Life with Tom

Life with Tom
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices by	Paul Frees
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Kenneth Muse Irven SpenceEd Barge
Backgrounds by	Robert Gentle
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	November 21, 1953
Color process	Technicolor

Life with Tom is the 79th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1953 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ed Barge with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released to theatres on November 21, 1953 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot

Tom furiously reads through some of the embarrassing incidents detailed in Life with Tom.

Tom has a change of heart about the autobiography after all.

A mailman delivers two packages and whistles out loud. Tom approaches to see that nothing is in his mailbox. He spots a package in Jerry's mailbox though, which appears to be a book, and tears it to reveal the title "Life with Tom." He hides in the bush as Jerry walks towards his mailbox and retrieves a letter. Tom then hears a radio program which announces the publication of a new book by Jerry Mouse. Tom opens the book and flips the page to "Dedicated to Tom.... Without whom, I could do very well." Tom moves on to a page detailing the day where he and Jerry went fishing.

Flashback to 1946's Cat Fishin' where Tom uses Jerry as bait. However, Jerry ties Tom's fishing line to Spike, leading to Tom reeling Spike in and bashing him on the head. Spike gives chase. Back to the present day, where the book reads: "To this day, Tom still thinks he caught a new species of dog fish." This makes Tom furious and he overhears his alley cats friends laughing. He skims to the page to the part where Jerry and Nibbles are dressed as Pilgrims. Flashback to 1948's The Little Orphanwhere Jerry and Nibbles are walking along the dinner table. Tom approaches, dressed as an Native American. Tom prevents Nibbles from walking, until Jerry pops a champagne cork in his face. As Jerry and Nibbles flee, Jerry runs into a knife thrown by Tom, and is dazed. Tom grabs Jerry, but Nibbles catapults a pie into Tom's face, knocking the cat off the table. Nibbles catapults a candle into Tom's tail, burning the cat, such that he appears in blackface. Finally, Nibbles unleashes a champagne bottle like a missile, which hits Tom and shoots him into a cabinet. Tom surrenders, waving the white flag. Tom has a change of heart about the autobiography after all.Back to the present day, Tom hears Spike and Tyke laughing. He extends his neck out to see what page the dogs are reading and moves to the page where Jerry reveals that while Man's best friend is a dog, Jerry's best friend is a canary. Flashback to 1948's Kitty Foiled where the canary is shocked to witness Tom and Jerry's violent exploits. He sees Tom tying Jerry to a toy railway track. Tom hops aboard a toy train, advancing towards Jerry. The concerned canary drops a bowling ball from a bag, just before Tom hits Jerry with the toy train that he is riding. The bowling ball forms a deep hole through the railroad and the ground, in which the train plunges with Tom still aboard.

Back again to the present day. With everyone laughing at his expense, Tom is so furious to discover he is a laughing stock, his face becomes a bright shade of red. He marches over to Jerry's hole, tearing off the facade and smashing the book over Jerry. Jerry then shows Tom the letter that he had received that morning. The letter states "Dear Jerry, enclosed find royalty checks for $50,000. In accordance with your instructions, half of this is for your friend Tom." Tom finds a check for $25,000...addressed to him! A flattered Tom has a change of heart about the autobiography and now begins to see the funny side of it all.

Censorship

On recent television broadcasts, the blackface gag that occurs after a lit candle lands on Tom's tail is removed. In the Life with Tom version of this scene, the burning of his tail was left intact, but then the scene cuts to the champagne bottle being launched by Nibbles before Tom can be seen in blackface.

• See The Little Orphan for information on cut scenes similar to Life with Tom.