Flirty Birdy is a 1945 American one-reel animated cartoon and the 21th Tom and Jerry short.
Plot[]
Tom is laying down a trail of cheese for Jerry. Tom traps Jerry in two slices of bread into a sandwich. Before Tom can eat his sandwich, an eagle swoops down and steals the sandwich from Tom's hands. Tom breaks his teeth. The eagle tries to eat the sandwich for himself, but Tom steals the sandwich back, replacing it with the plate that he used for his sandwich. The eagle breaks the plate. They fight over the sandwich and almost tear Jerry in half. The eagle then hits Tom with his beak and knocks him off the tree. Tom then throws a brick at the eagle, but it gets thrown back, hitting Tom. Tom then makes a face and yodels at the eagle. The eagle grabs Tom and asks him, "Going down?" and throws him back down to the ground. Tom lands near a clothesline with a skirt, some feathers, and some clothespins. This gives Tom an idea.
An animation production drawing.
The eagle goes back to eat his Jerry sandwich. But before he can do so, Jerry slips away, puts mustard on himself, and gets back in between the slices of bread. As the eagle attempts to eat the sandwich again, Jerry opens the eagle's mouth and kicks away the bread. The eagle then closes his mouth on Jerry, who proceeds to escape through the eagle's nostrils and kick him in the eye. The eagle grabs Jerry and a whistle is heard from Tom, who is wearing lipstick and a party horn on his face (accompanied by Scott Bradley's "hot" rendition of St. Louis Blues), beckoning the eagle from behind the house's chimney. In addition to the lipstick and party horn, Tom has taken a skirt and stuck feathers onto himself, giving himself the rather unconvincing appearance of a female bird. The eagle, unaware of Tom's disguise, becomes lovestruck and tries to kiss him. Jerry, not fooled by Tom's persona, uses the distraction to untie Tom’s dress, but Tom fastens it. The eagle tries to kiss Tom, again, and Jerry grabs the elastic band of the horn and it brings them together for a kiss. The eagle goes wild and he ends up dropping Jerry. Tom then puts Jerry down his dress. Jerry grabs a pin and sticks it in Tom's rear causing Tom to yowl and jump into the eagle's arms. Tom then runs away with the lovestruck eagle behind him. The eagle tries to kiss Tom but he ends up denting a stovepipe and pecking the bricks out of the chimney. Tom then gives a flirtatious smile and struts away. This really makes the eagle wild and with Tom hiding around the chimney with a brick in his hand, Tom hits the eagle with the eagle responding "She loves me!". But the eagle is still head over heels in love. Tom makes another quick escape by jumping off the roof of the house. The eagle saves him from hitting the ground and continues to try to kiss him. Tom tries to hide and escape in various means, but the lovesick eagle somehow keeps finding him, and Tom keeps losing Jerry in the process.
Tom is later standing behind a makeshift kissing booth that advertises, "Kisses - One Mouse Each!". The eagle goes to the kissing booth, hands over Jerry and puckers up. Tom grabs Jerry and then "smooches" the eagle with a plunger, simulating a giant kiss. But Jerry escapes again. Tom then runs into the eagle who holds out his hands. Tom picks one and the eagle produces a ring box with Jerry sitting in it. Jerry’s tail has been tied in a loop and the eagle places Jerry on Tom’s finger as a marriage proposal. Tom "accepts", then slams the window shutter into the eagle’s face and try’s to escape and runs away, but he stupidly crashes into the other window shutter which was also open, knocking himself out as well and crumpling into a heap next to the equally dizzy and unconscious eagle, both wearing a dim and dizzy face with glazed crossed eyes and with their tongues sticking out. Jerry then grabs a rope and ties it around Tom’s foot. Tom, who has finally regains consciousness gets up and try's to flee once again. However, Jerry hands the other end of the rope to the eagle and the eagle drags Tom back to him, preventing Tom's escape. As Tom is being dragged to the eagle, Jerry hands Tom a bouquet of flowers and waves goodbye to the happy couple. Soon the eagle is sitting in a tree while Tom is sitting on a nest of eggs and knitting a tiny sweater, preparing for motherhood with no choice, but to endure a relationship with the eagle.
Censorship[]
- On Cartoon Network and Boomerang, the entire scene where the eagle tosses Tom into the laundry and Tom emerges looking like an Indian chief is cut.
- Some TV versions of this short are missing the eagle's two lines of dialogue "Going down?" (after the eagle catches Tom yodeling at him) and "She loves me!" (after getting hit on the head with a brick by Tom in drag), presumably due to an audio error. This audio error also occurs on the European Tom and Jerry Classic Collection DVD.
- Instead, they added clips where either Tom or Jerry blow the horn and that surprisingly arouses the eagle responding with a similar, but masculine cry.
- This error was corrected on the Spotlight Collection and the Golden Collection set.
Voice actors[]
- William Hanna as Tom, Eagle (yelling only)
- Frank Graham as Eagle
Notes[]
- It's possible that the eagle did have a wife once before meeting Tom. It's impossible for a male cat like Tom to lay a nest load of eggs. The eagle's previous wife must have died or left him and leaving him with the eggs that she laid.
- This was the first cartoon to air since the end of World War II.
- They remade this cartoon for Tom & Jerry Kids episode, Hawkeye Tom, except Tom didn't dressed up as a female bird this time in the remake.
- In the first poster for Flirty Birdy, Tom and the eagle’s fur and feather colors are switched.
- The title card is similar to Kitty Foiled.
Errors[]
- While Tom was disguised as a bird, his eyes are white with green instead of yellow with green.
- On the Spotlight Collection set, a part of the intro music is repeated.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Second 1945 Tom and Jerry In-Progress Animation, Production for Flirty Birdy (1944, 1945).jpg (18 KB)")
