Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse
Tom and Jerry series

Original title card (Black and White)
Directed by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Produced by Fred Quimby
Story by William Hanna (unc.)
Joseph Barbera (unc.)
Music by Scott Bradley
Animation by Ed Barge
Michael Lah
Kenneth Muse
Additional animation:
Ray Patterson (unc.)
Pete Burness (unc.)
Effects animation:
Al Grandmain
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (original)
Warner Bros. Entertainment (distribution rights)
Turner Entertainment (April 11, 2016)
Release date(s)
  • June 14, 1947 (1947-06-14)
Color process Technicolor
Running time 7:25
Language English
Preceded by The Cat Concerto
Followed by Salt Water Tabby

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse is a 1947 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 30th Tom and Jerry short. The cartoon was released on 14 June 1947, and was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby and animated by Ed Barge, Michael Lah and Kenneth Muse with additional animation by Ray Patterson and Pete Burness (both uncredited) and effects animation by Al Grandmain. The episode is a parody of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons in 1947, but lost to Warner Bros. Tweetie Pie, ending their streak of 4 consecutive wins (only to gain another 3 non-consecutive Oscars in the future).

Plot

A milkman comes and keeps two milk bottles near a basement window . Through the basement window, Tom reaches for one of the bottles (the smaller one) and then snatches it, rushing into the living room to pour it in his bowl and drink it but Jerry also wants Tom's milk. Tom makes various attempts to catch Jerry but when they all fail, the cat dreams up a murderous plot to rid himself of his annoyance.

The next scene shows Tom mixing chemicals such as moth balls, acid, ammonia and poison into his milk. When Tom stirs the deadly elixir with a spoon, the chemicals cause the spoon to dissolve. After seeing a fly taking a little sip from the bowl before crying in pain and then dropping dead, Tom becomes amazed about the effect, then the milk rises up for sometime and he carefully carries the bowl and places it outside Jerry's hole, but doing so, the milk erupted highly a bit more, but Tom doesn't worry about it. Confident that his potion would work against Jerry, he gleefully waits for Jerry to fall for his new trick.

Seeing the bowl of milk once again, the mouse takes a couple licks, causing him to yell in pain and collapse "dead". Just before Tom can celebrate over the "dead" mouse, the full effects of the potion take place. Jerry stiffens angularly, and then rattles and pops around. When the effects stop, he has become incredibly muscular, and starts advancing on a nervous Tom. Tom tries to smash the mouse with a phone book but fails to even faze him, Jerry easily tears the book apart, and hitting him with the poker only leaves several mouse-shaped dents in it due to his muscles. Tom panics, shuts the door to the living room and tries to hold it shut, but Jerry knocks it down, right off its hinges (leaving a cutout shaped like Tom in it) and continues advancing. Now really scared, Tom seals himself inside a safe but Jerry's fist easily drills through the door and pulls him out. Jerry's seemingly infinite strength allows him to smack Tom against the safe, but the potion's effects wear off and Jerry returns to his normal size.

After realizing he can no longer pull the cat around, he dives away from the cat and into the milk bowl where he takes a huge gulp. Tom grabs the mouse out of the bowl as he screams, Jerry becomes muscular again. He now grabs Tom and hurls him by his whiskers before the potion very quickly wears off. As Jerry realizes that attacking Tom brings Jerry back to normal size, he simply ties Tom's whiskers and tries to drink more potion. The feline upends the bowl with his foot before the mouse can drink enough, and the chase continues across the kitchen. As Tom looks for the mouse, Jerry puts his tail on a waffle iron and shuts it. Tom screams in pain and glares at his waffle-shaped tail as Jerry runs for the fridge. When Tom looks inside, Jerry (hiding in the door) boots him in and seals the door.

With Tom temporarily detained inside the kitchen fridge, Jerry hurriedly attempts to make lots and lots more of the concoction himself to make him even huger, albeit with an inaccurate formula. But before Jerry has a chance to drink it, Tom escapes from the fridge and steals the milk from Jerry. The mouse tries to run away, but Tom stomps on his tail and forces his enemy to watch as he drinks the entire concoction. The cat grins evilly at Jerry. Tom begins to grow bigger and bigger. At first, it appears Jerry's done for, but an explosion erupts from Tom and he shrinks to a smaller size than Jerry.

Jerry snatches his tail from Tom's heels, grabs Tom's tail and punches Tom in the face. This triggers the cat to shrink further, then Jerry snaps Tom's tail. Tom this time shrinks down to size of a cell orant, and so Jerry starts to chase ant-sized Tom with a flyswatter until the position wears off.

Goofs

. Shortly after Jerry becomes muscular, Tom uses a book to hit Jerry. When the book is still on the shelf, it is yellow, but when Tom grabs it, it turns green.

. Jerry's muscles change size and shape consistently.

Trivia

. This is one of only five cartoons where Jerry beats up Tom. The others are Mouse Trouble, Jerry and The Lion, The Milky Waif, and Matinee Mouse.

. This is the last cartoon where Tom's claws are always shown.

Production

Censorship

On Boomerang, The scene where Jerry shoves Tom in the fridge and leaves him frozen is eliminated.

Availability

DVD

External links

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