Matt Yorston
01-18-2002, 11:43 PM
Now that I have Morpheus (OK, I've had it for a while now but still...), I've been downloading Tom & Jerry cartoons like there's no tomorrow and, as a result, I've been reacquainted with some old favorites ("Baby Puss", "The Million Dollar Cat", "Much Ado About Mousing", etc.). But today I downloaded something that took me totally by surprise... the original opening to the 1960's Tom & Jerry TV show (which showed the theatrical T&J cartoons as part of a TV package). I apologize if some people are already familiar with this (I'm assuming the show is/was on Boomerang judging by the TV G logo in the upper left hand corner) but I thought I'd describe the opening nonetheless...
It starts with an iris-in and a clip from "His Mouse Friday" in which Tom is "riding the waves" and eventually being tossed onto an island striking his head on a coconut tree, next is a clip from "Posse Cat" in which Jerry splats Tom in the face with his dinner tray, after that a clip from "Cruise Cat" with Tom receiving the painful end of a blowing steam whistle, then a clip from "Designs on Jerry" with the stick-figure mouse firing an arrow at the stick-figure cat (when the cat pulls it out, he "deflates"), and finally there is a clip from "The Flying Cat" with Tom trying to make off with the canary cage only to be tripped up by Jerry. After the clips, there is a brief minute of new animation (by Chuck Jones, no doubt, with a supervision credit going to Tom Ray) of Tom using his "flying cat" disguise to catch Jerry who is sailing in the air on a paper airplane. Just when it looks like he'll catch him, he gets caught in a fence knothole. Now that Jerry is safe, he unfurls the paper airplane revealing its heading, "Tom and Jerry".
I also got the show's end titles with Tom playing a grand piano only to be distracted by Jerry's typewriter. A pan over to the typewriter reveals his message, "Tom and Jerry" written three times in a row. After that, there is a VERY short list of credits along with an appearance of our good ol' friend, Leo the MGM lion roaring away in a "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television" logo.
Personally, I found it to be a neat little clip. Anyone else have any information about this show? Did they show other MGM cartoons besides Tom & Jerry (Droopy, Barney Bear, Tex Avery, etc.)? Were there any short "bumpers" (like on the Road Runner show) in between cartoons?
It starts with an iris-in and a clip from "His Mouse Friday" in which Tom is "riding the waves" and eventually being tossed onto an island striking his head on a coconut tree, next is a clip from "Posse Cat" in which Jerry splats Tom in the face with his dinner tray, after that a clip from "Cruise Cat" with Tom receiving the painful end of a blowing steam whistle, then a clip from "Designs on Jerry" with the stick-figure mouse firing an arrow at the stick-figure cat (when the cat pulls it out, he "deflates"), and finally there is a clip from "The Flying Cat" with Tom trying to make off with the canary cage only to be tripped up by Jerry. After the clips, there is a brief minute of new animation (by Chuck Jones, no doubt, with a supervision credit going to Tom Ray) of Tom using his "flying cat" disguise to catch Jerry who is sailing in the air on a paper airplane. Just when it looks like he'll catch him, he gets caught in a fence knothole. Now that Jerry is safe, he unfurls the paper airplane revealing its heading, "Tom and Jerry".
I also got the show's end titles with Tom playing a grand piano only to be distracted by Jerry's typewriter. A pan over to the typewriter reveals his message, "Tom and Jerry" written three times in a row. After that, there is a VERY short list of credits along with an appearance of our good ol' friend, Leo the MGM lion roaring away in a "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television" logo.
Personally, I found it to be a neat little clip. Anyone else have any information about this show? Did they show other MGM cartoons besides Tom & Jerry (Droopy, Barney Bear, Tex Avery, etc.)? Were there any short "bumpers" (like on the Road Runner show) in between cartoons?