Tom and Jerry animators?

[DarthGonzo]

Ok this long and complicated question is specifically for the most knowledgable of cartoon fans out there...

From around 1945 until 1955 (when the shorts went to the cinemascope format), MGM's Tom and Jerry shorts were all animated by four individuals. With very little exception or variation, these men were Irven Spence, Ray Patterson, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge. Once I began to realize there were four different people in charge of animating the cartoons, I began to notice four different styles of animation in each short. Bear with me on the following information as I hope what I'm saying makes sense....

Variation 1
Variation 1 is a style that is a perfect interpretation of each character's model sheets, with solid, detailed and restrained animation. This is probably the best animation used in the Tom and Jerry series, IMHO. Examples of this style can be seen in the opening scene of The Framed Cat, the entire pressure cooker scene in Jerry and the Goldfish, and in Tom's trying on the "wings" for the first time in The Flying Cat.

Variation 2
Here the detail and appearance of the character designs is similar to Variation 1, but the animation is much looser and very busy in facial movement. For examples of this style of animation look at the scene of Tom actually eating the turkey from The Framed Cat, the scene of Tom tossing firecrackers into Jerry's hole from Jerry's Cousin, and him chalking up Jerry's head from Cue Ball Cat. Very nice but very loose.

Variation 3
Much simpler detail than the first two variations, with slightly more basic expressions and softer, rounded edges. Tom in particular has a smaller muzzle and more rounded ears, making him look a tad gentler than normal, especially when frightened. For examples of this style, see the scenes of Tom and Jerry first sneaking back into the house with iron and magnet from Old Rockin' Chair Tom, Tom kissing Muscle's feet from Jerry's Cousin, and the scene with Tom carrying the toaster trough the laundry wringer from Jerry and the Goldfish. Nice, but alot simpler.

Variation 4
Very little detail, rather off model but alot of movement. See the second half of the magnet scene from The Framed Cat, Muscles hitting Tom with the bowling ball from Jerry's Cousin, and the cats colliding into a big tangled knot from Saturday Evening Puss. This is the least of the styles I've seen in the series, but at the very least it moves, alot.

Still with me? Good, becuase what I'm dying to know is what animator is responsible for what style? Does anyone actually know? Any and all help is appreciated.

Mike

[Jack]

I'm by no means an expert in identifying the styles of animators, but i found this article at apatoons.com that comapres the styles of Muse and Spence. Just click below, go to the link that says "Stuff from APAToons" and then click on "Animators and their scenes.

http://www.apatoons.com/

Based off what it said, I would guess that mystery animator number four is none other than Irv Spence, and that number one is Muse.

Also, Animation Blast Issue #5 did an anterview with Ray Patterson. He says things like "My Specialty was animating the bulldog's dialogue." It also shows examples of his animation, he animated Tom's shrinking Zoot suit in Zoot Cat. He also animated a scene of Jerry throwing a banana from the same cartoon.

Hope this sort of helped...

Jack:D

[lislebartman]

Unless you've been exposed to cartoons for a long time, you can pretty much tell which animators did what. For example, I can watcha Friz Freleng-directed WB cartoon and tell you what animators animated certain scenes. It's a bit hard, though, on a Chuck Jones-directed short.

[DarthGonzo]

Originally posted by Jack
I'm by no means an expert in identifying the styles of animators, but i found this article at apatoons.com that comapres the styles of Muse and Spence. Just click below, go to the link that says "Stuff from APAToons" and then click on "Animators and their scenes.

http://www.apatoons.com/

Based off what it said, I would guess that mystery animator number four is none other than Irv Spence, and that number one is Muse.

Also, Animation Blast Issue #5 did an anterview with Ray Patterson. He says things like "My Specialty was animating the bulldog's dialogue." It also shows examples of his animation, he animated Tom's shrinking Zoot suit in Zoot Cat. He also animated a scene of Jerry throwing a banana from the same cartoon.

Hope this sort of helped...

Jack:D

Wow, did this ever help! Now I know Variation 1 is Kenneth Muse and Variation 4 is Irven Spence. Now I need to pair Variations 2 and 3 with Ray Patterson and Ed Barge. i know there were a few cartoons between 1945 and 1955 that Patterson did not work on. If I'm able to figure out which style does not appear in these cartoons. I'll have my answer.

I have two more questiosn perhaps someone can help me with:

Who was Al Grandmain? I've seen his name listed as an animator is cartoons such as The Cat and the Mermouse and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse, cartoons which both featured complicated effects animation. Could Grandmain have been an effects animator?

Finally, both The Invisible Mouse and A Mouse in the House credit an animator named Richard Bichenbach. Both cartoons feature scenes of incredibly loose animation of characters with sloppy, huge-eyed expressions. Is Bichenbach responsible for this?

[J Lee]

Bichenbach was one of Friz Freleng's main animators in the early 1940s after Friz returned from MGM to Warner's. The WB and MGM styles are very different, but you may be able to spot some similarities in movement and facial expressions between the two in Bichenbach's work.

[Matthew Hunter]

In some WB cartoons I can tell, for example, in some Chuck Jones cartoons Bugs has pointed, tapered front teeth, while later in the same film he doesn't. I believe it was Ben Washam who drew the pointed teeth.
What's even more interesting is, without looking at a cartoon's credits, titles, etc., ork even knowing which cartoon it is, anything after about 1938 I can tell who directed the cartoon. You can tell the Chuck Jones style, the McKimson style, and the Clampett style the easiest, and Friz Freleng's pretty recognizable too. Each director designed the characters a little differently. Even in co-directed shorts like "Baton Bunny", it's surprisingly easy to tell which scenes Abe Levitow did and which ones Chuck did, you just have to view each scene by itself or it looks too seamless...but the difference in style is there. Look at the eyes....
-Matthew

[Jack]

I've noticed different styles of animation, it's just hard for me to point out just who did what when there are 4+ names in the credits. There are a few animators styles I sort of pinpoint, but overall I can never really be sure of myself. It's easy to look at a still from a late30s to mid 60s cartoon and say who directed it just by the character designs. That's why I hate those "evolution of" pictures for characters like Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck. They ignore the fact that every director used a different design at the same time---sometimes VERY different designs at the same time. I'd like to see someone mistake Tashlin's mid 40s Daffy with Frelengs mid 40s Daffy. Or how about McKimson's "chubby" Bugs with Jones' shorter, more rounded Bugs? Another thing that gives a cartoon away for me is the backgrounds. I can almost always tell who directed, layed out, and who painted the backgrounds for a cartoon by looking at the backgrounds.


Jack:D

[Larry T]

This is a very interesting thread, as I have often wondered this myself. My favourite MGM animator was the one who used the extremely flexible animation where characters would stretch right out of the screen, and the overuse of the splatter marks (those white star shapes that fly out of the collision points whenever a character hits a wall, bites something, gets conked on the head, etc.)... and judging by the thread responses so far, it must be Ken Muse (but I'll have to watch the "Framed Cat" cartoon again to verify that).

One of the few occurrences of Don (not Ray's) Patterson's animation is found in "Mouse In The House". Watch the scene when Jerry is underneath Butch and starts carrying him away, then Tom lifts Butch up and spots Jerry wandering around with his eyes closed. There's also a good one when Butch holds Jerry up in front of him, and Tom snatches him away from behind a curtain.
Does ayone know of any other cartoons Don worked on?


The Lantz animators who turned up at Warner's in Arthur Davis' unit are some of my favourite ones. The most obvious one is Emery Hawkins (he animated Woody popping out of the log stump for the opening of the cartoons from 1945-1948). Look for Hawkin's animation in this cartoon:

Two Gophers From Texas - The whole opening sequence when the dog reads the book; the scene where he collapses "obviously, they did not reckon on me great inner strength....SNAP"; the scene when he's setting up the turnip trap, rolls the stone to set it off, and laughs "MWA-HA-HA"; the closing scene of the facial close-up when he's stuck in the piano.

What Makes Daffy Duck - The romance sequence in the pond ("I have some wonderful etchings...." to "an imposter!!")

Riff Raffy Daffy - Porky rams into the glass counter and Daffy sells him a gun ("You'll never miss.... with this")

Also, Don Williams is an easy one to spot. The characters always get pigeon-toed, and develop thicker eyebrows. He also overuses dry paint wipes for movement. Check this out in:

Two Gophers from Texas - When the gophers find Snookie- he pushes down the covers over the weapons ("GOO!"), and the gophers say, "Oh we must take care of little Snookie"... "Let's do something nice for him" (the eyebrows are very obvious here!!)

Riff Raffy Daffy - Inside the store window display ("Smoke?... drink? That's the way!!")

Mouse Menace - Porky lets the cat out of the cage, and stands listening to the fighting in the next room.

For practice, now watch "Mexican Joyride" and see how many you find by these two men..... ;)

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by Larry T


The Lantz animators who turned up at Warner's in Arthur Davis' unit are some of my favourite ones. The most obvious one is Emery Hawkins (he animated Woody popping out of the log stump for the opening of the cartoons from 1945-1948). Look for Hawkin's animation in this cartoon:

Two Gophers From Texas - The whole opening sequence when the dog reads the book; the scene where he collapses "obviously, they did not reckon on me great inner strength....SNAP"; the scene when he's setting up the turnip trap, rolls the stone to set it off, and laughs "MWA-HA-HA"; the closing scene of the facial close-up when he's stuck in the piano.

What Makes Daffy Duck - The romance sequence in the pond ("I have some wonderful etchings...." to "an imposter!!")

Riff Raffy Daffy - Porky rams into the glass counter and Daffy sells him a gun ("You'll never miss.... with this")

Also, Don Williams is an easy one to spot. The characters always get pigeon-toed, and develop thicker eyebrows. He also overuses dry paint wipes for movement. Check this out in:

Two Gophers from Texas - When the gophers find Snookie- he pushes down the covers over the weapons ("GOO!"), and the gophers say, "Oh we must take care of little Snookie"... "Let's do something nice for him" (the eyeborws are very obvious here!!)

Mouse Menace - Porky lets the cat out of the cage, and stands listening to the fighting in the next room.

Oh Larry (not Curly or Moe ;))

Can you spot any of Hawkins or Williams animation in the early MGM toons??? Just wondering...

[Larry T]

You know, Tim, I forgot they were both there....

Can you name me a few of the cartoons you might know they animated in, and I'll look at them later on today to see what I can pick out- This will be a good challenge!! :cool:

[DarthGonzo]

Larry T mentioned his favorite Tom and Jerry animation style a few posts back. I think the style he is referring to belongs to Irven Spence. His style definitely matches the description. If someone watches the cartoon Smitten Kitten they'll notice Kenneth Muse is the only animator who worked on it. So he is Variation 1 (see original post) beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I also noticed that only Irven Spece and Ed Barge animated Little School Mouse. Judging by the fact that I know Spence is Variation 4 and the only other style in the cartoon is Variation 3, no doubt this is the variation Barge is resonsible for, making Patterson Variation 3.

For those whove seen Sleepy Time Tom, that cartoon is a good way to see all four variations (Muse, Patterson, Barge, and Spence) take place one after the other:

Muse animates the opening scene, which is everything taking place outside the house.

Spence handles the entire initial Mammy scene, up until she walks out of the kitchen.

Then Barge takes over with Jerry's first two attempts to get Tom to fall asleep.

Finally, Patterson comes in and animates the scene with the radio.

Muse returns for the scene taking place at Jerry's mousehole.

The rest of the cartoon is a tad difficult to figure out, but it appears to be a constant trade-off between Muse and Barge.

[Larry T]

Thanks DarthGonzo,

I have been wanting to study the MGM animator's techniques for a long time, but never knew exactly which was which. After seeing "Sleepy-time Tom" again, it was very evident when the styles changed.

Not only that, the animation style I really like must be Irv Spence, because there is definitely a lot of that said style in "Little School Mouse".....

However, even if there's only one animator listed, does that mean he was the only one who animated the entire cartoon? I know it wasn't that way at Warner's.....

[DarthGonzo]

Originally posted by Larry T
Thanks DarthGonzo,

I have been wanting to study the MGM animator's techniques for a long time, but never knew exactly which was which. After seeing "Sleepy-time Tom" again, it was very evident when the styles changed.

Not only that, the animation style I really like must be Irv Spence, because there is definitely a lot of that said style in "Little School Mouse".....

However, even if there's only one animator listed, does that mean he was the only one who animated the entire cartoon? I know it wasn't that way at Warner's.....

I'm assuming thats the case. Remember that Smitten Kitten contains footage from lots of other Tom and Jerry cartoons. There really wasnt much for Muse to animate in that one.

I think the best cartoon to show off just how fast Spene's animation was would be The Framed Cat.

[Larry T]

That WAS one of the cartoons I looked at for reference... It's also probably some of my all-time favourite animation period.. :)

[DarthGonzo]

Originally posted by Larry T
That WAS one of the cartoons I looked at for reference... It's also probably some of my all-time favourite animation period.. :)

Ya know, I watched "The Framed Cat", "Cue Ball Cat", "Casanova Cat", "Jerry and the Goldfish", "Jerry's Cousin", "Sleepy-Time Tom", and "His Mouse Friday" back to back last night (in that order), mainly to watch for the different animators doing their thing. What I discovered was how little Ken Muse worked on many of these cartoons. He does very little for "The Framed Cat", "Cue Ball Cat", "Jerry and the Goldfish" and "His Mouse Friday." It's a shame because I always felt his stuff was the best. "The Vanishing Duck" was on last night, though, and it was very easy to tell Muse's work from the other animators. He seems to be the only one who was even trying at that point in the series.

BTW, "Happy Go Ducky" is on right now. Man, this has gotta be the worst Tom and Jerry cartoons ever. Tom and Jerry fighting over an easter egg? What were they thinking when they made this cartoon??

[DarthGonzo]

Ok "Happy Go Ducky" just ended and now "Little Quacker" is on. What the heck is this, Duck Week?

[DarthGonzo]

You guys can tell I'm a bigger Tom and Jerry fan than a Looney Tunes fan huh? Why dont we start a T&J forum? :D

Anyway, I was watching Little Quacker closely right now and I noticed a supremely easy way to tell Spence's Tom from everyone elses. He's the only animator who put pock marks (aka little dots) where Tom's whiskers meet his muzzle. Cool, huh? I thought so.

[DarthGonzo]

Speaking of whiskers...

I noticed in a few mid 50s T&J cartoons there are times when the animators neglect the whiskers on the sides of the character's faces closest to the camera. Take a look at "Little School Mouse" and "That's My Pup". What gives?

[DR. BELCH]

Note also that in a few older cartoons, Tom's whiskers come together like an old melodrama villain's mustache (lending him a wicked appearance); in later shorts, they spread out more, like actual cat whiskers.

[Jack]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH
Note also that in a few older cartoons, Tom's whiskers come together like an old melodrama villain's mustache (lending him a wicked appearance); in later shorts, they spread out more, like actual cat whiskers.
I never thought of it that way. I always thought his whiskers coming together were supposed to mimick those pencil-thin type mustaches (I think that's what they are called). I got this impression after watching "Zoot Cat."


Jack :bosko:

[DarthGonzo]

I think Tom had those whiskers throughout 1944 and 1945. Before that he had six whiskers, and after that he only had four, although sometimes he'd appear with six if his whiskers were part of the gag.

Also I notice that by 1950/51 Patterson, Spence and Muse had stopped going Jerry eyelashes. Barge apparently loved the lashes and kept Jerry with them until the model sheets were modified for Johann Mouse, sometime in 1953.

[The Spectre]

So, was each cartoon only animated by four (or so) people, who did *all* the drawings? Or were Kenneth Muse, Irvin Spence etc. "animation directors" of some kind?

oh, and re: Richard Bickenbach - from the mid-1950s or so he is listed as layout artist in the opening credits. Did he do any of this uncredited beforehand, and, if so, why did they suddenly start to credit him then? On these two cartoons did he work as animator *as well* as layout artist?

[Sogturtle]

So, was each cartoon only animated by four (or so) people, who did *all* the drawings? Or were Kenneth Muse, Irvin Spence etc. "animation directors" of some kind?

oh, and re: Richard Bickenbach - from the mid-1950s or so he is listed as layout artist in the opening credits. Did he do any of this uncredited beforehand, and, if so, why did they suddenly start to credit him then? On these two cartoons did he work as animator *as well* as layout artist?


Spectre~

The four usually listed animators were full-fledged animators (now sometimes justly dubbed "master-animators"). Their "assistants" "breakdown animators" and inbetweeners did all of the drawings between the animators "extremes" (in other words the majority of the animation is done by others than the credited animators. Hanna and Barbera in those days were the only animation directors (unlike in their own studio).

On Richard Bickenbach... Yes he was the longtime designer/ layout artist for HB (and occasionally animated). My records show him joining MGM years and years earlier (try mid-1940s!!) where he took over from the never-credited (but much heralded) Harvey Eisenberg. Previously he had been at Warners for a bunch of years, and before that was at...MGM!!