Saturday Evening Puss is the 48th of Tom and Jerry shorts. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera who created the cat and mouse duo ten years earlier. The cartoon was produced by Fred Quimby, scored by Scott Bradley and animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, and Irven Spence.
Characters[]
- Tom Cat
- Mammy Two Shoes (1950 version)
- Blonde Girl (1966 version)
- Lightning Cat
- Butch Cat
- Topsy Cat
- Jerry Mouse
Plot[]
Episode starts: Mammy Two Shoes is shown getting ready for a night out, applying nail polish and liberal amounts of jewelry, including a piece that has a red gem and a green gem, when she wears it, it actually turned into a traffic light, unaware that Tom is spying on her. She struts past him as he feigns sleeping in his basket and saunters out the door, hooking it shut with her foot. The moment that she's gone, Tom ascertains that she's on her way and mocks her flamboyantly executed exit before dashing to the window and whistling to his alley cat pals. When they look, he holds up a sign saying "OK FOR THE PARTY!" and the alley cats holler in delight and jump through the window. Lightning mans the phonograph, Butch hammers away at the piano, and Topsy plays a tune on some wine glasses (Water Glass Xylophone) as Tom provides refreshments, sandwiches for Lightning and Topsy and a pie for Butch.
But all the racket has disturbed Jerry's sleep and as he sits in the bed frustrated, his body starts to mimic the instruments used in the music. Finally losing his rage, Jerry storms out and accosts Tom, explaining (almost illegibly) that he's trying to get some sleep and cannot because of all the racket. Unsurprisingly, Tom and his pals don't listen and put Jerry through a painful and humiliating ordeal finishing with him getting his bum impaled with record pins. Furious, Jerry proceeds to disrupt the proceedings personally by tearing out the phonograph's needle, shutting Topsy in a drawer and slamming the piano lid shut on Butch's fingers, barely escaping their reprisal attempts. They lure him out by switching the radio on and then chase him after he pulls the plug. Topsy tries to squash him with his dustbin lid hat, but is left only with four taunting caricatures of Jerry imprinted in it. Jerry then backtracks as the three bigger cats come after him, but he ceases their pursuit after shutting the top half of a door, causing them to run flat-out into it. Hiding behind a curtain, he nicks Topsy's lid as he runs past then puts it in the cat's path as he comes running back. Trying to escape through a window shade, Jerry is flattened and promptly tied up in the drawstring. With him out of the way, the cats resume their party whilst leaving Jerry trapped by the Reverse bungee and forced to listen (Piano: Butch, 2 Guitars: Lightning and Tom and Cymbal: Topsy's lid). This, however, turns out to be the proverbial final straw for Jerry who decides to call in the big guns. Managing to negotiate his way over to the telephone, Jerry proceeds to ring up Mammy Two Shoes to inform her of the unauthorized proceedings taking place in her residence.
Mammy is shown playing bridge with her friends when the phone rings. She answers it and, after confirming her location and identity, is startled to be informed of a party at her house. Immediately deducing who must be responsible for said party, Mammy (in the space of two seconds) slams the phone down and excuses herself before rushing out, sending the cards flying. Outside, Mammy races down the street at 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) (showing her face for a split second for the first and only time in Tom and Jerry history), kicking up dust and debris as she speeds on her way. Not slowing her pace even as she approaches her house, Mammy crashes into the door with such force that it and part of the surrounding wall are ripped out and slide to a halt in front of the cats, who stop playing at this sudden intrusion into their midst. When Tom opens the door, he sees Mammy standing there with her hands on her hips and (presumably) a furious look on her face. The moment that she sees him, Mammy points her finger in dire accusation and shouts "Thomas!". Realizing that his life is in imminent danger, Tom slams the door shut on her and the cats try to flee but Mammy's arm extends and grabs Tom by the tip of his tail and drags him back for a beating. Outside, the entire house crashes and thrashes about as Mammy unleashes her wrath upon the cats, sending the roof sections and chimney flying into the air before the door flies open and Tom comes sailing out, shortly followed by Lightning, Topsy, and Butch in that order. One by one, they slam into a street wall and form a totem pole.
Inside, Mammy badmouths the cats and curses them for ruining her entire evening. To Jerry's dismay, however, she decides to relax with a "little soft, soothing, hot........music!", leaving him in the same position as before, mimicking the instruments again.
Voice Actors[]
- William Hanna as Jerry, Butch
- Lillian Randolph as Mammy Two Shoes
- June Foray as Blonde Girl (1960s version)
- Thea Vidale as Mammy Two Shoes (redubbed version)
Censorship[]
In the re-animated 1966 version, Mammy Two Shoes was replaced with a white teenage girl, and her night out at the Lucky Seven Bridge Club was redone as a night out dancing with her boyfriend. Her voice was provided by voice actress June Foray, and the animation changes were done by MGM Animation/Visual Arts. In addition, Jerry's voice when he complains to Tom about the noise is muted out. This changed version is found on The Art Of Tom & Jerry laserdisc release and The Very Best of Tom & Jerry VHS release both by MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s.
Trivia[]
- The first episode where Butch, Lightning, and Topsy are depicted as Tom's friends.
- In 1949's Hatch Up Your Troubles, the magazine that Tom is seen reading is called "Saturday Evening Puss".
- When this cartoon aired on CBS, Boomerang, and Cartoon Network, Mammy Two Shoes was replaced by a white teenaged girl going out to see her boyfriend for a dance rather than playing cards.
- Mammy is shown playing bridge with her friends was replaced by a white teenage girl having a fun time with her boyfriend.
- This is the last of the only four shorts (the others are Part Time Pal, A Mouse in the House, and Mouse Cleaning) where Mammy Two Shoes' head is shown, though this is the only cartoon in which her face is briefly shown when she's running home to crash Tom's party.
- This is one of the thirteen cartoons in which Tom and Jerry both lose in the end, due to Tom (and his friends) being kicked out of the house and Jerry being annoyed and not being able to sleep. The others are Fraidy Cat, Baby Puss, Polka-Dot Puss, The Framed Cat, A Mouse in the House, His Mouse Friday, Filet Meow, Muscle Beach Tom, Advance and Be Mechanized, Blue Cat Blues, Baby Butch, and Tot Watchers.
- This is one of the few shorts where Tom loses with another cat (or in here with other cats). The others are Smarty Cat, Casanova Cat, Jerry's Cousin, Tennis Chumps, Cat and Dupli-cat, Catty-Cornered, Sufferin' Cats!, and A Mouse in the House.
- This is one of the only seven cartoons where Jerry speaks. The others are Puss Gets the Boot, Puss n' Toots, The Lonesome Mouse, The Zoot Cat, The Milky Waif, His Mouse Friday, and Mucho Mouse. If you listen closely when Jerry is screaming at Tom, you can hear what he's actually saying "Hey! Stop! I'm in my little room over there! I'm trying to get on some sleep, but you guys are here with your blah, blah, blah, blah!"
- Jerry's lines (reissue) were muted on broadcast airings.
- The title is a parody of the magazine "Saturday Evening Post".
- Lightning has given some of Meathead's facial features in this short such his big nose, the bandage in his tail, and his chin rather than Butch's facial features.
- The scene where Tom's friends come through the window, the background resembles the backgrounds in The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.
- Despite the credit, Ray Patterson does no animation on this short.
- This episode uses song Template:W as one of its background melodies.
- In this short, Jerry actually talks to Mrs. Two Shoes telling her about the party and she understands him. This reveals that humans can actually understand the animals when they talk (This is further shown in shorts like Mucho Mouse when Lightning talks to Joan).
- The frame of Tom looking pleased with his tongue out with Jerry in his hand was one of the poses used in The Tom and Jerry 2014.
Errors[]
- Mammy comes home angrily as Tom, Butch, Lightning, and Topsy was shown. However, in the reissue version, a thin white teenager appears coming home angrily, and after Tom opens the door, the camera zooms out that Butch, Lightning, and Topsy were gone.
- When the MGM logo is shown in the beginning of this cartoon, the words seem a bit distorted for a few seconds before changing back to normal.
- When Tom opens the door to see Mammy, her dress was miscolored as blue for a split second. And when she grabs Tom's tail, her sleeve was miscolored as her skin color.
- When the cats are on the wall, they are miscolored.
- Tom has an orange fur patch, a light blue mouth, and brown feet.
- Lightning has white feet.
- Topsy has blue eyes and purple surrounding it
- Butch completely has red eyes.
Gallery[]
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