Much Ado About Mousing is a 1964 cartoon directed and produced by Chuck Jones with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard.
Plot[]
After showing the title cards, the camera zooms towards Tom fishing on a pier. Tom baits the line with cheese and casts it all the way out to a far-off ship and into Jerry's mouse hole. The cat gets a bite and gets pulled off the pier and onto a pillar, while the sleeping mouse nibbles at the cheese as he is reeled in. Tom catches the mouse in a fish net and plops him onto the pier, waking Jerry up with a start.
Once Jerry gets a sense of his surroundings, he realizes that Tom is holding his tail and he is about to be squashed by a hammer! The mouse substitutes the cat's hand for himself, and the mouse whistles at the cat from the closest pillar to alert his enemy of his throbbing hand. Tom reacts by yelping and jumping into the stratosphere, kissing his hand all the while. Pleased with himself, Jerry starts to run back to another mouse hole while Tom takes a nosedive after his rival. Jerry succeeds in making it to safety while the cat hits his head on the fence just inches above the hole, and falls down in the shape of a tambourine.
The cat rounds a turn, and just as fast, stops and retreats behind the corner. The camera pans to Jerry, who is perched on top of a massive sleeping dog (Later named Tiny). He hides in Tiny’s mouth as Tom tries to catch him without waking up his host. Instead of grabbing the mouse, however, Tom grabs Tiny’s tongue. Jerry has been pulled out as well and escapes, leaving the cat facing an angry and awake dog. Tom grins and rolls up Tiny’s tongue back into its owner's mouth, then moves Tiny’s lips to change his expression from angry to content. Tom then bids Tiny goodbye and runs away, but tiny grabs his tail, rolls him up, and bowls the cat through a bunch of garbage cans and into the water, where a crab grabs the cat's tail. Tom leaps out in pain and knocks the crab back into the water.
Soon, the cat spots a smaller dog being chased by a dog catcher. Tom forcibly grabs the dogcatcher's net and drags him to Tiny, who is captured instead, knowing that it is Jerry's protector, so that Jerry is not safe. Jerry, who wants to be protected from the dog, angrily gets a saw in a tool shed, hides behind the fence, and cuts the shaft of the net as the dogcatcher passes to the side. In gratitude, the dog gives Jerry a whistle to use whenever he's in trouble. Jerry, with relish, thinks of the fun times he could have with Tom.
Jerry walks past a wooden box while Tom pokes his hand out of it and captures the mouse, who promptly whistles for his guardian. Tom is forcibly pulled through the knot hole and confronted by the angry dog. Tom grins, meaning, he doesn't know where Jerry is but soon his lips make a whistling gesture and he is exposed. The dog chokes Tom and the cat's mouth opens to reveal Jerry whistling on top of Tom's tongue. It figured Tom must've eaten Jerry inside the wooden box. The mouse walks off and onto the dog's shoulder while the entire bowling sequence, complete with crab, is repeated.
Finally, Tom sneaks behind the fence and leans over it to place earmuffs over the sleeping dog. However, his feet cause a board to creak out of place, leaving him dangling over Tiny as it continues to fall. Tom saves himself by curling his tail around the foundation of the fence such that he and the board are pulled back up to the fence. Tom makes noises to test the earmuffs, and when the dog stays asleep, he dances off in delight and corners Jerry. Jerry blows his whistle while Tom only looks more menacing than before, but then Jerry pulls out a pair of earmuffs and continues whistling. Assuming these must be the dog's earmuffs, Tom becomes so scared that he rolls himself into a ball and bowls off the pier, and even grabs the crab and attaches it to his tail. However, in the final scene, Jerry walks up to the dog and the audience sees that the dog actually still has earmuffs on! Jerry's pair was a duplicate, which he puts on himself as he lies down next to Tiny to take a nap.
Notes[]
- The title is a pun of the phrase "Much ado about nothing".
- It was the second Tom and Jerry cartoon to be produced under Chuck Jones' helm, but the fourth to be released.
- This cartoon marks the first appearance of Tiny Bulldog, albeit in size similar to Spike Bulldog instead of miniature mouse-size.
Availability[]
Gallery[]
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