The Cat's Me-Ouch is a 1965 Tom and Jerry cartoon and the fifteenth short directed and produced by Chuck Jones.
Plot
Jerry steps out of his mouse hole, only to be met by a cleaver-wielding Tom, who scares a layer of fur off him. Tom tries to get him with the cleaver, and after a few tries, he hides underneath the "DOG" magazine. He falls down the stairs, and when he lands at the bottom the magazine opens to a page where a bulldog can be ordered for $15.95. He smiles, hoping that the bulldog could chase Tom away from him.
Deciding to order one in order to protect him and scare Tom, he writes a letter and takes it out to the mailbox, at one point flying on the letter like a magic carpet. Tom looks out the bedroom window and sees him flying on the letter, not knowing the true intentions, but when he steers the letter into the mailbox and lands on top of it his evil laugh scares Tom.
The delivery truck shows up and the delivery man wheels in a large crate containing a loudly-barking dog. As Jerry signs for the crate, Tom is almost too scared to look on as he takes a crowbar to the crate. Jerry whistles for the loud dog to come out...and it is a tiny bulldog even smaller than Jerry is in stature. Tom is amazed to see the dog's small stature, but Jerry orders the dog to take care of Tom. After it sits around panting and barking, Jerry lifts up the dog and compares the dog to himself, which causes the dog to snuggle up to him and fall on its head due to the dog's short legs. He lifts up the dog, who then licks him, as Tom comes out to investigate.
Jerry takes the dog back into the crate with him, and ends up hanging on the tail when the dog wants to go out and meet Tom. Tom tosses the dog up a few times, pointing and laughing, as he couldn't take the dog seriously or see him as a legitimate threat with his small size. Infuriated over being made fun of his small size, the dog buzz saws his right arm fur off in response. Tom is still smiling until the dog repeats on the left arm, albeit more aggressively, leading him frantically to try to shake the dog off. With a mouthful of fur, the dog hits the ground, only to buzz saw on Tom's tail, turning part of it into sausages. Seeing the state of his tail with a horrified look on his face, he runs into the house while screaming. The rest of this short sees Tom without fur covering either of his arms, although he regains that of his tail.
A satisfied Jerry pats the dog on the head, who then snuggles up again. Stepping back, the dog feels an itch and scratches at a flea. When the pesky flea will not come off, the dog buzz saws itself, killing the flea. The now-proud dog tries to find Jerry searching around the crate, falling, and whimpering before seeing Tom in the window, holding Jerry by the tail in one hand and flicking his head with the other. The angry dog charges up, running around the yard, and as he is about to charge into Tom, he shuts the door while Jerry is trapped in a jar. The door, however, was no match for the dog who brings it down from the top. Tom and the dog flip the door over lengthwise as the trapped Jerry watches on. When the door gets to the wall, they flip width-wise until the door is back in the door frame, and Tom is on the outside. Realizing his predicament he runs and grabs an Axe and tries to chop down the door as the dog opens the lid on the jar, landing in with the now-free Jerry. The two watch Tom, and when he breaks in, the dog buzz saws the Axe handle, leaving the blade part to fall flat on his foot, and when Tom yells in pain the dog buzz saws his entire body.
On crutches, with his head, tail, and left foot bandaged, Tom heads into the hospital. He winces as the doctor unwraps his foot, revealing that the dog is still biting. Tom shrugs his shoulders before unwrapping his tail, which Jerry is biting.
Characters
Starring
Featuring
Voice Actors
- June Foray as Flea
- Mel Blanc as Tom, Jerry, Tiny Bulldog
Notes
- The name is a reference to Thomas A. Dorgan's phrase "The cat's meow."
- This short is notable for Tom being substantially more anthropomorphized than usual; when his fur from his arms is torn off by the tiny bulldog, it reveals a set of hands of a human.
- The tiny bulldog physically resembles a miniature mouse-sized version of the yellow Spike-like bulldog from Much Ado About Mousing and Tom-ic Energy.
- This is the last cartoon to premiere in 1965.
- When Jerry visualizes Tom getting chased by a bulldog, footage from Tom-ic Energy is used. The "flashback" however clearly contradicts the actual event that happened, as in Tom-ic Energy, Jerry is annoyed at the bulldog interfering with their cat-and-mouse chase. However, continuity rarely received much attention in cartoons of this period. During this time period, stories were written and structured to fit around gags and jokes without any continuous intent or any relation to the characters' past adventures, even if footage from older cartoons are used.
- The gag where Tom taunts and abuses Jerry from indoors right in front of the bulldog's eyes, followed by the angry bulldog rushing into the house to clobber Tom in response, is very similar to the gag used in the Warner Bros. cartoon Feline Frame-Up (1954).
- This is the 142nd Tom and Jerry entry overall.
Availability
![Harum Scarum (Blu-ray)[1]](/wiki/File:362438_front.jpg "362438 front.jpg (316 KB)")
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