Casanova Cat is a 1951 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 55th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was created in 1950 and released in early 1951. This cartoon marks the final appearance of Toodles Galore during the Golden Age of Hollywood animation.
Plot
A newspaper headline announces that Toodles has inherited a million dollars. A top-hatted Tom heads to Toodles' home to woo her (and presumably get his paws on her inheritance) with flowers and newspaper in hand. Jerry, visibly annoyed and tied to a bow, is being dragged along behind Tom. Toodles' housemaid (presumably Mammy Two Shoes, in a non-speaking role) takes his hat and lets him in. Tom stares at Toodles and offers Jerry to her as a present. Tom then treats Jerry like a toy, forcing him into one humiliating performance after another. During a break in the shenanigans, Jerry exacts his revenge by spoiling a tender moment between Tom and Toodles. Jerry escapes to the window ledge and spots Butch lollygagging in a nearby alley. Jerry folds the newspaper article announcing Toodles' windfall into a paper airplane and launches it towards Butch. Butch's interest is piqued, and Jerry shows Butch where Toodles is. Butch catapults himself into Toodles' home and literally comes between Tom and her. Tom and Butch proceed to battle each other for Toodles' affection, but they soon discover that in the midst of their brawling, Jerry kisses Toodles on the cheek, which has her take an interest in Jerry. Tom and Butch chase Jerry, until he hid himself in a vent. Tom and Butch stop at both sides of the wall (in front of the vent) to find Jerry. While the two cats were busy looking, Jerry grabs both of their tails, ties them in a knot, and pulls on Tom's tail to get his attention. Tom then pulls his tail, thinking Jerry's pulling his tail, which made Butch have a collision with the wall a few times. Then Butch started pulling his tail, also thinking Jerry is pulling his tail, and made Tom have a collision with the wall as well. When Butch couldn't get his tail free, he starts to run straight forward, which starts to pull Tom through the vent butt-first. Tom starts to get squeezed through as Butch can't run any further, when Tom gets stuck for a few seconds. Tom then pops out of the vent in the shape of a cube and bangs into Butch. Tom then manages to pop back to his normal shape, and the two of them start to get angry at each other again, until the two of them hear a noise coming from outside. After managing to untie their tails, they ran to the couch, but find that Toodles is no longer on the couch, and immediately they looked out of the window and see a car leaving; Toodles and Jerry are in the back seats of it, when Jerry had put the car shade down, he and Toodles share a passionate kiss together.
Censorship and Bans
- Because of the sequence in this cartoon involving Jerry in blackface (which has been cut from most TV versions of this cartoon, including the ones shown on Cartoon Network), this short has been banned from being released on DVD in the United States by Warner Home Video, such as the third Spotlight Collection. When it was announced that neither this short nor Mouse Cleaning would be on the then-upcoming Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 2, the negative reception prompted Warner Home Video to shelve the set indefinitely.
External Links
Casanova Cat at SuperCartoons.net
Casanova Cat at B99.TV