- Not to be confused with Jerry's Country Cousin, an episode from The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.
Jerry's Cousin is a 1951 Tom and Jerry cartoon, and the 57th overall.
Characters[]
Main[]
- Jerry Mouse
- Muscles Mouse (debut)
- Tom Cat (main antagonist)
- Muscle Cats (debut)
Minor[]
- Butch Cat (cameo)
- Lightning Cat (cameo)
- Unnamed brown cat (cameo)
- Unnamed grey cat (cameo)
- Unnamed tan cat (cameo)
- Unnamed black cat (cameo)
- Unnamed yellow cat (cameo)
- Other cats
Plot[]
Inside Hogan's Alley, cats are seen being flung and beaten to a pulp by a lone mouse, Muscles. Before finishing off one of his feline victims, Muscles hear the mail arriving in his mailbox. He retrieves his mail, which reveals a letter from his cousin Jerry, begging for help in dealing with Tom.
Accepting Jerry's plea for help, Muscles quickly packs his bag and storms off, causing the other cats in the alley to cower in fear as he approaches. Butch even attempts to hide by digging his own grave before burying himself.
At Tom and Jerry's house, the mouse is being mercilessly terrorized by Tom, who repeatedly throws sticks of firecrackers into Jerry's mousehole. Muscles suddenly arrives in a nick of time, and picks up a live dynamite before returning it back to Tom to let it explode inside the cat's mouth. Angered by Muscle's actions, the cat pick up the mouse in attempt to threaten him. However Muscles easily let's go of the cat's grip and grabs him by the fur of his neck, warning the cat on terrorizing Jerry "Listen Pussycat! Don't let me catch you picking on my little cousin while I'm around, you understand? Now beat it!", before hurling him into a vase on the other end of the room. Muscles adds insult to Tom's injury by spitting on the vase, revealing that the cat has conformed into the vase's shape.
Later, Tom tries weight training to get even on Muscles. After some training and building up enough muscles, he approaches the kitchen where the two mice were enjoying crackers as snacks. Jerry flees in terror the moment he sees Tom. As Muscles was about to get a bite from his snack, Tom approaches and slams the tough mouse with his fist. Muscles, quickly recovering from Tom's blow, retaliates by inflating his own fist to a massive size, before landing a much more powerful punch back at the cat. Tom is flung back to the far end of the living room, before crashing into a cuckoo clock, with the cuckoo coming out of his mouth.
Tom's next plan against Muscles is to take him out by surprise. Sawing off a floorboard of the attic, he catches the two mice from up above, resting on his own bed basket, with Muscles calmly relaxing while Jerry cautiously looking around the room. Tom then drops a bowling ball right on top of Muscles. Just as Muscles assures to Jerry that everything is okay "Relax cousin! Nothing's gonna happen." BOOM!!! The bowling ball crashes down on him to the basement, scaring Jerry in the process. Confident that his plan works, Tom quickly rushes back down to capture Jerry. Muscles, however, immediately emerges from the basement to send the bowling ball back to Tom, turning the cat into 10 bowling pins. Muscles, not wanting to waste time any more with Tom, immediately charges at the cat. Tom, terrified, immediately recovers, and attempts to flee through the halls, with the tough mouse in pursuit. Muscles is then greeted by a double-barreled shotgun pointed right at him from Tom. Muscles responds by blowing the barrels with his mouth, which causes two shells to be lodged into Tom's eyes. BOOM!!! Muscles hammered Tom's face, firing the shot pellets, impairing the cat's vision.
Tom, now wearing sunglasses, realizes that Muscles is too strong to take out himself. Thus, he quietly dials Dirty Work Inc., consisting of a trio of thug cats to finish Muscles off. The Dirty Work Inc. accepts Tom's request and makes their way to the house.
As the Dirty Work Inc. arrive, Tom points them to where Muscles was. The thugs immediately ambush Muscles, causing the mouse to be flung back at the front door where Tom was standing. Muscles, however, quickly recovers, and retaliates with a much harder, louder beating, even causing furnitures to be thrown out of the house. As Tom wonders what the outcome from that beating was, he notices, to his horror, that a fully intact Muscles was on his way to the kitchen to pick up a broom and dustpan. As Tom cowers into the corner, he sees Muscles carrying the battered, unconscious Dirty Work Inc. with a dustpan, disposing them outside the front door. Muscles then faces towards Tom, whistling at him. The cat, now thoroughly intimidated, accepts defeat at his adversary, and begins to grovel at Muscles' feet.
Before Muscles returns home, he gives Jerry an outfit which is identical to his, with him reminding him to whistle. Jerry gets himself dressed and toughen himself up to look more like Muscles. While Jerry steps out of his mousehole and whistles, Tom believes that Jerry is Muscles, rushes there to bow to him and kisses his feet, much to the mouse's delight.
Notes[]
- This is the fifth Tom and Jerry short to be nominated.
- This was the last short to have Tom and Jerry in their 1940s style.
- The opening theme music for this cartoon would later be reused in most cartoons of the Gene Deitch era; therefore, this version is associated with the Gene Deitch era. The opening theme music for His Mouse Friday and Slicked-up Pup were similar to this.
- This cartoon marks the first appearance of Muscles Mouse, and his only appearance in the "classic" era. A similar-looking character to Muscles named Freddie appears in the direct-to-video film Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (2001). Unlike Muscles, who cares deeply of Jerry despite his tough-guy demeanor, Freddie, on the other hand, is a mean tough-guy bully whom is hostile towards Jerry and Nibbles. Muscles would later reappear as a recurring character in the 2014 series The Tom and Jerry Show, beginning with the third season episode Frown and Country.
- During Tom's workout, the tune plays "The Irish Washerwoman" while ending tune plays as "Hail to the Chief".
- Tom making a call with glasses on and the hired thugs became internet memes.
- Like most of the reissues at the time of this cartoon's re-release, Irven Spence is credited as Irvin Spence in the opening credits; he was also credited as Irv Spence in other credits.
- Muscles' threat to Tom in the beginning about leaving Jerry alone is very similar to the one from Love That Pup, where Spike threatens to pulverize Tom if he catches him messing with Tyke, followed by telling Tom to get lost.
- Muscles beating up Tom knowing he's harming Jerry is similar to the ending scene of The Milky Waif with Jerry beating up Tom for hitting Nibbles Mouse with a flyswatter.
Errors[]
- When Tom grabs the bowling ball, it disappears only to reappear.