Saturday Evening Puss | |
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Title card of 1957 reissue | |
Directed by | |
Story by |
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Produced by | Fred Quimby |
Starring |
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Music by | Scott Bradley |
Animation by |
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Color process | Technicolor Perspecta (reissue) |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 6:30 |
Language | English |
Saturday Evening Puss is a 1950 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 48th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. [1] The cartoon was released on January 14, 1950, produced by Fred Quimby, scored by Scott Bradley and animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ray Patterson. It is the only Tom and Jerry cartoon to feature Mammy's face on-screen, though only briefly. A re-edited version was produced in the 1960s replacing Mammy with a white teenage girl. [2]
Mammy leaves for her Saturday night bridge club. Tom then rushes to the window and signals to his three alley cat friends, Butch, Topsy, and Lightning that it is "ok for the party". They arrive for a loud session of jazz music; however, the noise disturbs Jerry, who is trying to sleep. He complains to Tom, who ignores him. Jerry tries to disrupt the party by tearing the tonearm off the phonograph, shutting Topsy in a drawer and slamming the piano lid shut on Butch's hands. The cats chase Jerry back into his mouse hole but, deciding that they will not be able to party as long as Jerry is around, turn their music back on to lure him out again.
An angry Jerry takes the bait, and the cats chase him. Tom eventually catches him and ties him up with windowsill string. Nevertheless, Jerry loses his temper and reaches the telephone and calls Mammy, telling her about the party. Mammy races back home (during which scene her face is briefly shown for the only time) and confronts the cats. The cats try to run but Mammy grabs Tom by the tail and unleashes her fury, throwing all four cats out the front door. At home, Mammy badmouths the cats for ruining her entire evening. She then decides to relax by playing the same jazz recording that the cats were playing, turning Jerry's brief contentment to immediate dismay and leaving him no better off than before.
In the re-animated 1966 version, Mammy Two Shoes was replaced with a white teenage girl, and her night out at the Lucky Seven Bridge Club was redone as a night out dancing with her boyfriend. Her voice was provided by voice actress June Foray, and the animation changes were done by MGM Animation/Visual Arts. In addition, Jerry's voice when he complains to Tom about the noise is muted out. This changed version is found on The Art Of Tom & Jerry laserdisc release and The Very Best of Tom & Jerry VHS release both by MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. [2]
The Film Daily reviewed the cartoon on February 16, 1950, saying, "When Beulah, the maid, steps out to her Saturday night social, Tom the cat decides to throw a shindig for the rest of the gang. This disturbs Jerry, the mouse, who tells Beulah — who hurriedly stops the party. Marvelous cartoon." [3]
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Frederick Clinton Quimby was an American animation producer and journalist best known for producing the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, for which he won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Films. He was the film sales executive in charge of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, which included Tex Avery, Droopy, Butch Dog, Barney Bear, Michael Lah and multiple one-shot cartoons, as well as William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of Tom and Jerry.
Rudolf Carl Ising was an American animator best known for collaborating with Hugh Harman to establish the Warner Bros. and MGM Cartoon studios during the early years of the golden age of American animation. In 1940, Ising produced William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's first cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, a cartoon featuring characters later known as Tom and Jerry.
Thomas Jasper "Tom" Cat Sr. is a fictional character and one of the two titular main protagonists in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical animated short films. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, he is a grey and white anthropomorphic domestic short haired tuxedo British cat who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. The cat was known as "Jasper" during his debut in the short; however, beginning with his next appearance in The Midnight Snack he was known as "Tom" or "Thomas".
Gerald Jinx "Jerry" Mouse is a fictional character and one of the two titular characters in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical animated short films and other animated media, usually acting as the protagonist opposite his rival Tom Cat. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Jerry is an anthropomorphic brown house mouse, who first appeared as a mouse named Jinx in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. Hanna gave the mouse's original name as "Jinx", while Barbera claimed the mouse went unnamed in his first appearance.
Tom and Jerry is an American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the rivalry between the titular characters of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. Many shorts also feature several recurring characters.
Puss Gets the Boot is a 1940 American animated short film and is the first short in what would become the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, though neither are yet referred to by these names. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Rudolf Ising. It is 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.
The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show is an American animated television series produced by Filmation for MGM Television featuring the popular cartoon duo Tom and Jerry. The show first aired on September 6, 1980 on CBS and continued until December 13 the same year. Its episodes were eventually added to syndicated Tom and Jerry packages in 1983. Episodes of the show also occasionally appeared on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
Mammy Two Shoes is a fictional character in MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons. She is a fat middle-aged African American woman who is the housemaid in the house which Tom and Jerry reside. But the fact that she has her own bedroom in the short Sleepy-Time Tom (1951) raises the possibility of her being the owner of the house, as no other human is present in the house in shorts she appears. She would scold and attack Tom whenever she believed he was misbehaving; Jerry would sometimes be the cause of Tom's getting in trouble.
The Midnight Snack is a Tom and Jerry cartoon released on July 19, 1941. It is the second of the Tom and Jerry films, returning to the basic premise of the previous film, Puss Gets the Boot, following that cartoon's Academy Awards nomination.
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1939 until 1958, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters, which included popular cartoon characters Tom, Jerry, Droopy, Butch, Spike, Tyke, and Barney Bear.
The Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection is a series of two-disc DVD sets released by Warner Home Video. Originally planned as an uncensored, chronological set, the issued Spotlight Collection sets include selected Tom and Jerry shorts on each volume. Volume 1 was released on October 19, 2004, Volume 2 on October 25, 2005, and the third and final volume on September 11, 2007. On October 15, 2019, the set, which consists of 4 discs, was repackaged with some errors fixed.
Spike and Tyke are fictional characters from the Tom and Jerry animated film series, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Spike is portrayed as an English Bulldog, who is generally amiable and friendly, and a loving father to his son Tyke in several episodes. However, Spike's character also has a very stern, and fierce side, for occasions such as when he is defending his son Tyke.
Mouse Cleaning is a 1948 one-reel animated cartoon and the 38th Tom and Jerry short. The title is a play on "house cleaning". It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on December 11, 1948, by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and again on February 17, 1956. It was animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge, who were the usual animators for the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the early 1940s up until the late 1950s. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby; no writer has yet been credited. The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the backgrounds were created by Robert Gentle.
The Lonesome Mouse is a 1943 American animated short film directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby. It contains the first speaking role of the cat and mouse duo, and the only one with significant dialogue between the two main characters. Both Tom and Jerry were voiced by William Hanna. It was created and released in 1943, and re-released to theatres on November 26, 1949.
Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale is a 2007 American direct-to-video animated Christmas fantasy comedy film. The film was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment Co., and is the first Tom and Jerry film directed by Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone. It serves as the fifth direct-to-video Tom and Jerry film and is a semi-adaptation of 1816 short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E. T. A. Hoffmann, with Jerry in the role of the Nutcracker and Tom in the role of one of the Mouse King's henchmen.
Tom and Jerry Golden Collection was a scrapped series of two-disc DVD and Blu-ray sets produced by Warner Home Video that was expected to collect all 161 theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoon shorts released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from the 1940s through the 1960s. Only the first of the three planned volumes was released, on October 25, 2011. It features 37 shorts, roughly one-third of the 113 Tom and Jerry shorts that had been included in the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, a previous DVD series that focused on the shorts directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera from 1940 to 1958.
The Alley Cat is a 1941 American animated short film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Hugh Harman, the film centres on Butch, Toodles Galore, and Spike the Bulldog, who were subsequently integrated as recurring characters into the Tom and Jerry series of shorts.
The Tom and Jerry Deluxe Anniversary Collection is a two-disc DVD set, released by Warner Home Video.
Tom and Jerry: The Classic Collection is a series of Region 2 DVD sets released by Warner Home Video. The sets include selected Tom and Jerry shorts on each volume. These DVDs are available in 6 double-sided DVDs and 12 single-layer DVDs. The DVDs in the UK were re-released as "Collector Editions", which were Digipak versions with 2 Volumes inside.