The Vanishing Duck is the 112th Tom and Jerry short, created in 1957, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Lewis Marshall, Kenneth Muse, Carlo Vinci, and James Escalante, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. Red Coffey, Perry Sheehan and Richard Anderson provided the voices for this film. It was released on May 2, 1958 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot[]
In a plot reminiscent of 1947's The Invisible Mouse, Quacker is a singing duck whom George bought for Joan for her birthday. They leave the house for dinner and a show, with Joan wondering if Quacker will be all right with Tom around. George assures her that he will be fine, since Tom is outside and the house is locked up tight. But Tom manages to sneak in, anyway, and immediately goes to look for Quacker.
After nearly being swallowed alive by Tom, Quacker escapes to Jerry's mouse hole, where the two become friends. When Tom catches Quacker, Jerry trips Tom up with some extension cord, causing Tom to lose his grip on Quacker, sending him straight into a tub of vanishing cream. An invisible Quacker is able to come to Jerry's rescue, where he shows him the secret of the vanishing cream. Thus invisible, the two decide to have fun tricking Tom, and they annoy him by spitting watermelon seeds at him, shove aspirin down his throat, vanish and cut his tail short and fool him by cutting off a tail from a coat with a pair of scissors that resembles his own tail to make him look like a Manx cat. All this bamboozles poor Tom who thinks that the house is haunted. After Tom hears Quacker's voice of singing the same birthday song coming from his supposed tail, he tries to catch them whilst Jerry and Quacker run under the mat. They finally make him leave the house using some tongs and a coal shovel.
As Jerry and Quacker celebrate their victory, Tom sees through the window how they tricked him and retrieves the vanishing cream. After testing it on himself, he decides to get revenge by being completely invisible and giving Jerry and Quacker a taste of their own medicine. Jerry and Quacker are certain that Tom is gone for good, until the invisible cat comes behind and hits them with the same coal shovel they had used on him earlier. Jerry and Quacker try to run away as Tom follows them non-stop around the house, hitting them with the shovel wherever they go.
Characters[]
Main Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
Notes[]
- The cartoon reuses the plot from the 1947 short the Invisible Mouse with Jerry and Quacker both becoming invisible. Unlike the former episode, Tom finds out about the invisible trick which he uses to never stop winning in the end.
- Quacker sings to Joan, Tom, and Jerry the song "Good Morning to You".
- In Cartoon Network, and even Gulli, it was broadcast 16:9 in Morocco.
- This is one of the few CinemaScope cartoons to be re-pan-and-scanned correctly on the Boomerang app in the 2010s after realizing it was pan-and-scanned incorrectly on Cartoon Network in the 1990s.
- This short marks the final appearance of Quacker, who appeared in seven previous Tom and Jerry shorts. As such, The Vanishing Duck is the antepenultimate Tom and Jerry short of the Hanna and Barbera era.
- This was also the final film for the husband, George (whose voice was briefly provided here by Richard Anderson). Joan the wife, would make one more appearance, in Tot Watchers.
- This is one of the thirteen cartoons in which Tom triumphs. The others are Dog Trouble, The Million Dollar Cat, The Bodyguard, Jerry's Diary, Nit-Witty Kitty, Hic-cup Pup, Little School Mouse, Southbound Duckling, Mouse for Sale, Timid Tabby, The Year of the Mouse, Duel Personality, and Love Me, Love My Mouse.
- This is one of the only two cartoons where Quacker loses. The other one is Southbound Duckling.
- It was shown in theaters with Cry Terror! in its original release.
Goofs[]
- When we cut to the background of the mouse hole in the clip where Quacker is running from Tom to tell Jerry of his presence, we can see a bright plane to the right of the screen. This is because of the size of the animation cel he is on, and because animators have to move the cel to make him run properly.
Gallery[]
