Casanova Cat

Casanova Cat
Tom and Jerry series
Title Card
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Irven Spence Ray Patterson Ed Barge Kenneth Muse
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	January 6, 1951
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7:04
Language	English
Preceded by	Cue Ball Cat
Followed by	Jerry and the Goldfish

Casanova Cat is a 1951 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 55th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. This cartoon marks the final appearance of Toodles Galore during the Golden Age of Hollywood animation.

Plot

Tom attempts to woo Toodles by forcing Jerry to endlessly perform humiliating stunts for him and Toodles.

A newspaper headline announces that Toodles has inherited a million dollars. A top-hatted Tom heads to Toodles' home to woo her (and presumably get his paws on her inheritance) with flowers and newspaper in hand. Jerry, visibly annoyed and tied to a bow, is being dragged along behind Tom.

Toodles' housemaid (presumably Mammy Two Shoes, in a non-speaking role) takes his hat and lets him in. Tom gawks at Toodles and offers Jerry to her as a present. Tom then treats Jerry like a toy, endlessly forcing him into performing one humiliating performance after another:

1) He winds Jerry up like a wind-up doll and makes him stumble to the tune of Three Letters in the Mailbox, followed by a bow.

2) He rolls a ball that Jerry is forced to do cartwheels and handstands on until Tom connects his arm to the goldfish bowl causing Jerry to land in it. The female cat is impressed with Tom's "pet" as Tom continues to impress her.

3) In a scene that is often cut when shown on television, Tom blackens Jerry's face with cigar smoke and forces Jerry to do a tap-dance on a hot metal plate as Old Folks at Home plays in the background. Tom then wraps Jerry up and hands him over as a present to give to Toodles, Toodles reaches to accept the present but Tom retreats his hand and puckers his lips, basically asking for a kiss in return for the present. Just as Tom and Toodles are about to kiss, Jerry lands behind Tom's tail which he feeds to an automatic ashtray, causing Tom to scream in Toodles' face and embarrass himself.

Jerry escapes to the window ledge and spots Butch lollygagging in a nearby alley. Jerry folds the newspaper article announcing Toodles' windfall into a paper airplane and launches it towards Butch. Butch's interest is piqued, he goes wild over the article and gives the picture of Toodles a big hot kiss as you see his lip imprints burn the page up, and Jerry shows Butch where Toodles is. Butch catapults himself into Toodles' home and literally comes between Tom and her.

Tom and Butch proceed to battle each other for Toodles' affection, Toodles, sitting on the couch watches them fight back and forth, Tom passes by Toodles and kisses her cheek, Butch then does the same thing while Tom isn't looking, this continues to go back and forth. At one point, Butch takes Toodles in his arms in a romantic dipping position, then Tom pops up behind the couch looking the opposite direction (to make sure Butch isn't behind him), he thinks Toodles is next to him but doesn't see that Butch is sitting where she was and Toodles was in Butche's arms. Butch, winds his head back to kiss Toodles but at the same time Tom turns around to also kiss Toodles, they both without realizing, give each other a big kiss on the lips as they slide across to the other side of the couch until they realize they are kissing each other, Butch falls over a little but is bungeed by their lips still stuck together until they separate and he falls over. But they soon discover that in the midst of their brawling, Jerry kisses Toodles on the cheek, which has her take an interest in Jerry. Tom and Butch chase Jerry and even though they soon have him cornered, the wily mouse is able to confuse and distract the two cats and escape. He runs into a vent as Tom reaches in on one side and Butch reaches in the other, they both grab each other without knowing and Jerry escapes. After untangling themselves, Tom and Butch look out the window and see a car leaving; Toodles and Jerry are canoodling in the back seat.

Censorship and Bans

• On Cartoon Network, the entire sequence involving Jerry's blackface tap-dance performance is cut (though this censored scene was reinstated to the short when it aired as an interstitial during Adult Swim in 2008). This sequence is also likely to have been the reason that this short was omitted from the final Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection.

Availability

• Casanova Cat can be found (uncensored and uncut) on the 1992 MGM/UA Home Video released VHS entitled Tom and Jerry's Cartoon Cavalcade, and on the UK DVD set entitled Tom and Jerry - The Complete Classic Collection. Chances are also fairly likely that it will be released on the second Tom and Jerry Golden Collection in the USA.

External links

• Casanova Cat at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Casanova Cat at the Internet Movie Database