The Bodyguard is a 1944 one-reel animated cartoon, and is the 15th Tom and Jerry short.
Characters[]
Starring[]
Featuring[]
- Spike Bulldog
- Toots (cameo, white fur)
Plot[]
The cartoon opens with Tom chasing Jerry. Jerry hides behind a potato mound in a garden when he hears a large bulldog (retroactively known as Spike) calling him. Spike has been caught by a dog catcher and locked in the back of his truck, and Jerry is the only one who can help him escape from the truck before it drives away. Jerry hurries to free him by removing a piece of wood that latches the cage shut. Spike falls out of the truck just as it pulls away, and thanks Jerry by vowing to assist the mouse at any time at the sound of a whistle.
The storyboard of the episode.
Completely carefree, Jerry strolls down the sidewalk, and Tom jumps out from around the corner with a plate, a fork, a knife, and a napkin around his neck. As Jerry screeches to a stop and reverses direction, Tom sneaks around the fence and holds out two pieces of bread just as the mouse passes by, so Jerry is unable to stop in time. Just as Tom starts to cut the bread in half with Jerry in it, Jerry whistles, and Spike makes the save by grabbing Tom by the neck. He checks on Jerry to make sure he is O.K. and then issues Tom an ultimatum: the cat had better leave Jerry alone or he will face the consequences; and to prove his point, he squashes Tom into an accordion before walking off, reminding his pal once again to "just whistle". Seeing an opportunity to provoke Tom, Jerry picks up a tiny board and challenges the cat to a fight, who flippantly flicks the board away and prepares to punch the mouse into oblivion. Jerry then whistles, and before the punch lands, Spike zooms in and his own punch lands onto Tom's face, slamming him backwards into a city mailbox and leaving him dazed. Once again, Spike reminds Jerry of their pact: "Anytime, chum."
Tom then tries to smash Jerry with a lead pipe and the resulting chase takes the duo to Spike. Jerry perches on the dog and pushes on Spike's nose to reveal a sharp set of teeth, as if to say "Stay away from me". Before the canine can attack him, Tom wriggles out of the situation by kissing Jerry, dropping him in a stroller, and rolling the mouse down the street, using the pipe as a flute. When he passes behind a set of garbage cans, Tom basks in his victory by laughing menacingly; in the same evil voice, he utters "In me power!" Unfortunately, the cat's attraction to the opposite sex gets the better of him when he soon spots a cute female cat and loudly wolf-whistles at her, momentarily forgetting that this will lead to Spike attacking him. The dog pops up behind him and smashes Tom's head with a pair of garbage can lids like cymbals.
Later, Tom spots Jerry strolling along, still on top of the world, and soon the cat notices a bubble gum machine nearby. He shakes, throttles, and nudges the machine to obtain two gumballs, then covers one of them in glue. To get Jerry to eat the other piece of gum, the cat sits down and draws attention to himself by chewing his piece. The manner in which Tom methodically enjoys his gum makes Jerry hungry for a piece. Tom then offers Jerry the glue-covered gumball, and Jerry suspiciously smells it, but follows through and starts chewing the gum. Jerry then shakes Tom's hand as a thank-you, and Tom winks at the camera. Quickly, the mouse figures out something is wrong and tries to whistle, but the glue on the gumball has sealed his mouth shut and is keeping him from making any sound. Jerry points to his lips and rubs his stomach as if to say that he adored the gum, shaking Tom's hand again to appease an increasingly menacing Tom. It doesn't work, and a furious chase ensues.
Jerry briefly stops the chase to attempt to whistle a second time, and when he is still unable to do so, shrugs and begins to run away again. When he sees an anvil up ahead, the mouse holds it up and Tom runs into it, causing the cat to resemble a table. Jerry tries to escape through a hole in a fence but gets stuck, and as he unsuccessfully tries to free himself, Tom then grabs a slim wooden board and motions to hit Jerry with it...until he sees Spike walk by and decides to wait. Jerry tries to gesture to Spike that he needs help and that he can't whistle, but Spike doesn't understand what Jerry is saying and will only respond to the whistle. With the danger of retaliation past, Tom whacks Jerry all the way towards Spike again. Jerry tries again to tell his friend what happened and begs Spike to help him ("Please help me" is clearly audible even though it is muffled). Spike laughs at this, calls it "baby talk", and goes inside a yard. Jerry then pounds on the door for help, but has to run away from the approaching cat. As Spike opens the door, Tom's head gets stuck in Spike's mouth, forcing the cat to again shrug and run away.
The mouse eventually crawls through another hole in a different fence and tries to whistle until he turns red in the face. Eventually, Jerry blows a bubble, and it keeps enlarging as Jerry forces more air into it. Tom climbs over the fence to chase the mouse, but soon sees the bubble growing to a gigantic size and cringes in terror as it explodes and bursts into a gust of wind. A long, shrill whistle is emitted by the released air and Jerry's cleared mouth, and Tom pleads with Jerry to stop whistling, but Jerry keeps going. Anticipating Spike to whale on him, Tom digs his own grave and leaves a written will ("I Thomas leave all to charity"). As Tom finishes writing and grabs a flower, both cat and mouse look up in puzzlement at Spike's disappearance, until they find him locked up in the back of the dog catcher's truck once more, this time with a proper padlock ensuring Spike's entrapment. Still whistling, Jerry chases the truck down the road with Tom chasing him.
Voice actors[]
- Billy Bletcher as Spike and Tom (speaking)
- William Hanna as Tom and Jerry
- Harry E. Lang as Tom and Jerry (both whistling)
Notes[]
- This was the first cartoon where Tom is consistently shown with twisted whiskers without explanation. Previous instances of his twisted whiskers in Puss 'n Toots, The Zoot Cat, and The Million Dollar Cat were seen as cosmetic makeovers to make Tom appear more posh or stylish.
- This cartoon marks the second appearance of Spike Bulldog and the first time his name is mentioned. It is also the first time Spike speaks.
- This was the first and only Tom and Jerry cartoon written by Otto Englander.
- This was the first cartoon where Jerry and Spike are shown as friends.
- The cartoon thematically connects to the events in Puttin' on the Dog, where Spike is now in a dog pound.
- This is second appearance of Toots, but she has white fur. She is a little different than Puss n' Toots in different color fur, but still in her kitten size.
- For the Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume One release, only this short among the 1944 shorts is remastered from a Technicolor print. All others are from Metrocolor prints.
- Error: On a recent MeTV print, during the point where Jerry slams Tom with an iron, the entire screen turns purple for a split second.
Availability[]
_cover.jpg "Tom and Jerry - Classic Collection 1-6 (Box Set) cover.jpg (102 KB)")
.jpg "T&J - In the Dog House (DVD; 2012).jpg (101 KB)")
.jpg "No Mice Allowed DVD (front side).jpg (1.58 MB)")
.jpg "Tom and Jerry 85th Anniversary Kids Collection (DVD Front Cover).jpg (227 KB)")
Streaming[]
Gallery[]
- Main Article: The Bodyguard/Gallery