The first short, Puss Gets the Boot, features a cat named Jasper and an unnamed mouse,[13] named Jinx in pre-production, and an African American housemaid named Mammy Two Shoes. Leonard Maltin described it as "very new and special [...] that was to change the course of MGM cartoon production" and established the successful Tom and Jerry formula of comical cat and mouse chases with slapstick gags.[14][12] It was released onto the theatre circuit on February 10, 1940, and the pair, having been advised by management not to produce any more, focused on other cartoons including Gallopin' Gals (1940) and Officer Pooch (1941).[12] Matters changed, however, when Texas businesswoman Bessa Short sent a letter to MGM asking whether more cat and mouse shorts would be produced, which helped convince management to commission a series.[15][11] A studio contest held to rename both characters was won by animator John Carr, who suggested Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse. Carr was awarded a first-place prize of $50.[16] It has been suggested, but not proven, that the names were derived from a 1932 story by Damon Runyon, who took them from the name of a popular Christmastime cocktail, itself derived from the names of two characters in an 1821 stage play by William Moncrieff, an adaptation of 1821 Egan's book titled Life in London where the names originated, which was based on George Cruikshank's, Isaac Robert Cruikshank's, and Egan's own careers.[17] Puss Gets the Boot was a critical success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject: Cartoons in 1941 despite the credits listing Ising and omitting Hanna and Barbera.[14][12]
tom and jerry the book
Tom and Jerry began appearing in comic books in 1942, as one of the features in Dell Comics' Our Gang Comics. In 1949, with MGM's live-action Our Gang shorts having ceased production five years earlier, the series was renamed Tom and Jerry Comics. That title ran 212 issues with Dell before being handed off to Western Publishing, where it ran until issue #344 in 1984. Tom and Jerry continued to appear in various comic books for the rest of the 20th century.[73] Tom and Jerry comics were also extremely popular in Norway, Germany, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, and Australia.[74] A licensed European version has been drawn by Spanish artist Oscar Martin since 1986.
A mailman delivers two packages and whistles out loud. Tom approaches to see that nothing is in his mailbox. He spots a package in Jerry's mailbox though, which appears to be a book, and tears it to reveal the title "Life with Tom." He hides in the bush as Jerry walks towards his mailbox and retrieves a letter. Tom then hears a radio program which announces the publication of a new book by Jerry Mouse. Tom opens the book and flips the page to "Dedicated to Tom.... Without whom, I could do very well."
Tom moves on to a page detailing the day where he and Jerry went fishing. Flashback to 1947's Cat Fishin' where Tom uses Jerry as bait. However, Jerry ties Tom's fishing line to Spike, leading to Tom reeling Spike in and bashing him on the head. Spike gives chase. Back to the present day, where the book reads: "To this day, Tom still thinks he caught a new species of dog fish."
Back again to the present day, with everyone laughing at his expense, Tom's patience wears thinner and his face becomes a bright shade of red. He marches over to Jerry's hole angrily, tearing off the facade and smashing the book over Jerry. Jerry offended at Tom's behavior and actions then shows Tom the letter that he had received that morning. The letter states "Dear Jerry, enclosed find royalty checks for $50,000. In accordance with your instructions, half of this is for your friend Tom." Tom finds a Cheque for $25,000...addressed to him! A flattered Tom has a change of heart about the autobiography and now begins to see the funny side of it all and burst out laughing while Jerry proudly looks on.
The Tom and Jerry license was held by Western Publishing for books, comics, puzzles and more from their first appearance in a comic issue of Our Gang in 1942 until the end of Western Publishing in the early 1990s.
I recently acquired a copy of another T&J storybook, published a year later, with art by Eisenberg (and credited). If Carl Barks was the master of Disney duck comics, then Harvey Eisenberg was certainly the master of the Tom and Jerry comics.
Tom's next attempt at catching Jerry is to laugh noisily while reading the book. A curious Jerry ventures out of his hole and Tom captures Jerry by shutting him into the book. But when Tom grabs him, Jerry pulls the same trick on him with his fists. Tom inspects them only to get punched in the eye and leaving Jerry to escape. (This trick was pulled again in Safety Second.) After reading in the book the fact that A Cornered Mouse NEVER FIGHTS, Tom pounces onto Jerry. But Jerry fights back and beats Tom offscreen, after this, Tom drones "Don't you believe it!". (Voiced by William Hanna.)
At this point, Tom stops reading from chapter-to-chapter and skims the book, trying suggestions that he likes or thinks will work. Upon reading Chapter VII, Tom uses a stethoscope to listen for Jerry within the walls of the house. Jerry screams into the microphone, which is almost deafening Tom. Tom forces a shotgun into Jerry's mousehole. However, unknown to Tom, the barrel of the gun passes through the wall and bends outwards, pointing straight at his head as the cat fires and ends up shooting himself in the head, rendering himself bald. In the next scene (and every scene after that until the end), Tom wears a dodgy, orange toupée.
Tom, now covered in bandages (including one wrapped around his bisected torso), reads the twelfth chapter of the book, Mice are Suckers for Dames, which makes him wind up a toy female mouse. Jerry, noticing the toy, walks with it. Tom attempts to lure Jerry into a mouse-sized "hotel," the door of which leads into Tom's open mouth, but to Tom's dismay, Jerry ushers the mechanical mouse into the hotel first, which Tom swallows, causing him to repeatedly hiccup. As Tom looks at his ruined teeth in a mirror, he goes mad by destroying both the mirror and tearing the book to pieces, finding it's tips completely worthless.
He winds a female mouse toy, who just says "Come up and see me some time" a lot. he ends up eating the toy, and it repeats the same words inside Tom's stomach, angered, he tears and rips up the paper in pieces because he dictates that the book is ineffective. So he makes a plan for himself, END HIM. He puts gigantic nitroglycerin explosives (labelled: XXX, TNT, POWDER, BLOCK BUSTER, DANGER) he puts the last stick of dynamite on Jerry's face, and blows on the flame, unfortunately for him, it doesn't get to him because of cartoon physics, and a massive explosion kills Tom to death, and all of the house except Jerry, who is still alive.
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Rockputer of the Flintstones reminded me of my Macbook but not for long. The Jetsons, Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner and Tom & Jerry jumped right out from the 1990s 'toon' starcast in the leisurely neverland of Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates.My Stegaphone ... er... smartphone whirred non-stop in the family hotspot of 25 square kilometres that also packs in 10 hotels, great dining, shopping, the Bubbles' Barrel slide and a fabulous motorsport circuit - all a spitting distance from Dubai.What stole my heart was the world's first Warner Bros indoor theme park Warner Bros World at Abu Dhabi, where I hopped into memory lane of my pre-teen world of timeless toons and caped superheroes like Batman, who wouldn't give a hug and Superman with ice in the eyes.And Scooby Doo saw a ghost as a bunch of gawky reporters from India mobbed the Great Dane. Tweety and the pesky canary' rival Sylvester were taking a day off from work and so we too took a break at WB Abu Dhabi theme hotel where we camped.Our rollicking day began with a strictly followed Covid check at the entrance of the park that straddles 1.65 million square feet which on any given day is packed with boisterous kids and their even more excited parents, happy to stroll into their private childhood.The smarter ones among them were seen clutching Flash Cards which, as the name suggests, offer super easy access to various spots."This is what I grew up watching!" The floodgates of memory opened as I too flashed a barcode given to all hotel guests and walked straight into 'Bedrock'! Yes, 'The Flintstones'.I walked a little further, then I saw a ride: "Fast and Furry-ous', based on the "Coyote and the Road Runner" roller coaster ride and it was beep beep time as the machine was as fast as the animated bird from my favourite cartoon that took wings in 1949.We hopped onto self-driven carts into in a labyrinth of riddles in "The Museum of Mysteries" and then dashed to meet Scooby Doo, Shaggy and Daphne for a bear hug to my toony pals who brought me so much joy when I was a child.From there my thrill reel began to unravel!I transported myself to sombre Gotham city where Batman stood rock still while "Stegaphones" clicked all around "I am not a hugger," the caped crusader growled, rebuffing my calls for a cuddle.The park is not really for the lazy. Forty steps later - I'd already done 15,000 steps when we were confronted by The Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, and we were only too happy to get selfies without any undue chaos.That gave us courage for a trip on the Batman: Knight Flight, one of the signature rides in the Gotham City zone.The ride invites guests to simulated jobs at Wayne Tech headquarters.A speed bump occurs as a crime spree puts Gotham City in danger. Riders are then hired by Batman as test pilots for the ultimate urban patrol vehicle in which the visitors must launch from the Bat cave and undergo breathtaking climbs, drops, spins and rolls.To bring an end to the day, I went to the Tom & Jerry rollercoaster ride."Tom and Jerry Swiss Cheese Spin" is surely not for the faint hearted. Just like Tom and Jerry's relationship, the ride is fast paced, goes in circles and has many ups and downs.You'll find yourself at Tom and Jerry height, in car-sized wedges of Swiss cheese, while everything else is huge.You'd find yourself whirling your way through their oversize house dodging obstacles and ducking into mouseholes as Tom chases Jerry and Jerry chases the cheese.That's all, folks! 2ff7e9595c
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