Mouse Cleaning

Mouse Cleaning is a 1948 one-reel animated cartoon and the 38th Tom and Jerry short. The title is a play on "house cleaning". It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on December 11, 1948, by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer[1] and again on February 17, 1956. It was animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge, who were the usual animators for the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the early 1940s up until the late 1950s. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby; no writer has yet been credited (though many suppose it was Hanna and Barbera). The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the backgrounds were created by Robert Gentle.[2]

Mouse Cleaning
Title card
Directed byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Produced byFred Quimby
Story byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
(both uncredited)
StarringLillian Randolph
Music byScott Bradley
Animation byRay Patterson
Irven Spence
Kenneth Muse
Ed Barge
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
MGM Cartoons
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • December 11, 1948 (1948-12-11) (U.S.)
Running time
7:08
LanguageEnglish

Plot

While chasing Jerry in the garden, Tom runs through a mud puddle and then into the house, tracking mud on the kitchen floor right after Mammy Two Shoes has finished cleaning. As punishment, Mammy makes Tom clean the floor and orders him to keep the house clean, while she leaves to go shopping.

Once she is gone, Jerry wants to sabotage Tom, so he begins making a mess around the house by, among other things, emptying the ashtray onto the floor, squirting ink from a fountain pen into a pail, juggling food, bringing an old horse and pushing an ink stamp pad onto Tom's paws while he takes a nap, causing the cat to leave a long trail of paw prints in the living room.

Tom throws Jerry down the laundry chute into the basement and quickly cleans the room. As he does so, a coal truck arrives at the house to make a delivery, and Jerry uses a rope to pull the truck's delivery chute up to the living room window, causing the house to flood with coal. When Mammy returns from shopping and discovers this, she blames Tom, who flees. As he runs, Mammy throws lumps of coal at him, one of which knocks him out.

Reception

Boxoffice reviewed the short on December 12, 1948, saying, "This is a repeat performance of a common film cartoon gag but amusing nevertheless."[3]

In 2007, this short and Casanova Cat were pulled from the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection - Volume 3 DVD compilation by Warner Home Video due to the racial stereotype of Mammy Two Shoes.[4]

Voice cast

Production

Notes
  • The scene where Tom runs far away from getting hit from the flying projectile, in this case - a lump of coal, was reused from a previous cartoon, Tee for Two.

Availability

VHS

  • Tom and Jerry's 50th Birthday Classics 3.[5]

DVD

  • The original version (with Lillian Randolph's voice) is intact on UK TV airings
  • Tom and Jerry: The Classic Collection Vol 2, and the Vol's 1-6 boxset (Region 2 DVD, uncensored)
  • This cartoon was omitted from the Spotlight Collection, Volume 3 DVD release in 2007. It had been announced that Mouse Cleaning would be available on the Tom and Jerry Golden Collection - Volume 2 on DVD and Blu-ray, with the short being presented uncut, uncensored, and restored from its original nitrate elements that had been recently discovered.[6] However, on February 6, 2013, it was announced by TVShowsOnDVD.com that Mouse Cleaning was not part of the list of cartoons on this release, as well as the cartoon Casanova Cat, which was also skipped over on the Spotlight Collection, Volume 3 DVD release.[7] However, the set has since been indefinitely delayed following a negative reception.

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 149–150. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  2. "Mouse Cleaning". BCDB. 2012-12-10.
  3. Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0810832503.
  4. Lacey, Gord. "Tom and Jerry - Two shorts missing - Statement from Warner Bros". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on September 15, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2007.
  5. "Tom & Jerry's 50th Birthday Classics 3". Tom and Jerry Online. External link in |publisher= (help)
  6. ""Tom & Jerry" on Blu-Ray | Cartoon Brew". cartoonbrew.com. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  7. Lambert, David. "Tom and Jerry - Episode List for 'Golden Collection Volume 2'...Guess What's Missing?". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2013. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
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