Tom's owner (known by fans as Clint Clobber) is an antagonist who appeared solely in the Gene Deitch era (1961–62) of Tom and Jerry shorts, serving as Tom's owner. He was voiced by Allen Swift.
Characteristics[]
Appearance[]
Tom's owner is an overweight, average height, middle-aged, bald Caucasian man with severe anger issues, often boiled over when he is furious. Also, when he is enraged in High Steaks, his teeth turn into sharp teeth.
Personality[]
Tom's owner is a corpulent, middle-class, middle-aged man with a severe temper, often going red in the face when angered. The rest of his family was never confirmed in the series so it is unknown if he is divorced, single, a widower, or a bachelor. He is cruel in punishing Tom's mistakes when compared to the other owners, or even Spike the Bulldog for that matter. Frequently beating and thrashing Tom, searing his head with a grill, forcing him to drink an entire shaken up carbonated beverage against his will in one gulp, slamming his fingers with a lunchbox lid and even wrapping a shotgun over his head and firing it, resulting Tom to go temporarily deaf.
He tends to tie Tom up very tightly. He often smiles or laughs maliciously after punishing Tom. He appears to have rage issues in general. In Down and Outing, he is shown driving recklessly by driving at high speeds and not looking at the road when he was hitting Tom with his frying pan repeatedly, then angrily shouting at another driver who called out for his reckless driving. However, when he does not have problems, he has a more normal, happy demeanor. He would sing a tune for himself when he is calm, happy, and enthusiastic.
Unlike Tom's previous or following owners, he speaks quite rarely. He has no lines of spoken dialogue in High Steaks, while he speaks only once in Down and Outing and he has three lines of dialogue in Sorry Safari.
He would beat up Tom to even the slightest irritation, sometimes without any explanation, which was done in such acts as getting his tail stuck on the grill and after almost drowning in the pool because the size of the grill on his tail pulled his weight down, the owner picked up Tom out of the water and instead of resuscitating him or whatnot, he instead opted to beat him up more. He would always put the blame on Tom even if it wasn't of his doing and was instead of Jerry's antics, however in the owner's defense it's most likely he is unaware of Jerry's existence.
Despite his anger issues, he seldomly attempts to calms himself down to not cruelly punish Tom. One occasion, in Sorry Safari, despite him being angry at Tom, instead of immediately beating him up, he instead takes of sip of coffee and counts backwards from ten to one only to slam Tom in the head with a thermos.
The only time the owner appreciated Tom was in Down and Outing when he put all the supplies in the boat without making a single mistake.
Biography[]
He played different roles in the shorts he appeared in: as a fisherman in Down and Outing, as a chef in High Steaks, and as a game hunter in Sorry Safari.
After Sorry Safari, he was consequently dropped from the franchise due to the negative reviews and controversies surrounding him. He was later replaced by a thin female owner on Buddies Thicker Than Water.
Behind the scenes[]
He bears a slight resemblance to Clint Clobber, one of Gene Deitch's original characters who appeared in Terrytoons shorts from 1957 to 1959. It was rumored that the two characters were the same, resulting in fans referring to him as "Clint Clobber" due to his lack of an official name. According to Deitch, these similarities are coincidental.
He has been extremely unpopular among fans of the series, due to his portrayal as brutal and merciless towards Tom for his actions, even when trying to stop Jerry; his temper has often bordered on animal cruelty. He is, by far, the most cruelest out of all of Tom's owners. He has not appeared in any later Tom and Jerry media after his final appearance in Sorry Safari. He is also a fisherman in Down and Outing and a game hunter in Sorry Safari, another reason why he is hated by some of the fans and also by animal right activists and the humane society.
Notes[]
- He is likely unaware of Jerry's existence, as the two have never interacted with each other.
- Although Jerry has never interacted with him, Jerry is sometimes afraid of him as a witness of the owner's violent beatings on Tom. Jerry covers his eyes in such instances, especially when it happens offscreen.
- Although Tom has tendency afraid of to move or flee when his owner is angered. Down and Outing is the only short where Tom attempts to escape from him in order to avoid getting pummeled or other forms of abuse.
- Sorry Safari is the only short where he gets his comeuppance at the end.
- This is also the only short where he never ties up Tom in order to keep him out of trouble.
- As well as the only cartoon where he does not beat him relentlessly offscreen (however ironically he was attacked off-screen by a lion).
- He is the most hated character in the entire Tom and Jerry franchise as a whole, even more so than other highly disliked characters such as Nancy from Baby Puss, Jeannie the Babysitter from Busy Buddies and Tot Watchers and the other babysitter from the Tom & Jerry Kids Show episode, Tom, the Babysitter.
- "Don't touch my guns!" has become an internet meme.
- The baker from "The Great Donut Robbery" resembles Tom's owner.
Gallery[]
Main article: Tom's owner (Deitch era)/Gallery