The Missing Mouse is a 1953 Tom and Jerry cartoon short, created in 1951. It is the only cartoon in the Hanna-Barbera era (1940-1958) that the music was not composed by Scott Bradley. Instead, Edward Plumb scored the music for this cartoon.
Plot
Tom is one day playing pranks as usual on Jerry when Jerry attempts to get food. When Jerry gets an orange Tom shuts the door on the orange and the juice then hits Jerry. Jerry attempts to run but Tom hits him with two grape pies and Jerry cannot see and is off-target of his mouse-hole and he hits the wall instead. Tom chuckles meanly and leaves to read a magazine. But when Jerry had hit the wall a polish bottle pours white polish on Jerry making him look like a white mouse.
Tom goes back to reading a magazine and listens to the radio until a breaking news story is announced:
Your attention please! We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this urgent warning. A white mouse has just escaped from the experimental laboratories! Before escaping, he consumed enough of a new secret explosive to blow up an entire city! If you see this white mouse, telephone officials at once! And whatever you do, remember! The slightest jar will explode this white mouse and destroy the entire city! Be careful! Please, be careful!
Jerry realizes Tom will confuse him to be the white mouse and goes towards Tom who shuts the windows. He eats some nuts nervously before seeing Jerry as the "white" mouse. He becomes frightened and he rapidly jumps and moves towards the phone and tries to call the police but Jerry distracts him and falls towards the floor which Tom saves him by putting a pillow for Jerry's landing.
Tom tries again to call the police but Jerry knocks down the piano lid and Tom saves Jerry once again by using his own head to stop the lid from falling on Jerry. Tom tries to call the police once again but Jerry falls from the counter and Tom blows his lungs out on Jerry and manages to rescue Jerry once again. Jerry then throws an iron towards Tom's head and Tom blows all his lungs and guts out before getting hit by the iron making his head be the shape of the iron. In retaliation Tom chases Jerry and begs him not to destroy everything but Jerry hits himself with a hammer and whacks Tom with it. Jerry then gets distracted by cookies and Tom gets a chance to take the hammer away but Jerry jumps up and down on the counter and then does not notice the sink full of water and falls in the sink. His disguise gets lost and Tom frowns angrily at Jerry and takes the hammer and hits Jerry with it making Jerry shaped like a nail and gleefully shows Jerry his disguise did not work. Jerry then gets kicked out of the house by Tom.
But meanwhile the real white mouse (a white mouse physically resembling Jerry but with blue eyes) comes into the house when Tom kicks Jerry out and eats some nuts. Tom hears the cracking of the nuts shells and thinks that Jerry is trying to fool him again and tries to hit the white mouse with a hammer and gleefully tries to wash the "Polish" off but is surprised to learn that it would not come off. He tries to wash the mouse with a washboard as whistling is heard and Tom turns to see a grinning Jerry nearby who waves. Tom realizes he is holding the real white mouse which shocks him and causing him to drastically age to 100. Tom gently puts the mouse down and goes to the phone. Before Tom can phone the police, the radio announcer comes back on the air with new developments:
Your attention please! We have just learned from laboratory officials that the explosive contained in the white mouse is no longer dangerous. And they have assured us the mouse will not explode.
Tom cheers up happily and smugly tries to throw the white mouse out of the house and Jerry made his escape but just when Tom's foot makes contact with the mouse, a large explosion happens and the city is reduced to rubble, creating a large crater. Nothing more is left of the entire neighborhood but rubble and the speaker of the radio which states: We repeat, the white mouse will not explode. Tom emerges from the crater half-dead and drones, "Don't you believe it!" and the cartoon closes.
Trivia
- This is another time that Tom has droned, "Don't you believe it…" (before the cartoon fades). The first time is in Mouse Trouble.
- This is one of the cartoons where Tom saves Jerry's life. He also saves the mouse in Dog Trouble, Snowbody Loves Me, The Truce Hurts and The Night Before Christmas.
- This is one of the cartoons where Scott Bradley is replaced by another composer, Edward Plumb, and the only Hanna-Barbera era Tom and Jerry cartoon to do so.
- It is unknown if Jerry survived the explosion, as he is not seen again for the rest of the cartoon after the explosion occurs.
External Links
The Missing Mouse at SuperCartoons.net
The Missing Mouse at B99.TV