Puss Gets the Boot

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Puss Gets the Boot
Title card
Directed by
Story by
  • William Hanna
  • Joseph Barbera
Produced byRudolf Ising
Starring
Music byScott Bradley (uncredited)
Production
companies
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • February 10, 1940 (1940-02-10)
Running time
9 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Puss Gets the Boot is a 1940 American animated short film. It served as the first short in what would become the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, though in this short they were not referred to by these names.[1] Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Rudolf Ising, it was based on the Aesop's Fable, The Cat and the Mice. As was the practice of MGM shorts at the time, only Rudolf Ising is credited. It was released to theaters on February 10, 1940, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In this first short, the cat is named Jasper and the mouse is either named Jinx or simply unnamed. Here, Jasper appeared to be a scruffy, battle-hardened street cat, more malicious than the character that Tom would develop into over time. Whereas, Jinx (or the unnamed mouse) was similar to who would become the Jerry character, albeit slightly thinner. The basic premise is the one that would become familiar to audiences; in The Art of Hanna-Barbera, Ted Sennett sums it up as "cat stalks and chases mouse in a frenzy of mayhem and slapstick violence".[2]

Upon release, the short received positive reviews. It was nominated for an

Academy Award in 1941.[2]

Plot

A cat named Jasper takes great pleasure in tormenting Jinx (or the unnamed mouse), who is trying to run away while he keeps grabbing the tail to keep him from running anywhere. Eventually, the mouse breaks free but goes into Jasper's mouth, narrowly escaping. Jasper then draws a hole on the wall to trick the mouse into entering it. The mouse bangs against the wall so hard that it knocks him out. Jasper revives him using water from the fish tank and picks him up. Having slowly realized the situation, the mouse punches Jasper in the eye, causing him to yelp and screech in pain. The angry cat chases the mouse and accidentally bumps into a Greek pillar, where it breaks upon falling onto him along with the flowerpot that was standing on it.

The maid enters the room and scolds Jasper for his unacceptable behavior despite it being an accident, issuing him an ultimatum that if she catches him having broke something, he will get kicked out of the house. Jasper sulks off, the mouse chuckles at him and this causes Jasper to chase him, but when the mouse holds a glass over the edge of the table, Jasper backs off after seeing the maid furiously walking away with the remains of the broken flowerpot, fearing that he will begin to get himself into trouble again.

After the mouse puts the glass down, Jasper sees his chance and rushes at him, but the mouse holds Jasper back by threatening to drop the glass again. Then the mouse drops the glass and Jasper rushes to catch it. The mouse throws more cups, making it very hard for Jasper to catch them all. As the mouse walks away with the last cup, feeling confident that he has the advantage, Jasper drops a bunch of pillows on the ground. When the mouse tries to expel Jasper by dropping the glass, it stays intact when it lands on the soft surface of one of the pillows. The mouse tries to escape but Jasper catches him by the tail. Jasper inadvertently throws the mouse onto a shelf, where he escapes and begins pelting him with several dishes, making sure that Jasper will "get the boot." Jasper begins to feel tired of holding all the dishes, and can only watch as the mouse drops one last dish on the ground, breaking it, and thus alerting the maid into thinking Jasper violated her ultimatum.

The maid once again enters the room in frustration just as the mouse swims in Jasper's milk bowl, uses his tail as a towel and finally kicks Jasper, causing him to drop all of the dishes, creating a huge mess and framing him for making it. The mouse flees the scene and dives into his hole just as the maid hits Jasper with a broom, throws him out of the house and slams the door shut. As Jasper is dragged away, the mouse waves to him, sticks his tongue out, puts a HOME SWEET HOME sign (seen earlier in the hole on the wall trick) in front of his hole, and enters it.

Production and release

In June 1937, animator and storyman

MGM, then the largest studio in Hollywood.[3][4] He learned that co-owner Louis B. Mayer wished to boost the animation department by encouraging the artists to develop some new cartoon characters, following the lack of success with its earlier cartoon series based on The Captain and the Kids comic strip. Barbera then teamed with fellow Ising unit animator and director William Hanna and pitched new ideas, among them was the concept of two "equal characters who were always in conflict with each other".[4] An early thought involved a fox and a dog before they settled on a cat and mouse. The pair discussed their ideas with producer Fred Quimby, then the head of the short film department who, despite a lack of interest in it, gave them the green-light to produce one cartoon short.[4]

The short, Puss Gets the Boot, featured a cat named Jasper and an unnamed mouse,

Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject: Cartoons in 1941 despite the credits listing Ising and omitting Hanna and Barbera.[4][2]

After MGM gave the green-light for Hanna and Barbera to continue, the studio entered production on The Midnight Snack (1941).[5] The pair would continue to work on Tom and Jerry cartoons for the next fifteen years of their career.[6]

Reception

The short received positive reviews, with Motion Picture Exhibitor saying: "Puss teases the mouse but when the latter learns that breakage in the house will lead to Puss being thrown out, the fun begins. Windup has the crockery crashing, the mouse victorious, Puss getting the boot."[9]

Voice cast

Availability

Blu-ray
DVD
VHS
  • Tom & Jerry's 50th Birthday Classics[11]
Laserdisc
  • The Art of Tom and Jerry Volume 1, Disc 1, Side 1[12]
  • Tom & Jerry Classics[13]
iTunes
  • Tom and Jerry, Volume 2

References

  1. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0670829781
    . Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  3. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  4. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  5. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 0-452-25993-2
    .
  7. Archive of American Television
    .
  8. ^ Barbera 1994, p. 76.
  9. ISBN 978-0810832503
    .
  10. ^ "From Homer to the Top Cat". Irish Independent. March 1, 2005. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  11. ^ "..:: The Tom and Jerry Online :: An UnOfficial Site Site : TOM AND JERRY DVD/VHS ::." Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  12. ^ "LaserDisc Database - Art of Tom & Jerry, The: Volume I [ML102682]". www.lddb.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  13. ^ "LaserDisc Database - Tom & Jerry Classics [ML102219]". www.lddb.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Puss Gets the Boot.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Puss_Gets_the_Boot&oldid=1218958695"