Jerry and the Goldfish is a 1951 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 56th Tom and Jerry short, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle.
Characters[]
- Jerry Mouse
- Goldie
- Tom Cat (main antagonist)
Plot[]
Jerry approaches the house's pet goldfish named Goldie who is asleep and feeds her a biscuit. The two of them became immediately became friends. Meanwhile, Tom is listening to a French cookery show, which is explaining a fish soup recipe (probably bouillabaisse); the chef is voiced by Daws Butler. The most important thing, as described by Chef Françoise, is "one, small, fresh, FISH." Tom's mouth waters, and then he remembers where he can get one small fresh fish: the fishbowl. Tom slithers like a snake towards the fishbowl, takes the table with him and dumps Goldie bowl onto the stove. He turns it on and chops up some of the directed vegetables: carrots and scallions. He tastes the water, then salts the fish (when it was caught in his ladle) and puts it back in the bowl.
Jerry is strolling into the kitchen and is aghast when he sees Tom trying to cook his friend. Jerry opens the oven door and Tom falls into the oven. Jerry swipes Goldie's bowl and scrams. Tom hangs back and takes it off Jerry's hands as he runs past. Jerry sees he no longer has the bowl and trips up Tom with a baseball bat, then catches the goldfish and some water in a water glass. Jerry runs to his hole and stands aside as Tom slams into the wall, knocking himself out. Seeing this as an opportunity, Jerry runs through Tom's ears into the hole with Goldie. Waking up, Tom prepares another trap for the goldfish. Jerry spots the fishbowl on the table and, once the coast is clear, moves the fish to within the bowl's jumping range. Goldie jumps for her bowl, but Tom is behind the curtain and catches the goldfish in a frying pan, the cat having abandoned the fish soup idea. Tom covers Goldie in flour and tosses her into his mouth after a brief sizzle. Jerry hits Tom in the face with the pan and pulls one of Tom's whiskers to open his mouth, allowing for Goldie to escape. She jumps into a cup of water and they both run away from Tom, who runs through a wardrobe and squeezes through Jerry's mouse hole in order to reach the fish. Jerry stops and holds out an iron, which stops Tom's charge. Tom seizes a pistol, shoots the cup and steals the fish. Jerry doesn't notice the broken cup until he is in his mouse hole.
Tom is now trying to roast Goldie alive over a fire. Jerry upends a clay pot onto Tom's head and whacks it with a fireplace poker, causing the pot to vibrate. Jerry steals the fish back, but Tom snaps the carpet and sends Goldie careening into the toaster. Tom prepares a fish sandwich, but Jerry sticks his tail in the clothes roller. Tom screams in pain and attempts to pull himself out by grabbing the toaster, but it doesn't keep him from being flattened. Tom then holds a saucepan just above Jerry's hole, such that when Jerry runs into the hole, Goldie is captured. Tom moves a cabinet in front of the hole (so that Jerry doesn't get out) and goes off to steam the fish.
Not wanting to see his friend cooked and eaten again, Jerry takes an alternative route that happens to lead to where Tom is attempting to cook the fish. Tom puts Goldie underneath his foot and chops up a potato while Jerry substitutes dynamite for a carrot and Tom's tail for the fish. Just as Tom shuts the saucepan, he suspects nothing until his tail starts turning red from the covered saucepan, which starts steaming and shaking. Realizing this, Tom screams in pain, before running outside to slam the door on his tail and bracing for the explosion. The explosion only causes the end of his tail to be ruined, much to his relief. However, unknown the cat, the explosion also caused him and the front porch of the house to be launched upwards. As Tom opens the door, he immediately realizes to his shock, that he is speeding away from Earth.
Right as Jerry and Goldie come to a conclusion, Jerry puts on a diving suit then and joins the goldfish in the fishbowl as they watch Tom getting blown into the vacuum of outer space. The two of them shake hands happily.
Notes[]
- A part of the music in this short was recycled by Scott Bradley for Happy Go Ducky.
- In a 1960s television airing, a television set is shown when Tom listens to the chief, who is on screen having a face reveal; this reanimated scene was deleted in future airings.
- The goldfish in this short/the Chuck Jones short may have been the inspiration for the goldfish character in the 2021 movie.