Life with Tom

Life with Tom
Tom and Jerry series
Title Card
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices by	Paul Frees William Hanna
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Kenneth Muse Irven Spence Ed Barge Additional animation: Irving Levine (archive footage – uncredited) Pete Burness (archive footage – uncredited)
Backgrounds by	Robert Gentle
Studio	MGM Cartoons
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	November 21, 1953 (1953-11-21)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7:49
Language	English
Preceded by	Two Little Indians
Followed by	Puppy Tale

Life with Tom is a 1953 one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ed Barge with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released to theatres on November 21, 1953 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is also one of several compilation Tom and Jerry shorts, integrating footage from previous shorts into the plot.

Plot

A mailman delivers two packages and whistles out loud. Tom approaches to see that nothing is in his mailbox. He spots a package in Jerry's mailbox though, and opens it to find a book entitled "Life with Tom". He hides in the bush as Jerry walks towards his mailbox and retrieves a letter. Tom then hears a radio program which announces the publication of "Life with Tom" by Jerry Mouse revealing that Jerry's book is his autobiography. Tom opens the book and flips the page to "Dedicated to Tom --- Without whom --- I could do very well". Tom flips forward a few pages.

We read "Chapter VII Life with Tom wasn't always one continuous battle ... one day, believe it or not, Tom took me fishing. 'Twas a sunny summer morning and the first thing I knew ---".

This leads to 1947's Cat Fishin' beginning where Tom uses Jerry as bait and ending where Spike gives chase. Back to the present day, where the book reads: "To this day Tom still thinks he caught a new species of dog fish ---". This makes Tom furious and he overhears his alley cat friends laughing. He skims to another page.

The book reads "Chapter XI On Thanksgiving day, my little nephew and I dressed up as pilgrims --- Tom, of course, also got into the act ---".

The scene segues into 1949's The Little Orphan beginning where Jerry and Nibbles are walking along the dinner table dressed as pilgrims and ending where Tom surrenders, waving the white flag. Back to the present day, Tom hears Spike and Tyke laughing. He extends his neck out to see what page the father and son dogs are reading and moves to the page where Jerry reveals:

"Chapter XX A dog may be man's best friend but my best friend happens to be a canary ---- For once I really was in trouble"

The scene changes to 1948's Kitty Foiled beginning where the canary is shocked to witness Tom and Jerry's violent exploits and ending where Tom plunges down a hole aboard a train about an inch from Jerry because a bowling ball is thrown into the floor in the path of the train.

Back again to the present day. With everyone laughing at his expense, Tom is eventually infuried to discover he is a laughing stock. He marches over to Jerry's hole, furiously tears off the facade and then smashing the book over Jerry. Offended by Tom's behavior, Jerry shows him the letter that he had received that morning. The letter reveals that in addition to Jerry receiving in the check and in accordance to his wishes, half of the check will go to Tom. Soon Tom finds a check for that is addressed to him. A flattered Tom – realizing that even through the ups and downs, Jerry still considers him a friend – has a change of heart about the autobiography and he now starts seeing the funny sides of it all and burst out laughing as Jerry looks on proudly.

Availability

Laserdisc

• The Art of Tom and Jerry Vol. 2, Disc One, Side One^[1]

DVD

• Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3, Disc One

External links

• Life with Tom at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Life with Tom at the Internet Movie Database

References