Tom & Jerry

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Tom and Jerry were an Academy Award-winning animated cat (Tom) and mouse (Jerry) team who formed the basis of a successful series of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) theatrical short subjects created, written and directed by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (later of Hanna-Barbera fame). The series was produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in Hollywood from 1940 until 1957, when the animation unit was closed down.

In 1960, MGM outsourced the production of Tom and Jerry to Rembrandt Films (led by Gene Deitch) in Eastern Europe. In 1963, production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood with Chuck Jones' Sib-Tower 12 Productions; this series lasted until 1967. Tom and Jerry later resurfaced in TV cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera (1975 - 1977; 1990 - 1993) and Filmation Studios (1980 - 1982). The original MGM shorts helmed by Hanna and Barbera are notable for having won seven Academy Awards, tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the most-awarded theatrical animated series.

Plot and format

The plots of each short usually center on Tom's frustrated attempts to catch Jerry, and the mayhem and destruction that ensues. Because they seem to get along in some cartoon shorts (at least in the first minute or so), it is unclear why Tom chases Jerry so much, but some reasons given may include:

normal feline hunger; normal feline/mouse enmity; his duty according to his owner (often it is Tom's job, as a house cat, to catch mice and failure would equal eviction); the simple enjoyment of tormenting him; revenge; a nuisance to Tom, since Jerry spoils his dark, evil plans (like cooking fish or ducks); a misunderstanding (especially in shorts that start with them ambivalent or friendly to each other); a conflict when both of them want the same thing (usually food); a need to have Jerry out of the way (particularly when seeking a girlfriend); a game enjoyed by both of them; Tom "needing" Jerry (i.e. as a bait, for fishing or as a golf tee, for getting a reward for the "white mouse",...); To teach his nephew about feline/rodent relation and how to catch mice;

The shorts are famous for using some of the most destructive and violent gags ever devised for theatrical animation: Jerry slicing Tom in half, Tom using everything from axes, pistols, rifles, dynamite, and poison to try to murder Jerry, Jerry stuffing Tom's tail in a waffle iron, and so on. A common joke is that when Tom hits Jerry with something such as a hammer when he is occupied (usually eating) and is initially perplexed as he continues unaffected- and he then feels the effects moments later. Usually, neither Tom nor Jerry speaks in the cartoons, with rare and brief exceptions to these rules. Facial expressions and gestures easily convey the characters' feelings and intentions.

Read more at Wikipedia.org