Tom And Jerry

Tom is a Russian Blue cat, who lives a pampered life, while Jerry is a small brown house mouse who always lives in close proximity to him. “Tom” is a generic name for a male cat or tomcat (the Warner Bros. cartoon character Sylvester was originally called “Thomas”). Tom was originally called “Jasper” in the very first short, Puss Gets the Boot.

Tom is very quick-tempered and thin-skinned, while Jerry is independent and opportunistic. Jerry also possesses surprising strength for his size, lifting items such as anvils with relative ease and withstanding considerable impacts with them. Despite being very energetic and determined, Tom is no match for Jerry’s brains and wits. By the “iris-out” of each cartoon, Jerry usually emerges triumphant, while Tom is shown as the loser. However, other results may be reached; on rare occasions, Tom triumphs. Sometimes, usually ironically, they both lose or they both end up being friends (only for something to happen so that Tom will chase Jerry again). Both characters display sadistic tendencies, in that they are equally likely to take pleasure in tormenting each other. However, depending on the cartoon, whenever one character appears to be in mortal danger (in a dangerous situation or by a third party), the other will develop a conscience and save him. Sometimes, they bond over a mutual sentiment towards an unpleasant experience and their attacking each other is more play than serious attacks. Multiple shorts show the two getting along with minimal difficulty, and they are more than capable of working together when the situation calls for it, usually against a common adversary.

Although many supporting and minor characters speak, Tom and Jerry rarely do so themselves. Tom, most famously, sings while wooing female cats; for example, Tom sings Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” in the 1946 short Solid Serenade. In a couple of shorts, Tom, when romancing a female cat, woos her in a French-accented voice similar to that of screen actor Charles Boyer. Co-director William Hanna provided most of the squeaks, gasps, and other vocal effects for the pair, including the most famous sound effects from the series, Tom’s leather-lunged scream (created by recording Hanna’s scream and eliminating the beginning and ending of the recording, leaving only the strongest part of the scream on the soundtrack) and Jerry’s nervous gulp. The only other reasonably common vocalization is made by Tom when some external reference claims a certain scenario or eventuality to be impossible, which inevitably, ironically happens to thwart Tom’s plans – at which point, a bedraggled and battered Tom appears and says in a haunting, echoing voice “Don’t you believe it!”, a reference to some famous World War II propaganda shorts of the 1940’s. In one episode, Tom hires a mouse exterminator who, after several failed attempts to dispatch Jerry, changes profession to Cat exterminator by crossing out the “Mouse” on his title and writing “Cat”, resulting in Tom spelling out the word before reluctantly pointing at himself. One short, 1956’s Blue Cat Blues, is narrated by Jerry in voiceover (voiced by Paul Frees). Both Tom and Jerry speak more than once in the 1943 short The Lonesome Mouse. Tom and Jerry: The Movie is the first (and so far only) installment of the series where the famous cat-and-mouse duo regularly speak to both humans and other anthropomorphic animals; it is possible that Tom and Jerry do have full speech capabilities, but choose not to use them aside from a few short phrases, preferring to leave the talking to other characters.

Spike and Tyke

Spike & Tyke was a short-lived theatrical animated short subject series, based upon the bulldog father-and-son team from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Tom and Jerry cartoons. Only two films were made in this spin-off series: Give and Tyke and Scat Cats, both released in 1957, and produced in CinemaScope and Technicolor.

The Spike & Tyke cartoons were produced and directed by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and were among the last of the original MGM theatrical cartoons made. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was shut down in 1957, and Hanna and Barbera would move on to television animation production success with their own Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Spike was voiced by Billy Bletcher, and later Daws Butler. Tyke did not talk in these theatrical shorts, but did speak on the FOX television show Tom and Jerry Kids Show, for which the duo appeared in their own segments, and occasionally in the Tom and Jerry segments. Spike and Tyke are voiced by Dick Gautier and Patric Zimmerman, respectively.

Spike and Tyke also served as the inspiration for Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, a segment of Hanna-Barbera’s The Quick Draw McGraw Show.

Butch

Butch is a Tom and Jerry character – a black and white alley cat – who first appeared in the 1943 short, Baby Puss alongside a brown, mangy cat who first appeared in the 1943 short Sufferin’ Cats! and a little but older-like gray kitten. Butch was the leader of the alley cat bullies that usually helps Tom catch Jerry, but during his first appearance in Baby Puss he tormented Tom because his young female owner treated him literally like a baby, especially dressing up Tom up in a diaper, a bonnet, and pink mittens for all of his paws. Tom was quite a mock show for Butch and his gang, as well as Jerry.

Butch later appeared in the short Springtime for Thomas, first released in 1946. At the time, he was known simply as “Dream Boy” (after Jerry’s fake letter from Toodles), and he acted as Tom’s rival for Toodles’ affection.

In later cartoons, Butch was not only Tom’s love rival, but also a sporting opponent, as in Tennis Chumps, or another cat competing with Tom to stay in the house, as in A Mouse in the House. However, Butch also appeared in some cartoons as one of Tom’s pals or chums as in Saturday Evening Puss, Smarty Cat, and Sleepy-Time Tom, where Butch is leader of Tom’s buddies.

Mammy Two Shoes

Mammy Two Shoes is a recurring character in MGM’s Tom and Jerry cartoons. She is a heavy-set middle-aged black woman who often has to deal with the mayhem generated by the lead characters.

As a partially-seen character, she was famous for never showing her head (although it is briefly visible in Saturday Evening Puss, Mouse Cleaning and Part Time Pal). Mammy’s appearances have often been edited out, dubbed, or re-animated as a slim white woman in later television showings, since her character is a mammy archetype now often regarded as racist. It was later revealed that her character was greatly inspired by Oscar-winning black actress and singer Hattie McDaniel, best known for playing “Mammy” in MGM’s 1939 film Gone with the Wind.

Tuffy

Tuffy (originally Nibbles) is a fictional character from the Tom and Jerry cartoon series. He is the little grey, diaper-wearing orphan mouse whose cartoon debut came in the 1946 short The Milky Waif. Tuffy was later featured in the 1949 award-winning short The Little Orphan. The reason why Tuffy wears a diaper is due to the fact that he is portrayed as a baby mouse.