Blue Cat Blues

Not to be confused with Kitty Cat Blues.

Blue Cat Blues
Title Card
Directed By	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Story By	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Music By	Scott Bradley
Animation By	Ed Barge Irven Spence Lewis Marshall Kenneth Muse
Backgrounds By	Robert Gentle
Layouts By	Richard "Dick" Bickenbach
Release Date	November 17, 1956
Color Process	Technicolor/CinemaScope
Preceded By	Down Beat Bear
Followed By	Barbecue Brawl

Blue Cat Blues is the 103rd one-reel animated Tom and Jerry short.

Characters

• Tom Cat
• Jerry Mouse
• Butch Cat
• Gal Cat
• Toots Mouse
• Unnamed male grey mouse

Plot

A depressed Tom sits on the railroad tracks, apparently bent on suicide-by-train. Watching from a bridge crossing the tracks overhead, Jerry laments his old friend's current state. Jerry knows that, when he gets home, his other friends will ask him why he didn't even try to stop Tom. Jerry believes that "it's better this way", saying that "and for the first time since he met her, he will be happy". Jerry recalls the events leading up to Tom's current state:

Tom and Jerry were once near-inseparable best friends, but then one day, Tom fell head-over-heels in love with a beautiful white female cat, who, in the beginning at least, seemed to reciprocate Tom's feelings for her. However, the white cat ultimately proved herself to be nothing more than some opportunistic gold-digger, as she wound up leaving Tom for her next-door neighbor: a super-rich black tomcat named Butch.

Having seen the white cat for what she was and how she'd made a fool of his best friend, Jerry vainly urged Tom to give up and let her and Butch have each other. Ignoring Jerry's warnings, Tom pushed himself and his finances to the limit and beyond, in futile attempts at winning back the white cat's affections—however, because of his vast wealth, Butch was able to get the white cat much larger and more extravagant versions of the gifts that Tom would get for her.

1. The first gift Tom presented to the white cat was a single purple flower—but after arriving at her house, Tom discovered that Butch had already given her a large (as in "as big as her") pink-and-red floral wreath with "Love From Butch" written on it in yellow.
2. After the flowers, Tom's next gift to the white cat was a single (and small) bottle of perfume, but then an enormous tanker truck full of perfume (spelled "Parfum") drives up to her house (with a "Love From Butch" note attached to it).
3. Tom's third gift to the white cat (after squandering his savings) was a diamond ring from a jeweler. However, the diamond on Tom's ring was so small that the white cat had to use a magnifying glass just to get a good look at it. Plus, after presenting the ring, the white cat revealed to Tom that Butch had already given her a diamond ring of his own—however, the diamond on Butch's ring was so big and shiny that you couldn't even look at it without eye protection (Tom and the white cat had to wear welding masks just to look at her ring).
4. Tom's final gift for her was a car—one that he literally sold himself slavery for (twenty years of it to be precise), just so that he could cover 312-month (or 26-year) worth of payments at an annual interest rate of 112% (and he literally sells an arm and a leg for it). However, Tom's car was an outdated jalopy that got completely flattened by Butch's much longer, more luxurious coupe when he drives up the white cat's house to pick her up.

Ultimately, the white cat chose Butch over Tom, once again proving herself to truly be nothing more than an opportunistic gold-digger; this caused the desperate, broken-hearted, and hopelessly in-debt Tom to go downhill fast and start drowning his sorrows in milk/alcohol (despite Jerry's pleas for him to stop). Tom almost let himself go down the gutter (literally), but Jerry managed to rescue him. While resuscitating Tom, the duo saw Butch and the white cat driving by, but now Butch's car was laden with luggage and had a "Just Married" sign hanging off the back of it.

And now the plot goes back to where the short originally started: Jerry, though still sad for Tom, expresses happiness about how his own girlfriend is a female white mouse, has remained faithful to him. However, Jerry's idyllic world is suddenly shattered when he sees the white mouse driving by with a male grey mouse with a "Just Married" sign hanging off the car, proving herself to be no better than the white cat.

Now just as dejected as Tom, a heartbroken Jerry, thought by some as bearing the consequences of his antics in the past, comes to Tom on the railroad tracks. Tom scoots over and Jerry sits next to him. The duo waits for the oncoming train, which draws nearer and nearer. The train's whistle sounds louder as the cartoon fades out, leaving their fates uncertain.

Transcript

Main article: Blue Cat Blues/Transcript

Notes

• This was the last MGM cartoon to have its recording credited to Western Electric Sound System prior to its re-branding as Westrex Recording System.
• Because of the dark nature of the short and the depressing ending, many fans online mistakenly believe that this is the final Tom and Jerry short.
• Jerry resuscitating Tom happened the first time in The Cat and the Mermouse.

Availability

Tom and Jerry: Festival of Fun (VHS)

Tom and Jerry: Blue Cat Blues (VHS)

The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume II (LaserDisc)

Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 4 (DVD)

Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 1 (DVD)

Tom & Jerry's Greatest Chases Vol. 3 (DVD)

Tom and Jerry: No Mice Allowed! (DVD)

The Fastest Gun Alive (Blu-ray)

Streaming

Tom and Jerry, Vol. 1 (iTunes) (4:3 pan-scan format)

Censorship and Bans

This short rarely, if ever, airs on American television (specifically Cartoon Network and Boomerang) because of the references to alcoholism, depression, and the infamous ending implying that both Tom and Jerry were going to kill themselves by sitting on active train tracks. Despite this, "Blue Cat Blues" has aired on TBS and TNT in the 1990s, and on MeTV/MeTV Toons in recent years, as well as on some local TV stations that had classic cartoon compilations as part of their weekday afternoon programming. The short is also currently available on DVD and for digital download on iTunes.

Gallery

Tom is depressed

Butch Cat and a White Cat

Toots and an unnamed grey mouse

Tom and Jerry waiting for the train in despair. This is also where the meme comes from.