Two Little Indians is a 1953 Tom and Jerry cartoon. And it was the 78th Tom and Jerry short released.
Synopsis
"Scoutmaster" Jerry is asked to take a couple orphans with American Indian heritage on a hiking trip. But the mischievous orphans turn the hike into a real war against Tom Cat with axes, bows and guns.
Plot
The cartoon opens with two young mice, both resembling Nibbles, dressed as Indians (one with a blue feather, the other, red) and walking toward Jerry's house. They knock on the door and hand him a note which reads:
"Dear Scoutmaster Jerry, These are the two little orphans you promised to take on a hiking trip. Thanks, Bide-a-wee Mouse Home"
Jerry then pats them on their head and he leaves to put on his scoutmaster uniform. The two mice then start scouting around. When Jerry returns, he sees one of the mice heading toward Spike who is asleep. The mouse goes into Spike's mouth and attempts to shoot an arrow at Spike's uvula, but Jerry intervenes. Spike wakes up and looks menacingly at the two of them. To distract him, Jerry starts playing "Turkey in the Straw" on the bow and arrow like a violin. This allows Jerry and the mouse to get away. Jerry then shakes his head at the little mouse as if to say, "Don't do that." Jerry then sees the other mouse trying to shoot a robin sitting in a tree. The little mouse shoots his arrow in the air and Jerry scolds him. The arrow then falls through the drain pipe and ends up hitting him in the rear.
Jerry then leads his scouts on their hiking trip. The scouts stop and see Tom asleep under a tree. One mouse grabs his tomahawk and the other grabs his bow and arrow and they head over to Tom. Jerry then realizes his scouts are not with him and he see what is about to happen. The mouse with the tomahawk grabs the top of Tom's head and tries to scalp him, but Jerry stops it. This wakes up Tom. Tom then looks around and goes back to sleep. The mouse with the red feather has made his way to Tom's rear and he gets ready to fire. Jerry tries to stop the arrow but he is too late and Tom jumps up and screams. When he lands to confront Jerry, Jerry readies the bow and points it in Tom's face. But Jerry does not know how to use a bow and arrow and he ends up misfiring three times. Tom, realizing that Jerry is no harm to him (at least in that manner), grins and lets Jerry try to aim at him. The little Indian mouse then shows up and successfully shoots an arrow into Tom's nose. Tom then grabs Jerry, but he is saved when the mouse with the blue feather chops off the tip of Tom's tail. Tom screams in pain and grabs the blue-feathered mouse, but he gets saved when the red-feathered mouse scalps Tom. Tom grabs the second mouse and he is saved when Jerry hits Tom with the mailbox. The three of them run away. As they run away, they all split in different directions. When Tom chases them, his head goes one way, his arms and torso go another, and his feet, a third. Then he brings himself back together. He goes after Jerry and pushes the spikes in the fence together catching Jerry by his tail. Tom grabs Jerry and the two mice try to save him. But Tom uses a flyswatter to hurt and send them away. Tom starts to walk away with Jerry but he stops when the blue mouse fools him with fake smoke signals, while the red mouse starts to paint faces on badminton shuttlecocks to make them look like a tribe of Indian mice. This frightens Tom and he ends up tying Jerry to a post. He then grabs a coonskin cap and defends himself with a rifle behind a table.
One of the mice fires an arrow with a frying pan tied to it. The arrow hits a rail and swings. Tom readies his gun and just before he fires; the pan hits him in the back of the head, making him look like an elephant with the rifle as a nose. The mice then run away and then dress up Spike like an Indian chief. They also paint a mean face on him with war paint. When Tom sees Spike he gets so scared that the coonskin cap stands on end (sprouting eyes as well) and he runs away and hides in a folding chair. One of the mice then lights a match and shoots it at Tom. It hits the chair and burns it up. Tom then runs away and hides behind the table he set up. The two mice then run up to Tom and the blue mouse climbs up the barrel of the gun, while the red mouse opens his pouch of gunpowder. The blue mouse then knocks on the hammer of the gun and he emerges shooting an arrow into Tom's nose. Then he runs away. Tom fires a few rounds and chases after the mouse, not realizing that the gunpowder is trailing behind him. The mouse with the red feather on his hat comes out and lights the gunpowder trail. Tom then chases the mouse into a garage and he escapes through the window. Tom stops at the window where a small pile of gunpowder starts to form and he continues firing at the mouse. Next to him is a can of gas and oil can. Then he sees the flame follow him into the garage. Tom tries to run out the garage but he is still holding the rifle which ends up blocking him. The flame ignites the gas can and the whole garage explodes. The garage folds almost, and Tom raises his gun with a white ribbon tied around it to show that he has given up.
Jerry and the mice are shown smoking a peace pipe together. They pass the pipe to Tom as soon as he tries to exhale the smoke from his mouth but it's no avail. Tom accidentally swallows the smoke and it ends up coming out of his ears.
Censorship
- Due to the ban on smoking in television programs in the UK since 2006, the entire ending scene where Jerry, the mice, and Tom smoke a peace pipe is omitted from Boomerang UK.
- This short is banned from syndication in the U.S. due to the references of Native Americans in this short. Though this short does receive airtime on Cartoon Network and Boomerang USA, its very rare though for this reason.
Gallery
External Links
Two Little Indians at SuperCartoons.net
Two Little Indians at B99.TV