Down and Outing is a 1961 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder with sound effects by Tod Dockstader. It is the second of the thirteen cartoons made in the Czech Republic, which was known at the time as Czechoslovakia.
Plot[]
Tom wakes up one morning to go fishing (put his swimming trunks and grab a fishing rod) and accompanies his owner, who has severe anger management issues, on a fishing trip. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to humiliate Tom, Jerry also put his small swimming trunks (the same kind as Tom's), gathers some fishing supplies and tags along. While the owner is loading the car with supplies, Tom is resting in the back of the car, when suddenly, Jerry throws a spare fishing pole at his head. He then grabs a fence out of the garden and uses it to climb into the car, but is met by Tom, who responds by catapulting him out of the vehicle using its back door. The car then starts up, but Jerry manages to regain cover and board the vehicle before it leaves.
Meanwhile, Tom is keeping watch outside of the back door, and Jerry sneaks behind him and kicks him out of the car. Tom scratches his head on the pavement, and he crashes his neck into the trunk and as the car goes, Tom’s neck is in the shape of a the trunk, but manages to reshape it and make it back to the vehicle. He sees Jerry, and tries to grab him, before finally resorting to smacking him with a pan. However, he accidentally hits his owner, who responds by smacking him with the pan multiple times. This lands him in trouble with traffic, provoking the guy to yell in road rage, "THE SAME TO YOU, MAN!", allowing Tom and Jerry's fight to resume. Jerry runs under the front seat, prompting Tom to search for him with his hand. During this time, he jumps onto the gas pedal, causing the car to rapidly increase its speed. The owner then notices his hand searching under the seat, and, believing it to be the cause, steps on it, as Tom screams maniacally in pain with a loud, “YOWWWW!! Eeeeeee,” and struggles to remove causing his hand to swell and turn red. Jerry then beings taunting Tom with a first aid kit, who tries to smack him but misses, crying in pain and hurting his hand even more. He then chases Jerry outside, all the way to the front hood of the car. Tom's owner notices him, and responds by slamming the brakes on, causing Tom to fall off the car and scrape his fanny on the pavement. Tom then runs off to a nearby pond to cool off, evaporating all the water in the process. He then returns to the road and searches for the owner, who appears and grabs him by the neck, then tightens the seatbelt on him until he chokes. As punishment, Tom is placed in the front seat for the remainder of the trip, though Tom manages to squeeze himself back into the back of the car.
Before arriving, Jerry disguises one of the owner's shoes as a mouse by drawing a face on it and placing brown flaps on its top. Once Tom and his owner arrive at the lake, they are ready to fish. Tom exits through the back and to the front of the car. He then keeps guard as Clobber leaves the car. During this time, Tom notices the owner's shoe, and (believing it to be Jerry) smacks it with an oar. This causes the owner to jump up in pain, hitting his head against the roof of the car. He tries to pull himself out, prompting Tom to flee. However, the owner manages to make it out of the roof and catches Tom by his swimming trunks with a fishing line, and starts beating him up off-screen. As punishment, the owner makes him carry all the gear to the boat.
On the boat, Tom sees Jerry in the basket and uses a pump to throw him out. Angry, Jerry swims back to the boat. Tom and his owner are fishing in peace. Jerry attaches a fishing line on the owner's foot while he and Tom were fishing. Tom thinks he has caught a bite as he hears a big splash. Tom does not know what it is until he reels in Clint Clobber, and finds out what made that big splash. Tom kindly dried off his owner, who was upside down and tried to tell him that he didn’t mean to do it, but the man is so angry and so furious and that he thrashes Tom and beat him up off-screen as Jerry watches in horror.
After a heavy off-screen thrashing, Jerry and the owner are now fishing together, throwing their catches into Tom's face who is tied up in the catch basket, where the cat sobs at his predicament as the cartoon ends.
Notes[]
- The title is a play on the term "down and out".
- This cartoon marks the first appearance of Tom's new owner for the era (a character whose design is rather close to that of Clint Cobbler, another character created by Deitch during his time at TerryToons, albeit more round and less sharp), who would make two more appearances after this: High Steaks and Sorry Safari, before being phased out.
- When Tom's owner first appears, he is shown from the waist down, similar to the way Tom's previous owners were usually depicted.
- In this short, Tom, Jerry, and the owner all wear the same type of swimming trunks (red with white spots), in their respective sizes.
- This is the only short in which Tom attempts to run away from his owner; normally he is too scared to move.
- Like the previous cartoon, the 1960's MGM logo plays first, and then the "A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoon" title card appears separately from the MGM logo, with the Tom and Jerry theme music (archive recording by Scott Bradley) playing without the MGM lion roaring sound effect over it. This is the only cartoon to ever feature the Tom and Jerry theme music by Scott Bradley (without the MGM lion roaring sound effect over it) in its entirety, as Switchin' Kitten cut off the theme abruptly for some reason.
- This cartoon, and the next one It's Greek to Me-ow!, are the only two Gene Deitch-era Tom and Jerry cartoons copyrighted to Loews Inc. instead of MGM.
- This is the 116th short overall.
- This short has seldom aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang due to inhumanely insensitive subject matter, and references to animal cruelty.
- It was shown in theaters with the American release of Bridge to the Sun.
Availability[]
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Streaming[]
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Gallery[]
Main article: Down and Outing/Gallery