly from people who do not actually have the set and are judging based on screenshots.
The additional grain smoothing shouldn’t have been done and does throw a damper on this monumental release, in another case of bad decisions and communication. On the other hand, some of those transfers on that first Blu-ray (and this was a point of contention back in the day) looked pretty coarse because of the unmanaged grain, and there already was some weird artifacting going on that caused almost a compressed GIF look to the image, still present and seen in a few screenshots here.
Frankly, the modern 21st century home video era for classic films has seen far poorer presentations and the vitriol over the digital noise reduction here is a little over-blown (I should know, my own stuff has suffered worse in tasteless hands). I repeat: this is the best comprehensive presentation Tom & Jerry has ever received on home video. If the only way to get a complete series set, when actually allowed to do it, is use largely acceptable pre-existing transfers (uncensored ones with the animation and correct soundtracks intact), so be it.
Warner Archive Collection’s George Feltenstein did two podcasts this past week in which he explains the circumstances behind the print sources used on this release – both worth a listen: THE EXTRAS with Tim Millard • The Fantastic World Of Hanna Barber with Greg Ehrbar
Stay “tooned” for Disc Three’s breakdown…
THAD KOMOROWSKI is a writer, journalist, film restorationist and author of the acclaimed (and recently revised) Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. He blogs at 
I read these kinds of posts with interest. My hope for this collection, of course is that the soundtracks are not marked at all. My guess is that they won’t be. You are right, these are some of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons we will ever see! However, I do have a few favorites in the forthcoming discs. When I was a kid, I did feel that “cat and mouse“ looked so great on the big screen, but it was unfortunately the last time I would ever see the cat and mouse on the big screen. I lost my sight in 1976 and, so, can only now appreciate the soundtracks. I’m sure those are well represented throughout this collection. Cartoons I really wish I had gotten a chance to see? “Yankee doodle mouse“, “part-time pal“, “solid serenade“ “zoo cat“ among others. Thanks to the very first television broadcast of some of these cartoons, I did get to see some real winners, like“trap happy“ and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. mouse“. The music in the latter cartoon is so stunning! I remember playing it over and over again when I first recorded it on to real to real audiotape. The same goes with “the milky wave“, whose Scott Bradley score matches every move! Jerry’s roar toward the end of the cartoon has to be hurt to be believed. Makes me wonder where they got that sound from! It is the same jarring sound you hear if you’ve ever seen the earlier happy harmonies, “circus DAZE“, as the large elephant is be set by fleas.
“Solid Serenade” is a favourite of mine as well. The most remarkable thing about it, to me, is that the tempo of the song increases gradually as it progresses, so that the animation had to be timed, not to a steady musical beat, but to a continuously accelerating one. Yet somehow they managed to do it, and flawlessly, without a computer or pages of calculus equations.
But seriously… are there really people out there claiming that “Is You Is” was sung by, of all people, Fred Quimby? Oh no, this cannot be. As for the actual singer, there’s no need to put “Buck” in quotation marks, as it wasn’t a nickname; Ira Buck Woods was his real name.
Great job, Thad. I appreciated the honest and fair assessment of the set’s strengths and weaknesses, which have been “discussed” to such extremes on the message boards. Reading your plot synopses only underscores the value of these sets, when you see how many great entries no longer air on broadcast tv.
Thanks Thad! Appreciate your review as always and 100% agreed that no set will ever be perfect and we’re goddamn lucky we got the one we did!
The only thing I’d refute is this statement – “If the only way to get a complete series set, when actually allowed to do it, is use largely acceptable pre-existing transfers (uncensored ones with the animation and correct soundtracks intact), so be it.” I agree with that in a vacuum but that implies that grain smoothing was also necessary. I’d say that the majority of complaints are not about using pre-existing transfers but about applying digital noise reduction. Warner could have just left the cartoons they had completely alone (and saved time and money!) but instead they went through with a completely arbitrary pass of DNR and they certainly didn’t need to do that as a prerequisite to releasing a complete set.
It’s fine to say that this is a great collection but to also complain loudly about the unnecessary smoothing so that someone at Warner takes note. Based on the last podcast, it seems like this complaint was not taken seriously in the least and that they were even told no noise reduction was applied by that restoration team which is quite clearly not true.
The thing is, the noise reduction may very well not have been done for this release specifically. I’m guessing it may have been done years ago for streaming/broadcast, and those versions (not the original ones for the first Blu-ray) were what was handed over for this release. So George F. is *not* delivering misinformation, because this particular team didn’t apply the noise reduction, given most of the films’ pre-existing transfers on Discs 3-5 don’t have it (and they appear to not have any additional work done to them, either). Again, the pratfalls of a large corporation, with miscommunication and not being watchful enough. It’s still not good, and I’m fine with the complaints and disappointment, but a lot of the online discussion is dominated by wall-to-wall Comic Book Guys. (It’s a stale joke, but what else can you say when everyone has no idea what they’re talking about and speak with snarky, trolling conviction?)
I think that the issue with the excessive grain smoothing on the new restorations that people have is that it can be misleading as to how the short would have been played in theaters and it also removes the aesthetic known as film (an aesthetic that I love, incidentally). The shorts (and this is coming from a guy who has seen the restorations of the new shorts) thus look TOO clean.
Maybe Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera WOULD have loved to see these toons without any grain. But that’s not what they originally made. That’s not what they produced.
That’s not me saying that these restorations are bad though. Absolutely not. In a world that’s ideal, people would understand that while these shorts LOOK clear as day, the original prints would have been significantly more grainier. By omitting this detail, it almost creates a sort of misinformation about how it was originally presented and in addition might lead others to have an unfair high expectation for what other restorations to look like.
I guess what I’m saying is that SOME grain smoothing should be done, but when it’s done like this (removing ALL of the grain), it’s not really great. Basically…make it be just right.
Really Thad? Did you HAVE to go there and make that statement? 🙁
Great review, thanks so much for the breakdown. I can’t wait to get this set.
As a kid, most of my favourites were the ones with Butch. I think this was because having another cat for Tom to compete against (or work with in Trap Happy) opens up the door to more visual nonsense that you couldn’t do with the two unevenly sized main characters. For similar reasons, the dynamic between Tom and Spike leads to some of the funniest moments in the series, as you noted. I never saw Hugh Harman’s The Alley Cat till much later and it’s amusing how Bill and Joe cribbed Butch’s design from that short.
1944-48 were definitely the peak years for the series. The cute animal sidekick cartoons do get pretty insufferable – especially when seen back to back – but there’s a few strong entries that were released in the 1950s.
Thanks again, Thad! It just amazes me how nearly spoiled everyone is. I am old enough to remember watching some of these on a black & white TV on some snowy UHF channel that we could barely pick up the signal of. The fact that folks are now analyzing these for grain and that being the deal breaker, well, I don’t know what to think about that. Before anyone thinks I’m just an old man yelling at clouds, I own of all of the Spotlights, the Golden, and the Cinemascope physical discs. I watch them on a 4K Dolby Vision TV fed by a Panasonic UB820 4K Blu-ray player. So yeah, quality and clarity matter to me. But all of the extreme reactions are hard to understand. I’m always grateful that I can buy all of these cartoons that look this great.
Next up for purchase is Huckleberry Hound Show Blu-ray set just because I’ve heard it looks amazing…and I don’t know if I even like Huckleberry Hound.
Why do the shiorts taken from the streaming versions have darker sides of the frame, and lighter centers? Is this a transfer issue or exposure issue?
At the very least, the previous Turner masters are accessible for those shorts in question, considering we have a boatload of previous T&J home video releases to reference, which can’t be said for several other series. (I hope the 1942-46 Donald Ducks will be revisited for home media).
Thad, I always appreciate your insight on these films and releases. All the more reason for you to write books on these. I can’t imagine too many others who would cover them so accurately and honestly.
At the risk of sounding uninformed Thad, was noise reduction or grain smoothing also used on the HBO MAX Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies restorations? I mean, there’s barely any grain on them! If not what WAS used on them?
Appreciate yet another fun review- great to get your thoughts on this golden period for the series. For my money, 1947 was the greatest release year the collective MGM cartoon studio ever had. The Hanna-Barbera and Avery units were firing on all cylinders.
I’m not even going to attempt to discuss a “top five” with this batch of shorts- “Springtime for Thomas”, “Trap Happy”, “Solid Serenade”, “Cat Fishin’”, “The Cat Concerto, “Dr. Jekyll”, “Salt Water Tabby”, “A Mouse In The House”, “The Invisible Mouse”, “Kitty Foiled”, “The Truce Hurts”, “Old Rockin’ Chair Tom”, “Mouse Cleaning”, and “Heavenly Puss” are all Triple A pictures… it’s like choosing between your favorite children. I do have to agree that 1949 is when they slowly start to lose steam. The 1950 release year gets another spurt of vitality imho, but after that it’s a slow downward trend. Albeit with plenty still to enjoy!
Again, wonderful review Thad! “Solid Serenade” is easily one of my favorite T&J shorts ever made. Huge shout out has to go to animator Mike Lah. One of the rare times the animation in a T&J cartoon has gotten close to Tex Avery’s output.
Mike Lah and Bill Hanna married sisters, but I don’t know if the two couples were especially close. I do know that the Hannas were very close to Violet’s twin sister Vera and her husband Leonard Gamble, a childhood friend of Bill’s. Wikipedia and some other online sources are incorrect; Lah’s wife Alberta was Violet Hanna’s younger sister, not her twin.
Mine should arrive tomorrow, thanks to an Amazon delay. I’m really looking forward to it! I would complain about buying these cartoons AGAIN, but they’ve never been sold together in a full HD set, either…and if a handful of them are improved transfers, that’s icing on the cake.
“Heavenly Puss” is disappointing. I understand that the element used for the earlier Turner DVD transfer may be lost or damaged- but an “upscale” of that might have been a better choice than what they went with here. But hey, I’m not going to toss the baby out with the bathwater on that.
Just ordered “Aesop’s Fables, Vol. 1”. I don’t know anything about these early Paul Terry cartoons, but maybe Thad will help me learn something. Also purchased “The Huckleberry Hound Show” Blu-ray set based on the rumors that it looks really great. Gotta keep supporting these animation releases with money.
And Netflix bought Warner
That’s all, folks.
Say goodbye to WAC. I hope they are able to fulfill the releases scheduled to next year at least.
Don’t count un-PC shorts in anymore…
But if, [and these are just my thoughts] at the last minute Paramount should purchase WB, then THAT could open the door for
stuff like restoring Harveytoons to original Paramount glory among other stuff
“Is you is, or is you ain’t, my bebe” is a perfect phrase to quote out of context.
Also, my exposure to Dangerous When Wet was a VHS recording of just that 1 segment, on a Tom & Jerry bootleg.
Can’t wait to get this!
WE don”t really know for sure if Netflix bought Warners. It’s still just a bid…