Mammy Two Shoes

Mammy Two Shoes
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Biographical information
Also known as	Dinah (1940s Tom and Jerry comics) Cook (Tom and Jerry books)
Family	Tom Cat (pet)
Friends	Tom, Butch (formerly), Lightning (formerly)
Enemies	Jerry, Tom (formerly), Butch, Lightning, Topsy, Spike

Mammy Two Shoes (also known as Mammy, Mammy Two-Shoes, or Dinah in the 1940s Tom and Jerry comics) is a recurring disappeared in 19 of MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons. She is a heavy-set, middle-aged African-American woman who often has to deal with the mayhem generated by the lead characters, but whether she is the owner of the home or merely the house-keeper is never really made clear. She is based on the "Mammy" archetype that was prevalent throughout the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th century.

As a partially-seen character, she was famous for never showing her head and face (although it is briefly visible in Part Time Pal, A Mouse in the House, Mouse Cleaning, and Saturday Evening Puss). Mammy's appearances have often been edited out, dubbed, or re-animated as a slim white woman in television broadcasts, since her character is a mammy archetype now often regarded as racist.

Appearance

With dark brown skin (later changed to an ivory-colored skin tone) she is distinguished by her usual, sleeveless dress with frills in the shoulders, a white apron with frills in the trim, old, yellow socks (often seen with some kind of suspender holding it up), and red slippers. The color of her attire often changes, but the pieces remain virtually the same. These colors are yellow, orange, green, blue, and red. She is usually seen holding a broom. She also wears a red polka dot bandana on her head.

She is of mid-stature with dark skin, slightly rotund with a large bust and thick hands.

Theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoons

Mammy Two Shoes, in a scene from Saturday Evening Puss, whose full face is shown for the first and only time.

Mammy first appeared in Puss Gets the Boot, the first Tom and Jerry cartoon (except Tom was called "Jasper"). She always referred to Tom as his given name Thomas and almost always used "is" in conjunction with a pronoun ("is you" and "I is"). The character went on to make many appearances through 1952's Push-Button Kitty. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera initially portrayed Mammy as the maid of the house, with the real owners unknown to the viewers. Later, Hanna and Barbera seemed to suggest, through dialogue and occasional behavior, that the house was Mammy's own.

Censorship, discontinuation, and callbacks

Mammy Two Shoes attacking Tom.

Director Gene Deitch stated that the "retiring" of Mammy's character was one of the changes that he felt he needed to make for the 13 shorts produced by Rembrandt Films.

MGM Animation/Visual Arts, under the supervision of Chuck Jones, created replacement characters for Mammy in the Tom and Jerry cartoons featuring her for television. These versions used rotoscoping techniques to replace Mammy on-screen with either a stocky white woman (in most shorts) or a thin white woman (in Saturday Evening Puss); Randolph's voice on the soundtracks was replaced by an Irish-accented (or generic young adult in Puss) voice performed by June Foray.

Three years after Turner Entertainment acquired Tom & Jerry from MGM, the cartoons featuring Mammy were re-recorded to remove Mammy Two Shoes' use of potentially offensive dialect. Lillian Randolph's voice was dubbed over by Thea Vidale. The re-recorded versions of the cartoons would air on Turner's Cartoon Network-related cable channels, and have at times turned up on DVD. However, some European TV showings of these cartoons, especially the UK, as well as the US DVD release of Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, and Tom and Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Collection and the US DVD and Blu-ray releases of Tom and Jerry Golden Collection, retain Randolph's original voice. The Region 2 Complete Collectors Edition DVD boxset has Vidale's voice on the first DVD and Randolph in a number of the episodes after that (such as A Mouse in the House and Mouse Cleaning). As of 2011, most cartoons that featured Mammy-Two Shoes are rarely, if ever, aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. They are also unavailable on the Boomerang Streaming service. However, some cartoons such as The Lonesome Mouse and Mouse Cleaning were already rarely seen due to scenes that are already controversial. This even affects cartoons such as Puss N' Toots and The Mouse Comes to Dinner, in which Mammy-Two Shoes makes small, unimportant cameos. This hurts the latter more as the episode is already edited to remove her due to Jerry dressing up as an Indian.

A white woman named "Mrs. Two Shoes" appeared in some episodes of Tom and Jerry Tales. She had most aspects of Mammy Two Shoes' personality, a similar look, and a similar name.

Appearances

No.	Title	Released
1	Puss Gets the Boot	February 10, 1940
2	The Midnight Snack	July 19, 1941
4	Fraidy Cat	January 17, 1942
5	Dog Trouble	April 18, 1942
6	Puss N' Toots	May 30, 1942
10	The Lonesome Mouse	May 22, 1943
18	The Mouse Comes to Dinner	May 5, 1945
28	Part Time Pal	March 15, 1947
32	A Mouse in the House	August 30, 1947
36	Old Rockin' Chair Tom	September 18, 1948
38	Mouse Cleaning	December 11, 1948
39	Polka-Dot Puss	February 26, 1949
40	The Little Orphan	April 30, 1949
48	Saturday Evening Puss	January 14, 1950
53	The Framed Cat	October 21, 1950
58	Sleepy-Time Tom	May 26, 1951
61	Nit-Witty Kitty	October 6, 1951
67	Triplet Trouble	April 19, 1952
70	Push-Button Kitty	September 6, 1952

Major appearances

• The Lonesome Mouse - She's tricked by Tom's and Jerry's truce.
• Part Time Pal - She is tormented by a drunk Tom.
• Old Rockin' Chair Tom - Mammy's longest onscreen appearance. She takes a cat named Lightning.
• Sleepy-Time Tom - She keeps an eye on Tom if he's sleeping on the job.
• Push-Button Kitty - She orders a robocat called Mechano.

Gags

• Been constantly afraid of Jerry (or mice in general) and jumping to the nearest high spot such as a chair or the balcony.
• Pulling up the skirt, often pulling up, comically, many layers of skirts with distinct patterns.
• Easily losing her temper with Tom's shenanigans.

Gallery

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Thomas."

Mammy Two-Shoes' s face partially seen in Part Time Pal.

Mammy Two-Shoes' face briefly shown in Saturday Evening Puss.

A Silhouette of Mammy's head'

Another tom and jerry comic that reveals Mammy's face.

Mammy's full appearance featured in a comic book.

Trivia

• In Saturday Evening Puss, When Mammy Too Shoes dashes home to punish Tom and his friends for throwing a party, her face is briefly shown once. This is the only instance her face is ever seen.
• Although Mammy Two Shoes face was a mystery in the show, she fully appeared with her face in the comics and storybooks.
• In The Little Orphan, Mammy is seen bringing a turkey to the table. Because the character retired after the release of Push-Button Kitty, this part is deleted in Feedin' the Kiddie.