Tom and Jerry (MGM)

:For other uses, see Tom and Jerry.

Characters

Tom and Jerry

Tom is a grey house cat who lives a pampered life, whilst Jerry is a small brown mouse who always lives in close proximity to him. Tom is very quick-tempered and thin-skinned, whilst Jerry is independent and opportunistic. Though very energetic and determined, Tom is no match for Jerry's brains and wits. By the iris-out of each cartoon, Jerry is usually left in a triumphant situation and Tom in a bad one. However, many other results have been reached: on rare occasions, Tom triumphs. Sometimes, usually ironically, they both lose. Once in a while, particularly at Christmas, Tom may actually save Jerry's life, or at least share gifts with him.

Related Topics:
Cat - Mouse - Iris-out

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Both characters display sadistic tendencies, in that they are equally likely to take pleasure in tormenting each other. However, unlike Jerry, Tom has an enormously powerful conscience, and often panics if he thinks that Jerry is seriously injured, dying or dead. Jerry sometimes uses this to his advantage.

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Although many supporting and minor characters speak, Tom and Jerry rarely do so. Tom, most famously, sings while wooing female cats; for example, he lip-syncs Louis Jordan's "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" in the 1946 short Solid Serenade. His most noted spoken line occurs in three different shorts where Tom clearly says in an eerie, echoing voice "don't you believe it". Co-director William Hanna provides most of the squeaks, gasps, and other vocal effects for the pair, including the most famous sound effect from the series, Tom's leather-lunged scream (created by recording Hanna's scream and chopping the head and tail off of the recording, leaving only the strongest part of the scream on the soundtrack).

Related Topics:
Louis Jordan - 1946 - Solid Serenade - William Hanna

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Other characters

In his attempts to catch Jerry, Tom often has to deal with the intrusions of characters such as Butch, a scruffy black alley cat who also wants to catch and eat Jerry; Spike (sometimes billed as "Killer"), a vicious guard bulldog who tries to beat up the cat; and "Mammy-Two-Shoes", Tom's African American owner (voiced by Lillian Randolph), who usually wallops the cat with a broom when he misbehaves.

Related Topics:
Bulldog - African American - Lillian Randolph

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In the late 1940s, Jerry adopted a little grey mouse foundling named Nibbles (also known as "Tuffy"). During the 1950s, Spike is shown to have a son of his own named Tyke, an addition that lead to both a slight softening of Spike's character and a short-lived spin-off theatrical series (Spike and Tyke). Tyke's appearance also gave Jerry one more weapon against Tom, as disturbing Tyke was sure to bring Spike's wrath down on the apparent culprit, usually Tom. Occasionally Spike spoke, so to speak, using a voice and expressions modelled after Jimmy Durante, as in "Dat's my boy!".

Related Topics:
1940s - 1950s - Spike and Tyke - Jimmy Durante

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