50 Fun Facts About Tom and Jerry

Which two animators created Tom and Jerry at MGM in 1940?

The pair went on to found Hanna-Barbera, home of the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear.

What was the title of the first Tom and Jerry short, released in February 1940?

It earned an Academy Award nomination even though the credits named only producer Rudolf Ising and left out Hanna and Barbera.

In that first short the cat was not yet called Tom. What was his name?

The mouse went unnamed on screen; Hanna said he was called Jinx in pre-production, and a magazine referred to him as Pee-Wee.

How were the names Tom and Jerry chosen?

Animator John Carr won $50 for the suggestion; the names may trace back to a popular Christmas cocktail and an 1821 London stage play.

How many Tom and Jerry shorts did the original creators direct in the first MGM run (1940–58)?

The full theatrical count reaches 161 once the Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones eras are added, and 166 with shorts made since 2001.

How many Academy Awards for Best Animated Short did Tom and Jerry win?

That ties Disney's Silly Symphonies for the most in the category and is more than any other character-based theatrical series.

Which 1943 short was the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to win an Oscar?

A wartime cartoon full of home-front gags, it broke Disney's winning streak in the category.

In The Cat Concerto, Tom performs which piece at a formal concert while Jerry sabotages the piano?

Warner Bros. released the near-identical Rhapsody Rabbit with Bugs Bunny the same year, and the two studios accused each other of plagiarism at the 1947 Oscars.

The last of the seven Oscar winners (1953) is set in the Vienna home of which composer, whose waltzes make Jerry dance?

Jerry cannot help dancing whenever Strauss plays, so Tom learns piano to lure him out.

Who provided most of Tom's screams and Jerry's gulps in the classic shorts?

Tom's famous yell was made by recording Hanna's scream and cutting off the start and end, leaving only the loudest middle section.

Scott Bradley made life hard for MGM's musicians by weaving in which avant-garde technique?

His scores mixed jazz, classical and pop, quoting MGM songs from The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me in St. Louis along the way.

Tom's bulldog nemesis Spike has a son. What is the puppy's name?

The pair even got a short-lived spin-off series called Spike and Tyke, and Tyke did not speak until Tom & Jerry Kids in 1990.

Spike's speaking voice was modelled on which comedian?

His catchphrases include 'Listen, pussycat!' when threatening Tom and 'That's my boy!' when praising Tyke.

Butch, the black alley cat who rivals Tom for the same girlfriend, is usually seen doing what?

Butch and Toodles were introduced in Hugh Harman's 1941 short The Alley Cat and folded into Tom and Jerry rather than getting their own series.

Nibbles, the little orphan mouse, speaks in what accent when he appears as the second Mouseketeer?

Six-year-old Francoise Brun-Cottan voiced him in The Two Mouseketeers, which won the 1952 Oscar.

The Two Mouseketeers spoofs which classic novel?

Tom guards the French king's banquet on pain of the guillotine, and the short has one of the darkest endings in the series.

Which unusual thing happens in the 1956 short Blue Cat Blues?

Paul Frees provided Jerry's inner monologue; the short ends with both characters sitting on railway tracks as a train approaches, and it is now withheld from some channels.

When something declared impossible promptly happens, a battered Tom says which 1940s radio catchphrase?

The line turns up in Mouse Trouble and The Missing Mouse; the pair otherwise speak English only on rare occasions.

In The Mouse Comes to Dinner, Tom, sitting on a lit stove, asks Toots 'Say, what's cookin'?' What does she reply?

It is one of the very few exchanges of dialogue Tom has in the whole series.

Jerry danced with which star in the 1945 MGM musical Anchors Aweigh?

MGM had wanted Mickey Mouse for the scene, but Disney would not lend him out; Tom appears briefly as a butler.

Which swimming star shared an animated dream with Tom and Jerry in Dangerous When Wet?

It was the duo's second live-action feature appearance after Anchors Aweigh.

Who was credited as producer on nearly every classic Tom and Jerry short until 1955?

As head of MGM's cartoon studio, Quimby had reluctantly green-lit the first short and collected the Oscars.

In which Iron Curtain city were 13 Tom and Jerry shorts made from 1961 to 1962?

Director Gene Deitch anglicised his Czech crew's names in the credits to avoid any link with Communism, and the location was left off entirely.

Gene Deitch admitted he was never a fan of the original cartoons, calling them what?

Working on a $10,000 budget having seen only a handful of the originals, his team produced shorts now prized by some fans for their surreal quality.

Which ex-Warner Bros. director produced 34 Tom and Jerry shorts between 1963 and 1967?

His studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions, gave the pair a slightly psychedelic look and thick eyebrows; MGM stopped production in 1967.

What is the housekeeper who owns Tom in the early Tom and Jerry shorts commonly known as?

Voiced by Lillian Randolph, she appeared in 19 shorts; the name was actually borrowed from a Disney model sheet and never spoken on screen.

Which actress voiced the housekeeper until 1952, when she left for a role in Amos & Andy?

Hanna and Barbera retired the character when she left; Turner later redubbed her lines with Thea Vidale for television.

Which media mogul bought MGM in 1986 and kept the film library, bringing Tom and Jerry to TBS and Cartoon Network?

Turner Entertainment still holds the rights via Warner Bros., which is why the duo turned up on Boomerang and HBO Max.

The 1990 spin-off with the pair as youngsters debuted in March 1990 on which network's children's block?

The show gave Spike and Tyke, and Droopy and his son Dripple, their own back-up segments and ran until 1994.

Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992) is the only instalment in which the pair do what regularly?

Richard Kind voiced Tom and Dana Hill voiced Jerry, with songs by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse.

In the 1992 film, Tom and Jerry help a runaway girl named Robyn Starling escape from whom?

Her father is presumed dead in a Tibetan avalanche; the film was directed by Phil Roman and released in Europe first.

The 2021 live-action/animated Tom and Jerry film was directed by Tim Story and starred which actress?

Michael Peña, Colin Jost, Rob Delaney and Ken Jeong co-starred; two new shorts were released on HBO Max to promote it.

The 2021 series set in New York City, released on HBO Max, was a spin-off of which earlier programme?

It kept the same animation style and slapstick but relocated the action to New York City, loosely following the 2021 film.

Why was Tom and Jerry's place in a 2005 TV Asahi poll of the top 100 'anime' unusual?

In Japan the word anime covers all animation; the series first aired there in 1965 and beat classics like Macross and Ghost in the Shell in the web poll.

In 2006 a complaint to Ofcom led to talk of editing UK broadcasts of Tom and Jerry over what?

Tom often tries to impress love interests by lighting up; British Boomerang later planned to trim such scenes.

Per one of its creators, roughly how much did a typical classic Tom and Jerry cartoon cost?

Each seven-minute short took about six weeks; the Deitch shorts were made for a fifth of that.

The final Tom and Jerry short by the original creators, released in June 1958, was called what?

MGM closed its cartoon studio the year before, and Hanna and Barbera moved to television, where The Huckleberry Hound Show launched that autumn.

Tom is described as which breed or type of cat?

His full name is given as Thomas Cat Sr.; he became 'Tom' from The Midnight Snack onwards.

Which of Tom's regular co-stars never has any dialogue at all in the classic shorts?

Toodles is Tom's most frequent love interest and the prize in his rivalry with Butch.

Which Warner Bros. rival did Tom and Jerry dethrone in 1962 as the highest-grossing animated short series?

Ironically it happened during the low-budget Deitch era, none of whose shorts received an Oscar nomination.

Which original Tom and Jerry creator, then in his nineties, co-directed the 2005 short The Karate Guard?

Barbera was in his nineties; his last Tom and Jerry project was the direct-to-video film that preceded his death in December 2006.

What do the withdrawn shorts His Mouse Friday and A Mouse in the House share?

Others, such as Casanova Cat and Mouse Cleaning, were left off DVD releases for blackface gags, and Mammy Two Shoes shorts were pulled from Cartoon Network and Boomerang in 2020.

Which 1941 Hugh Harman short first introduced Butch and Toodles before they joined Tom and Jerry?

Rather than getting their own series, the pair were folded into the cat-and-mouse cartoons.

Which British sports journalist's 1821 book Life in London popularised 'Tom and Jerry' as slang for rowdy young men?

Brewer's Dictionary calls any link to the cartoon's naming no more than an unconscious echo.

How much prize money did animator John Carr win for suggesting the names Tom and Jerry?

One unproven theory traces the names to a Damon Runyon story and a Christmas cocktail.

What was the per-cartoon budget for the Gene Deitch shorts made in Prague, giving them their surreal look?

The team had seen only a few originals; the jerky animation, Art Deco backgrounds and echoing electronic sound were side effects.

In the 1975 Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning show, Tom and Jerry became pals and Tom wore what new accessory?

The 48 shorts were paired with Grape Ape and Mumbly cartoons on ABC.

Which star did MGM originally want for the Anchors Aweigh dance before Disney refused and Jerry got the part?

Disney was focused on paying off its own wartime debts; Tom sneaks in as a servant in the scene.

Which comedian recorded the disclaimer about offensive stereotypes on the 2005 Spotlight Collection Vol. 2 DVD?

Her line that the stereotypes were 'wrong then and they are wrong today' echoed the Looney Tunes Golden Collection sets.

In which Dell title did Tom and Jerry make their comic-book debut in 1942?

It was renamed Tom and Jerry Comics in 1949 and ran 212 issues with Dell before moving to Gold Key.