"Stay Awake or Else..." is the third episode of The Tom and Jerry Show (1975).
Synopsis[]
After partying all night, circus roustabout Tom can't stay awake on the job; Jerry tries to keep him from being fired by the ringmaster.
Plot[]
On the circus grounds, the ringmaster searches for circus roustabout Tom, who at the same time is being driven by milk truck from an all-night party which has left him exhausted. The ringmaster catches Tom asleep and shouts for him to wake up, sending him bouncing off the roof of the circus tent! The ringmaster promises Tom he will lose his job if he falls asleep on the job. So, it's up to co-roustabout Jerry to wake him up. When applying loud alarm clock headsets to his ears, filling him up with piping hot coffee until it comes out of his ears, and jacking him up and tickling him with his party streamer all bomb out, Jerry decides the best he can do is make his sleepy pal seem awake with a pair of eyeglasses painted white. First Jerry ties strings to Tom's arms and legs and manipulates him in the manner of a marionette, making him appear to dust the carnie wagons. When the ringmaster arrives and orders him to sweep the ring, Jerry puts him on roller skates with a broom in his paws and pushes him to the center ring to help him do his job...and loses control of him! The somnolent Tom unwittingly goes on to delight the crowd and the ringmaster with his stunts. The show is an instant success, and the ringmaster then presents Tom (still asleep!) with a contract stipulating he repeat his "act" every night, and he "signs" it...courtesy of Jerry, who manipulates his paw with a pen tied to his finger.
Characters[]
Main Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
- Circus Performers
- Milkman
- Circus Seals
- Elephants
Trivia[]
- "Stay Awake Or Else..." was the first New Tom & Jerry cartoon to be produced, as well as the first Tom & Jerry cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera in 17 years.
- The basis for this cartoon was Sleepy-Time Tom (1951), except that unlike Sleepy-Time Tom where Jerry foils Tom's attempts to stay awake, here Jerry helps Tom to keep him awake which is the exact opposite action from the one he did in the previous cartoon.
- The circus seal and elephants which appear during Tom's sleepskating act reference those in Little Runaway (1952) and Jerry and Jumbo (1953), respectively.
- The scenes in this episode of Tom streaking through the air and continuously bouncing off the roof of the circus tent and bouncing off a trampoline can be seen in the show's syndicated opening credit sequence. The opening credits also boast a scene of Jerry stopping in front of fast-asleep Tom and opens his left eye to read a "Do Not Disturb" sign, also from "Stay Awake Or Else...". (The only difference is that Tom roller skates up a teeter-totter in the cartoon, whereas in the opening titles, he merely runs up one.)
- A deleted scene finds Tom gliding out of the tent and down the freeway with a policeman in pursuit, then back to the circus, where he inadvertently performs a series of tricks. The cartoon originally ended with the same policeman arriving with a speeding ticket and T&J skate out of the circus as fast as they can!
- The scene of Jerry manipulating Tom with strings making him appear to dust the carnie wagons was incorporated into the original New Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show main titles.
Gallery[]
