Tom and Jerry Classic Reading Guide (V.2)

Over the summer, I posted a rough draft of what I called a “Reading Guide” for Tom and Jerry. You know. The cat and mouse cartoon. I’ve since rewatched the series and revised my picks and criteria, so here’s “Version 2”.

(Also, apparently something happened with the latest DTV Tom and Jerry movie? Apparently it went mememtic this summer without me noticing?)

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the history of animation, particularly during the Golden Age, these past few months for a variety of reasons. I used to watch theatrical shorts all the time on Cartoon Network and I have a real affinity for that genre, but I think I’ve come to the conclusion now that Tom and Jerry is probably my favourite out of all the Golden Age series. Naturally, it’s the most controversial one.

• This is the “Classic Series” list, which means it’s limited to the years spanning 1940-1967. Tom & Jerry Kids and Tom and Jerry Tales would warrant lists of their own, and I haven’t rewatched the former yet or ever seen the latter. Also, since the DTV movie line and the new Tom and Jerry Show are still ongoing, it wouldn’t feel right to rank those. Don’t ever expect to see the 1970s and early 80s TV show, not because it’s especially bad for its time (it’s not), but more because it’s not even really the same sort of thing. You can see the prototype for this approach in the very last produced classic Hanna-Barbera shorts from the late 1950s, however. None of those are on this list though, mostly because I personally don’t much care for them.
• No Racism. This is a feel-good list for me, and while those of you seriously interested in animation history may wish to study some of the more unfortunate shorts I’ve left out, I’m never going to watch those for entertainment and I’d never recommend them to another person for that purpose either. If I could guarantee you would be watching these shorts on DVD, where I know they’ve been edited, I could throw a few more entries onto this list, especially near the beginning of the first Hanna-Barbera era. Not to get into a big censorship debate, but I tend to feel that as long as the original versions exist somewhere it’s OK for creators to go back and edit their work to present something they consider more definitive. Especially if it makes the work more enjoyable and more accessible to a more diverse audience. If George Lucas is allowed to do it with Star Wars, I see no reason Chuck Jones shouldn’t have been allowed to do it with Tom and Jerry.
• No clip shows. For obvious reasons. “Cruise Cat” is a possible exception, but I don’t really consider that a clip show in the traditional sense, more just a  creative use of pre-existing footage.
• No Gene Deitch. No offense meant to the man, who is by all accounts a very talented animator, but his work on Tom and Jerry never came together into a real thematic statement. He even said he hated the series and budget constraints kept him from doing anything interesting with it even if he didn’t. For those interested in his tenure, I feel “Landing Stripling”, “The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit” and “Carmen Get It” are the three shorts where Deitch’s approach comes the closest to working, but even they are really best seen as historical curios more than anything else.
• I’ve also made some arbitrary choices and cuts based purely on personal preference.
  • No shorts where Tom and Jerry have owners, for one: I’ve always felt this conceit had problems (apart from the obvious one), because I don’t see how it actually adds anything to the format to have a human character for Tom and Jerry to interact with, and I tend to feel it complicates things unnecessarily.
  • Additionally, I’ve left out most of the shorts where Jerry takes in another, cuter animal to protect them from Tom, largely because I feel once Hanna and Barbera started to do this it was a sign the series was getting long in the tooth and over-reliant on gimmicky additions (and some of them I frankly find cloying). I left a few in I felt were the best showcase of that formula, though. Similarly, I’ve downplayed Spike and Tyke who, by the end of the first Hanna-Barbera run, were openly being shopped around for a potential spinoff series.
  • I also avoided any shorts where Jerry frames Tom or otherwise gets him in trouble, or the other way around (because I *hate* that kind of conflict), or when either Tom or Jerry were acting in such a way they seemed to cross the line into becoming outright mean-spirited and cruel. I only want good, clean cartoon mayhem.