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Overview


Puss n' Toots is a 1942 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 6th Tom and Jerry short.

Title[]

The name of the short is an allusion to the fairy tale Puss 'n' Boots.

Characters[]

Plot[]

Tom is watching Jerry as he runs around an empty fishbowl. Jerry tries to escape the bowl, but Tom pushes him back in. Then the doorbell rings and Mammy Two Shoes goes to answer it. Tom then puts the flowers back in the bowl, grabs Jerry, and hides him in a filing cabinet under the letter "M" for mouse. Tom now has to hide under the cabinet as Mammy comes directly towards him, and she answers the door to receive a cute female cat to take care of temporarily. Mammy sits her up on the couch as Tom sees her and instantly falls in love. The cat is struck by Cupid's arrow and dresses up by smoothing down his hair, curling his whiskers and tail, and spraying himself with cologne. He then proudly walks over to her and she smiles back. He offers her a goldfish and a canary, but she is not hungry for either.

Seeing a chance to humiliate Jerry, Tom instead goes over to the filing cabinet to release him. Jerry escapes and runs away, but Tom takes his time looking through a magazine to shake him off his tail before giving chase. Tom catches Jerry by his tail just before he runs through his mouse hole, releases him, and sits on the couch. As Jerry runs toward him, Tom holds out his arm for Jerry to climb, and Jerry climbs it and is then caught between the cat's fingers.

Tom then holds Jerry in his hands, blows into them and makes Jerry disappear like a magician, although the camera shows that he is holding Jerry by his tail. Tom pokes his fingers into the bow around the girl cat's neck and reveals Jerry. This makes the cat smile as she apparently begins to fall for Tom.

Tom rolls up his hands, grabs a box of chocolates and opens it to reveal Jerry is sitting in the middle of it. Tom then grabs a handkerchief and stuffs Jerry into it before throwing the handkerchief in the air, and Jerry parachutes down to the couch. The cat quickly covers Jerry, then hides him fast enough for the girl not to notice. Then, he opens the handkerchief and Jerry has "disappeared", though of course, Tom is actually sitting on Jerry.

Underneath the cat's rear, Jerry tries to escape, but he can't, so he grabs a ribbon which pulls part of a hat with a hat pin in it into the mouse's reach. Jerry grabs the pin and sticks Tom, allowing him to escape. The mouse leaves the pin out for Tom to stick himself on the fall, and then runs over to the desk and quickly raises the telephone to call for help. Since there is no response, Jerry then runs inside a full automatic record player, but Tom turns on the turntable, causing the mouse to go nowhere fast. Tom then presses the button to change records, but forgets he is sitting on one. Jerry flops himself to get off the turntable just before Tom falls onto it and is "played" by the turntable due to the record on his tail. The girl cat now wonders where her beau is and peeks at the developing scene.

Jerry, inside needle container in a record player, digs himself out only to see he has been impaled repeatedly with the needles. After shaking them out of him, Jerry avenges himself by causing the records to change again, and it hits Tom's head, causing the cat to assume a Zen Buddhist caricature as the table spins. Happy with himself, Jerry dances to the Oriental music, then changes the record to a Spanish tango, which causes Tom's rear to gyrate in time, supplemented by Jerry kicking it. The mouse continues to dance to the music, but accidentally sits on the Stop button, causing the music to stop, and freeing the cat, and now realizes what button he accidentally sat on. Tom is eager for revenge of his own and pounces at the mouse, but Jerry takes stock of the situation fast enough to restart the player as Tom jumps through the record passer, causing Tom to be lodged in it. Now, the cat tries to escape the turntable, but is forcibly slapped back onto it by the needle whenever he does, and is then planted directly on the record and smacked by the reader as he makes the revolutions. Jerry then presses the start button to stop Tom and get him running on a record again. Jerry then starts pressing random buttons and waves at the helpless girl cat as records fly at her and then continually break over Tom's head, except for one that doesn't. Eventually, with help from the needle holding Tom into place, the last record knocks Tom out as it breaks and Tom is thrown through the player as it self-destructs. Jerry then goes over to the mirror, makes himself beautiful, kisses the girl cat and prances proudly into his mouse hole.

Voice actors[]

Notes[]

  • Unlike most shorts at the time, Jerry speaks in this cartoon, shouting "Help, help!" into the phone when Tom chases him. This is one of the only ten cartoons where Jerry speaks. The others are Puss Gets the Boot (1940), The Lonesome Mouse (1943), The Zoot Cat (1944), The Milky Waif (1946), Kitty Foiled (1948), Saturday Evening Puss (1950), His Mouse Friday (1951), Blue Cat Blues (1956), and Mucho Mouse (1957).
  • Tom presents a box of chocolates to the girl cat. In real life, chocolate is considered toxic to cats.
  • This is the first appearance of Toots, who is the female cat, Tom had a crush later appeared again in The Mouse Comes to Dinner (1945).
  • As originally released, Fred Quimby did not have an on-screen credit as producer, and he would continue not to until The Milky Waif (1946).
  • This was the first cartoon to use one of the recycled William Hanna Tom Scream sounds (both Fraidy Cat and Dog Trouble used earlier "prototype" Tom screams that were only heard in those cartoons).
  • This episode uses song Darktown Strutters' Ball as one of its background melodies.
  • This was Kent Rogers final guest appearance before he died in a training flight accident during World War II in July 9, 1944.

Censorship[]

  • There is a very short scene when a record disc lands on Tom's head. Tom's eyes become slanted and his whiskers straighten downwards, making him appear like a Chinese caricature, and Jerry then proceeds to imitate his foe's predicament. This is cut from a number of network and cable stations in the US as it is deemed "racially insensitive" towards Chinese people.
    • Ironically, this scene has become a viral Internet meme in September 2020 under the name of Tom Ching Cheng Hanji.
  • Mammy Two Shoes' appearance, in the beginning, was removed on local syndication.
  • During 1942, the USA had already joined the battles of World War II since the Attack on Pearl Harbor took place on December 7th of the previous year. The original end title of the short features a message about war bonds: "America needs your money. Buy war bonds and stamps every pay day" to collect the money from moviegoers seeing this cartoon. This has been removed from the reissued prints and replaced with the standard Tom and Jerry ending title, first introduced in Baby Puss (1943).

Availability[]

Gallery[]

Main article: Puss n' Toots/Gallery

Tom and Jerry Cartoons
1940 Puss Gets the Boot
1941 The Midnight SnackThe Night Before Christmas
1942 Fraidy CatDog TroublePuss n' TootsThe Bowling Alley-CatFine Feathered Friend
1943 Sufferin' Cats!The Lonesome MouseThe Yankee Doodle MouseBaby Puss
1944 The Zoot CatThe Million Dollar CatThe BodyguardPuttin' on the DogMouse Trouble
1945 The Mouse Comes to DinnerMouse in ManhattanTee for TwoFlirty BirdyQuiet Please!
1946 Springtime for ThomasThe Milky WaifTrap HappySolid Serenade
1947 Cat Fishin'Part Time PalThe Cat ConcertoDr. Jekyll and Mr. MouseSalt Water TabbyA Mouse in the HouseThe Invisible Mouse
1948 Kitty FoiledThe Truce HurtsOld Rockin' Chair TomProfessor TomMouse Cleaning
1949 Polka-Dot PussThe Little OrphanHatch Up Your TroublesHeavenly PussThe Cat and the MermouseLove That PupJerry's DiaryTennis Chumps
1950 Little QuackerSaturday Evening Puss • Texas TomJerry and the LionSafety SecondThe Hollywood BowlThe Framed CatCue Ball Cat
1951 Casanova CatJerry and the GoldfishJerry's CousinSleepy-Time TomHis Mouse FridaySlicked-up PupNit-Witty KittyCat Napping
1952 The Flying CatThe Duck DoctorThe Two MouseketeersSmitten KittenTriplet TroubleLittle RunawayFit To Be TiedPush-Button KittyCruise CatThe Dog House
1953 The Missing Mouse • Jerry and JumboJohann MouseThat's My Pup!Just DuckyTwo Little IndiansLife with Tom
1954 Puppy TalePosse CatHic-cup PupLittle School MouseBaby ButchMice FolliesNeapolitan MouseDownhearted DucklingPet PeeveTouché, Pussy Cat!
1955 Southbound DucklingPup on a PicnicMouse for SaleDesigns on JerryTom and ChérieSmarty CatPecos PestThat's My Mommy
1956 The Flying SorceressThe Egg and JerryBusy BuddiesMuscle Beach TomDown Beat BearBlue Cat BluesBarbecue Brawl
1957 Tops with PopsTimid TabbyFeedin' the KiddieMucho MouseTom's Photo Finish
1958 Happy Go DuckyRoyal Cat NapThe Vanishing DuckRobin HoodwinkedTot Watchers
1961 Switchin' KittenDown and OutingIt's Greek to Me-ow!
1962 High SteaksMouse into SpaceLanding StriplingCalypso CatDicky MoeThe Tom and Jerry Cartoon KitTall in the TrapSorry SafariBuddies Thicker Than WaterCarmen Get It!
1963 Pent-House Mouse
1964 The Cat Above and The Mouse BelowIs There a Doctor in the Mouse?Much Ado About MousingSnowbody Loves MeThe Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse
1965 Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of LifeTom-ic EnergyBad Day at Cat RockThe Brothers Carry-Mouse-OffHaunted MouseI'm Just Wild About JerryOf Feline BondageThe Year of the MouseThe Cat's Me-Ouch
1966 Duel PersonalityJerry, Jerry, Quite ContraryJerry-Go-RoundLove Me, Love My MousePuss 'n' BoatsFilet MeowMatinee MouseThe A-Tom-Inable SnowmanCatty-Cornered
1967 Cat and Dupli-catO-Solar-MeowGuided Mouse-illeRock 'n' RodentCannery RodentThe Mouse from H.U.N.G.E.R.Surf-Bored CatShutter Bugged CatAdvance and Be MechanizedPurr-Chance to Dream
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