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.
Appearance[]
Tom's owner is an overweight, average height, middle-aged, bald white man with very severe temper problems, often boil-over when he's furious. Also, when he is angered, his teeth often turn into sharp teeth but when happy they remain square.
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, a widower, or a bachelor. He is brutal in punishing Tom's mistakes when compared to the other owners or even Spike the Bulldog: beating and thrashing Tom repeatedly, searing his head with a grill, forcing him to drink an entire shaken up carbonated beverage, slamming his fingers with a lunchbox lid and even wrapping a shotgun over his head and firing it.
He also often ties 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 smashing Tom with his frying pan, then yelling at another driver when called out for his reckless driving. However, when he does not have problems, he has a more normal, happy demeanor. He often sings a tune for himself when he is calm, happy, and enthusiastic.
Unlike Tom's previous 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 often beats up Tom without any explanation, and done such acts as getting his tail stuck on the grill and, after almost drowning in the pool trying to cool himself, picking up Tom out of the water and beats him up.
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 hunter in Sorry Safari.
After Sorry Safari, he was consequently dropped from the series. 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, however, these similarities are coincidental.
He has been unpopular among fans of the series, due to his portrayal as brutal, cruel, spiteful, hateful, and violent towards Tom for his actions, even when trying to stop Jerry; his temper has often bordered on animal cruelty. He is, by far, the cruelest of all of Tom's owners in the past. He has not appeared in any later Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Trivia[]
- He is presumably unaware of the mouse Jerry's existence, as the two never interacted.
- 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.
- He is the most hated character in the entire Tom and Jerry franchise as a whole, even more so than 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 who is equally incompetent and neglectful as other hatred characters in the series franchise.
- Down and Outing is the only short where Tom attempts to escape from him in order to avoid getting pummeled.
Gallery[]
Main article: Tom's owner (Deitch era)/Gallery