Cat and Mouse: Poor little cat

Author: (USA) Hanna-Barbera
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: "Tom and Jerry" (also translated as "Tom and Jerry") is a world-famous animated series today. Its creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, are "legendary figures" in the American Hollywood animation industry. William Hanna was born in Melrose, New Mexico, and at the age of seven, he moved with his parents to California. As he grew up, he studied engineering, journalism, and music. During the Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States, he worked part-time at an animation studio as a story editor. His employer quickly discovered his talent and promoted him continuously until he became an independent animated film director. Cartoonist Joseph Barbera was born in New York and had a natural talent for drawing from a young age. Initially, he worked at a bank and dedicated his spare time to animation. His extraordinary talent and hard work helped him quickly find a job he loved at an animation studio. In 1937, Hanna and Barbera first met at the MGM Animation Studio. In 1938, Hanna worked on the animated series "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies," while Barbera worked on "Terrytoons." Hanna possessed comedic talent and the organizational skills of a famous director, while Barbera had exceptional drawing talent. They both realized the importance of forming a partnership, which marked the beginning of their decades-long successful collaboration. In 1939, they jointly directed the animated film "Puss Gets the Boot" for MGM, with the cat named Jasper and the mouse named Jinx. Hanna's story was vividly written, and Barbera's character designs were outstanding, especially the expressions of the cat and mouse, which were full of touching humor. The film was a huge success upon its release in 1940, winning the hearts of countless audiences. Since MGM disliked the names of the two main characters, they held a reader's poll and eventually changed them to the names we know today, Tom and Jerry. "Tom and Jerry" is entirely characterized by slapstick comedy, with extremely lively plots. Tom is a common gray and white house cat with a strong desire to catch Jerry, the mouse who lives with him but is difficult to catch. He constantly tries to drive away these annoying roommates but always fails. In reality, the joy he experiences during the chase far exceeds the satisfaction of catching Jerry. Even when he occasionally catches Jerry, he doesn't know what to do with the mouse! "Tom and Jerry" uses the cat and mouse as its prototypes, and their pranks are very amusing. No matter how intense the game becomes, Jerry knows he won't be seriously hurt, while Tom is always subjected to some physical discomfort. Jerry lives in the same mouse hole with Tuffy, the urinating little gray mouse, in this house. Although he seems to be under Tom's surveillance, Jerry is very clever and always manages to turn Tom's cunning schemes back on himself, making sure Tom gets what he deserves. This story of the clever mouse and the foolish cat is comparable to the adventures of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. There is no cruelty of the strong bullying the weak in the animal world; only the daily trivialities and conflicts between two neighbors, such as Jerry stealing Tom's cheese or Tom setting a mouse trap at the entrance to Jerry's hole. The numerous pranks and humorous scenes interspersed throughout the series bring back a sense of innocent joy. Their relationship often changes in an instant—from enemies to friends or sworn rivals: when enemies, they try their best to outsmart each other; when friends, they are as close as brothers, never holding grudges. "Tom and Jerry" features 116 comic characters, with each episode pairing 2 to 3 characters with different personalities to tell a "gag" story. Its story content is simple yet always surprising but logical, reflecting the creators' extraordinary intelligence. The silent format relies entirely on humorous actions without dialogue. Compared to "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck," whose stories are sometimes hard to follow, "Tom and Jerry's" silent comedy is clear and direct, leaving a vivid and profound impression on the audience. "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck" has been popular worldwide for decades, with its characters, voiceovers, and strong promotion playing significant roles. In contrast, "Tom and Jerry" has almost no dialogue, relying entirely on lively characters and plots full of twists and rich imagination. Over 200 animated films of "Tom and Jerry" have been produced, including "The Stupid Mouse Yankie" (1943), "Be Quiet" (1945), "Cat Concerto" (1947), "Clean Mouse" (1948), "Two Catnaps" (1952), and "John Mouse" (1953), which have won Academy Awards. "Christmas Eve" (1941) and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" (1947) were also nominated. In Hollywood animation history, "Tom and Jerry" is the animated series with the most Academy Awards. In the 1945 animated film "Hoist the Colors," Jerry and Gene Kelly's performance, as well as the water play between Tom, Jerry, and Esther Williams in "Swept Away" (1956), astonishingly blended animation with real-life photography, becoming a milestone in film history. "Two Catnaps" also gave rise to another series of "Tom and Jerry" animated films set in a medieval French royal castle, including "Speak Softly, Tom!" (1954) and "The Noble Cat Napoleon" (1958). The stories of "Tom and Jerry" also spawned different series of animated films. "Two Catnaps" even had its own comic book series. In 1956, when Disney used "Catnaps" for the Mickey Mouse Club television series, the comic book's name was changed to "Mascots." When MGM established its animation department in 1945, Hanna and Barbera became its presidents. In 1955, due to rising animation production costs, MGM decided to withdraw from the animation industry, so the two decided to start their own company. After their tenure at MGM ended in 1957, they formed Hanna-Barbera Studios. During their tenure at MGM, Hanna and Barbera focused on producing the "Tom and Jerry" series, with only three animated films not starring the cat and mouse. After founding their own studio, the creation of "Tom and Jerry" was interrupted for several years. In 1961, "Tom and Jerry" returned in a short commemorative series produced by Gene Deitch in Czechoslovakia. In 1963, Chuck Jones, a veteran of Warner Bros., took over the animation department of MGM, drastically changing the directing style of "Tom and Jerry." Jones's 1967 "How to Stuff a Duck" was the last animated film series of "Tom and Jerry." In 1975, the thriving Hanna-Barbera Studios purchased the animated characters they had created from MGM and produced a television animated series, which ran for 48 episodes by 1977. After bringing "Tom and Jerry" to television screens, Hanna and Barbera opened up a new realm, achieving even greater success and impact, with more audiences discovering "Tom and Jerry" through television. The "Tom and Jerry" comic books are a derivative of the animated series and have also had a full 60-year history. In 1942, like all of MGM's works, "Tom and Jerry" was included in the comic book magazine "Our Gang," becoming a highly successful series of comic books. "Our Gang" was originally a comic book magazine drawn by Walt Kelly based on the children's comedy of the same name by Hal Roach. The success of "Tom and Jerry" surpassed that of the magazine's lead album, and from the 40th issue onwards, Tom and Jerry became the cover characters of the magazine. In 1948, "Tom and Jerry" reached its peak of popularity in the 193rd issue and completely replaced "Our Gang" starting from the 194th issue. Additionally, Tom and Jerry appeared in many western publishing company specialty magazines, including "Tom and Jerry Summer Fun," "Tom and Jerry Winter Carnival," "Golden Comics Treasury," and "Comics Progress," most of which also featured other animated characters from MGM, such as "Barney Bear," "Droopy," "Woody Woodpecker," "Prairie Dog," and "Spike and Tyke." In 1961, the "Tom and Jerry" comic book magazine was suspended for a year and resumed in 1962, running until the 291st issue in 1974. Like the original MGM, Hanna-Barbera Studios began publishing their works with Dell Comics in 1958, later switching to Gold Key in 1962 and continuing until 1970. They then moved to Charlton Comics, followed by Marvel, one of the two most famous comic book companies in the United States, from 1977 to 1979. After a few interruptions, they were published by Harvey Comics from 1992 to 1994 and then by Archie Comics from 1955 to 1997. Today, "Tom and Jerry" comic books are published in over 30 countries worldwide. "Tom and Jerry" has had a glorious history in the past, and now its reputation has reached its peak. Its television animation has very high ratings, and almost every hour on television screens worldwide features a story of "Tom and Jerry." TV audiences can see their favorite MGM animated films every day. Through rental and sales of video tapes, even more audiences can enjoy various stories of "Tom and Jerry." Today, although "Tom and Jerry" comic books are no longer published in the United States, people around the world are still drawn to these characters, continuing to create stories of Tom and Jerry. Countries like Italy and Russia produce a large number of children's picture books featuring Tom and Jerry every year, and Italy and other countries still publish "Tom and Jerry" comic books. The United States is a country that pioneered new forms of comic books, with a history of popular comics spanning over a century. Not only do newspapers have fixed comic strips, but countless comic book magazines have also emerged, producing world-famous comics such as "The Yellow Kid," "The Bozo," "Superman," "Batman," "Spider-Man," "Wonder Woman," "Peanuts," and "Tom and Jerry." Our company has had the intention of compiling these American comic book masterpieces into the "Yilin World Comic Classics Series" for many years. This time, we have finally obtained the authorization from Warner to publish the "Tom and Jerry" comic books. We hope this is a good start, and we look forward to the American comic book classics being introduced to Chinese readers as soon as possible.