Tom & Jerry 80th anniversary

[Uncle TechTip]

Granada TV , also in the late 70s, used to show top Proto- " Simpsons" show " Wait Til Your Father Gets Home" at about 11:30 at night. Bit daft really, cos even though it *did* have a character based on the little old lady who said " Shithead" all the time in Norman Lear' s satirical film " Cold Turkey" ( 1971) ( the cartoon character didnt use that word), and had a paranoid next door neighbour going on about communists, it was essentially a kid's programme.

But i thought it was made for prime time in the US?

[Pink Gregory]

Doesn't Tom get guillotined at the end of the first Mouseketeers one?

[idunnosomename]

yeeearrRRRROWWWW

[Gurke and Hare]

The Night Before Christmas is flawless.

[kalowski]

Love the Hannah-Barbera period. I quite like the utterly bizarre Gene Deitch ones too, even if they are Avant Garde experiments as far away from 'Barbeque Brawl' as you can get.
Usually disappointed by the Chuck Jones ones. Can't believe they were made by the same person as who made Road Runner.

[idunnosomename]

my favourite is the Zoot Cat because Tom looks like such a stupid cunt in that cut-out deckchair. but also Designs on Jerry is so weird and wonderful

(also note Tom says quite a lot in the Zoot Cat, but it's kind of like Mr Bean talking in that it's kept as slightly unnatural and funny in itself)

[kalowski]

Gene Deitch: High Steaks
Weird stuff, introduced by the classic theme tune but animated by a strange collection of Czech animators.
In fact, the T&J Fandom page puts it best

Deitch's Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts produced between 1961-1962 received intense negative reception from both critics and audiences alike. This is mainly due to the extremely low quality animation, the extremely low budgets, the weak writing, the lack of returnee characters like Spike, Nibbles, Mammy Two Shoes, Butch, Joan, Quacker, and a few others from the Hanna-Barbera era cartoons, it's terrible voice acting, music, and sound effects, the more brutal and hurtful usage of slapstick and violence, the flanderization of the cat-and-mouse duo such as Tom being reduced into a huge punching bag and Jerry being reduced into an unlikable sadistic jerk who enjoys torturing Tom for fun, the one-sidedness of Tom and Jerry's battling rivalries where it always ends with Jerry winning and Tom losing even though the former usually doesn't deserve it, the introduction of Tom's notorious owner in three of his Tom and Jerry shorts, the inexperience of his Czech animation crew in making these Tom and Jerry cartoons and the fact that Deitch himself was tasked to work on the cartoons despite his personal dislike towards the series due to finding it "needlessly violent".

[madhair60]

https://i.imgur.com/VdEmvG1.gifv

[idunnosomename]

god that bit where Tom comes out of the mousehole is hilarious. you take for granted how people came up with this in the golden age of animation but it's pretty amazing really where they're pulling these gags from

[kalowski]

Look at this little excerpt from one of the greatest Tom and Jerry shorts.
Fit to be Tied
Gag after perfect gag.

[idunnosomename]

log -> chewed into baseball bat -> snooker cue into dog house

beautiful

[kalowski]

log -> chewed into baseball bat -> snooker cue into dog house

beautiful

In a later part of the cartoon Jerry lengthens of the rope and Tom hits Spike again... brilliant stuff

[Tony Tony Tony]

Granada TV , also in the late 70s, used to show top Proto- " Simpsons" show " Wait Til Your Father Gets Home" at about 11:30 at night. Bit daft really, cos even though it *did* have a character based on the little old lady who said " Shithead" all the time in Norman Lear' s satirical film " Cold Turkey" ( 1971) ( the cartoon character didnt use that word), and had a paranoid next door neighbour going on about communists, it was essentially a kid's programme.

I vividly recall this, mainly the theme tune... https://youtu.be/ZEPfrkVO4zY

[Spudgun]

I love me some Tom and Jerry.

Tangentially related, but fans of MGM cartoons may be interested to know that there's a Tex Avery Blu-ray due out in the US next week:

https://www.amazon.com/Tex-Avery-Screwball-Classics-Blu-ray/dp/B083XX4G9J/
https://www.wowhd.co.uk/tex-avery-screwball-classics-1-tex-avery-screwball-classics-volume-1/883929703951

[Satchmo Distel]

Young British kids in the 70s didn't understand the racist background of the character. We never saw her face so just assumed she was a bossy housekeeper. The BBC had much worse random racism from the period featuring Stepin Fetchit and so on, and of course the Dam Busters dog.

[Satchmo Distel]

Granada TV , also in the late 70s, used to show top Proto- " Simpsons" show " Wait Til Your Father Gets Home" at about 11:30 at night. Bit daft really, cos even though it *did* have a character based on the little old lady who said " Shithead" all the time in Norman Lear' s satirical film " Cold Turkey" ( 1971) ( the cartoon character didnt use that word), and had a paranoid next door neighbour going on about communists, it was essentially a kid's programme.

5.15 slot on Yorkshire, also used for The Flintstones.

Tom Bosley was also in Hong Kong Phoeey on Swap Shop.

[Norton Canes]

log -> chewed into baseball bat -> snooker cue into dog house

beautiful

It's the little slap he gives Jerry after that

[gilbertharding]

An actual college professor posted this on twitter:



The replies are mainly other academics complaining that he is a BAD professor for presenting one of his students to mockery like this - and doubling down when it's pointed out that... um... it's clearly a joke - either by an actual student or the poster himself.

(apparently the joke is also a reference to an *actual* bad professor who posted a REAL terrible essay on twitter a few days ago).

[bgmnts]

Pue corrected to Pew got me.

[Ambient Sheep]

Young British kids in the 70s didn't understand the racist background of the character. We never saw her face so just assumed she was a bossy housekeeper.

I actually assumed she was the lady of the house (bearing in mind I'm not sure we ever saw Tom's WASP-y owners until the Gene Deitch cartoons).  I just thought she was Tom's owner.  Never occurred to me she wouldn't be, why couldn't a big black lady own a nice house in America or elsewhere?

It's really only a few years ago, when first reading about the censorship, that I've learnt she was actually the maid and a lightbulb slowly flickered on over my head.

[Petey Pate]

I actually assumed she was the lady of the house (bearing in mind I'm not sure we ever saw Tom's WASP-y owners until the Gene Deitch cartoons).  I just thought she was Tom's owner.  Never occurred to me she wouldn't be, why couldn't a big black lady own a nice house in America or elsewhere?

Tom's white owners appeared in a few of the later Hanna Barbera cartoons after the maid character was retired (in part due to complains from the NAACP). The last cartoon to feature the maid was released in 1952.

Tom's owner in the Gene Deitch cartoons was basically an ersatz version of a character Deitch had created earlier for Terrytoons called Clint Clobber.

[notjosh]

The BBC had much worse random racism from the period featuring Stepin Fetchit and so on

What Stepin Fetchit stuff did they used to show?

[Ignatius_S]

But i thought it was made for prime time in the US?

Aye, it was - over here, the BBC scheduled Wait Till Your Father Comes Home in mornings and afternoons (usually in school holidays, IIRC) obviously aimed at children presumably on the basis of 'well, it's a cartoon, must be for kids'.

[Ignatius_S]

...."Like a later Tom and Jerry, where the two of them could talk."

Personally, I thought the film was fine - admittedly, because of it got so slated, my expectations were low but didn't feel it was anywhere as bad it had made out to be.

[Ignatius_S]

I actually assumed she was the lady of the house (bearing in mind I'm not sure we ever saw Tom's WASP-y owners until the Gene Deitch cartoons).  I just thought she was Tom's owner.  Never occurred to me she wouldn't be, why couldn't a big black lady own a nice house in America or elsewhere?

It's really only a few years ago, when first reading about the censorship, that I've learnt she was actually the maid and a lightbulb slowly flickered on over my head.

It would have been quite a while ago, but there was a thread that touched upon this and there were similar comments.

This is from another thread, but think it worth citing as it concerns Lillian Randolph, who voiced the character:

...
The Great Gildersleeve
Originally on the radio from 1940 or 41 and probably the first 'spin-off' American show), although fairly light did deal with fairly serious issues. The eponymous hero was the first radio main character trying to raise a family as a single-parent (although the children were his orphaned niece and nephew) and for the time, did a good job of showing the difficulties of trying to be a good parent and its challenges....

Additionally, although early episodes showed Gildersleeve's housekeeper (played by Lillian Randolph, best known over here as the voices of the maid in Tom and Jerry) as a very stereotyped black maid, but she was quickly developed. Alsthough the character can often appear old-fashioned by today's standards, TG was groundbreaking for this area - Birdie became the adult voice in the household and its bedrock. There's an interesting episode (albeit not especially amusing) where the family and Birdie are meeting their respective churches for early morning Easter service in the countryside – although going to the same place, it's clear that the services are firmly racially segregated, but due to Gildersleeve's 'shortcut' are unable to join the others, leading them to hold their own service as a family, which would have been a daring way for the story for the story to conclude

As an aside, Joss Whedon's grandfather was one of the main writers on TGG.....

[Brundle-Fly]

Tom's white owners appeared in a few of the later Hanna Barbera cartoons after the maid character was retired (in part due to complains from the NAACP). The last cartoon to feature the maid was released in 1952.

Tom's owner in the Gene Deitch cartoons was basically an ersatz version of a character Deitch had created earlier for Terrytoons called Clint Clobber.

This is an interesting pictorial blog depicting T & J's moments that are now deemed unnacceptable.

https://izismile.com/2010/03/12/political_correctness_has_changed_tom_amp_jerry_59_pics.html

[A Hat Like That]

Look at this little excerpt from one of the greatest Tom and Jerry shorts.
Fit to be Tied
Gag after perfect gag.

Thank you for that, wonderful, wonderful stuff.

[pupshaw]

Look at this little excerpt from one of the greatest Tom and Jerry shorts.
Fit to be Tied
Gag after perfect gag.

And the sound effect when Tom plants the pie in Spike's face.

[kalowski]

This is an interesting pictorial blog depicting T & J's moments that are now deemed unnacceptable.

https://izismile.com/2010/03/12/political_correctness_has_changed_tom_amp_jerry_59_pics.html

Really interesting, thanks. Fascinating that the "Chinaman" trope was so popular.

[SavageHedgehog]

This is an interesting pictorial blog depicting T & J's moments that are now deemed unnacceptable.

https://izismile.com/2010/03/12/political_correctness_has_changed_tom_amp_jerry_59_pics.html

Weirdly I saw a lot of these uncut on UK Cartoon Network as recently as the late 90s. A few (like The Milky Waif) were cut, the Mammy episodes were usually dubbed, but mostly it was intact. Saw some shocking Tex Avery gags on there too.