The Yankee Doodle Mouse

The Yankee Doodle Mouse
Tom and Jerry series

Theatrical poster
Directed by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Produced by Fred Quimby (unc. on original issue)
Story by William Hanna (unc.)
Joseph Barbera (unc.)
Voices by William Hanna (uncredited)
Music by Scott Bradley
Animation by Irven Spence
Pete Burness
Kenneth Muse
George Gordon
Additional animation:
Jack Zander (credited on original issue)
Effects animation:
Al Grandmain (uncredited)[1]
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) June 26, 1943
Color process Technicolor
Running time 7:28 (reissue version)
Language no spoken dialogue
Preceded by The Lonesome Mouse
Followed by Baby Puss

The Yankee Doodle Mouse is a 1943 American one-reel animated cartoon. It is the eleventh Tom and Jerry short produced by Fred Quimby, and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley and animation by Irven Spence, Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse and George Gordon. Jack Zander was credited on the original print, but his credit was omitted in the 1951 reissue.[2] It was produced in Technicolor and released to theaters on June 26, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

The short features Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse chasing each other in a pseudo-warfare style, and makes numerous references to World War II technology such as jeeps and dive bombers. The Yankee Doodle Mouse won the 1943 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, making it the first of seven Tom and Jerry cartoons to receive this distinction.[3]

Plot

Tom pursues Jerry through a cellar, but the mouse successfully dives into his mousehole. Tom peers into the hole, and Jerry launches a tomato from a mousetrap into his face. Jerry then climbs up the wall and grabs a handful of eggs from a carton marked "Hen-Grenades". As Tom wipes the tomato off his face, he is promptly covered in egg, with one hit to the eye leaving the effect of him wearing a monocle. Jerry shoots off the corks from a champagne case, knocking Tom into a tub of water with only a pot to keep him afloat. The mouse promptly launches a brick from a spatula, sinking both the pot and Tom. A war communiqué is displayed, reading "Sighted cat – sank same. Signed, Lt. Jerry Mouse."

Later, Tom approaches Jerry's mousehole with a cheese and a mallet in his hand, while Jerry uses a pipe as a makeshift periscope to observe; spotting this trap, Jerry instead opens the ironing board cupboard, sending the board crashing onto Tom's head. Jerry charges down the board on a jeep made from a cheese grater attached to a roller skate, tearing Tom's fur as he speeds past twice, after which the jeep crashes into a wall, sending a sack of flour tumbling down. Adapting quickly to the situation, Jerry grabs the sack and spreads a makeshift flour smokescreen, which blocks Tom's vision but not Jerry's. He smacks the nearly blind Tom in the rear with a board three times, but eventually Tom falls to the ground facing the mouse; Jerry slaps Tom a fourth time before the cat can do anything and runs for it. In the original print a second War communiqué is displayed, "Enemy gets in few good licks". In the reissue this sequence is omitted all together in the 1951 reissue print.[4]

Tom, now wearing a bowl as a helmet, throws a stick of dynamite towards Jerry, who immediately throws it back to Tom; this continues until Jerry performs reverse psychology by taking it from Tom, provoking the cat to steal it back and this new cycle to continue until Jerry leaves Tom to witlessly hold the stick, which blows up as soon as the fuse goes off. Jerry jumps into a tea kettle to escape the cat's wrath, but Tom sees him and throws another firecracker into the kettle; Jerry panics, but the oxygen has run out and the mouse escapes through the spout with no explosion. The puzzled cat opens the kettle's lid and sticks his entire head in just as the firecracker goes off, leaving him resembling a blackfaced sunflower.

Continuing his attempts to blow up the mouse, Tom launches a paper airplane with a firecracker hidden on top, but Jerry blows it back beneath Tom, who barely spots the firecracker before it goes off and is again black in the face. Jerry then plants an enormous stick of dynamite behind Tom; the cat sees it and screams in terror until the cracker splits into successively smaller sticks reminiscent of matryoshka dolls, ending with a minuscule replica of the original firecracker. Tom laughs, believing this to be harmless, but the dynamite explodes powerfully.

Jerry then goes through a hole in a barrel and jumps into a makeshift plane fashioned from an egg carton (launched from a slingshot made from a rubber band). He drops a succession of light bulbs, one of which hits Tom's head, and a banana bomb, which hits Tom's face. Tom grabs a Roman candle and skillfully shoots down Jerry's now weaponless plane, piece by piece. Jerry uses a brassiere to parachute from the plane, but is again shot down by Tom. Jerry races into his mousehole to escape, but Tom pushes another Roman candle into the hole and fires off seven shots.

The fireballs pursue Jerry through the mouse hole through the barrel going back and forth until he eventually he leads them into a hose, which he shoots like a machine gun into a barrel where Tom is hiding. The barrel explodes, leaving Tom riding the remaining parts of the barrel like a bicycle, which then crashes into the wall. Recovering, Tom fires a dart gun at Jerry, which hits him on the tail as he again attempts to dive into his mousehole.

Tom grabs the mouse and ties him to an ignited rocket; Jerry pretends to help himself be tied up, but unknown to Tom he is actually strapping his own hands to the rocket. Jerry emerges from the ropes, and the puzzled Tom does not realize what has happened until Jerry waves at him. A frightened Tom attempts to blow out the fuse, but the rocket shoots high into the sky and explodes, presumably killing Tom. The explosion forms the Stars and Stripes. Jerry proudly salutes the flag, and a final communiqué is displayed, saying "SEND MORE CATS! Signed, Lt. Jerry Mouse."

Voice cast

References

  1. ↑ http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mgms-the-yankee-doodle-mouse-1942/
  2. ↑ http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mgms-the-yankee-doodle-mouse-1942/
  3. ↑ Gifford, Denis (2001-03-24). "William Hanna: Master animator whose cartoon creations included Tom and Jerry and the Flintstones". The Guardian (London).
  4. ↑ http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mgms-the-yankee-doodle-mouse-1942/
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