Touché, Pussy Cat!

Touché, Pussy Cat!
Tom and Jerry series
Title card
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices by	Francoise Brun-Cottan
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Kenneth Muse Ed Barge Irven Spence
Backgrounds by	Robert Gentle
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	December 18, 1954
Color process	Technicolor CinemaScope
Running time	6:45
Language	English, French
Preceded by	Pet Peeve
Followed by	Southbound Duckling

Touché, Pussy Cat! is the 89th one-reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1954 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1954, the series' final Oscar nomination, while Johann Mouse won the last award for the series a year before.

Touché, Pussy Cat! is a follow-up and a prequel to the 1952 cartoon The Two Mouseketeers which did win the award that year (as well as being named after Tuffy's catchphrase in the "Mousketeer" shorts). The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge and Irven Spence, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released in theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on December 18, 1954.

It was the first of the Tom and Jerry shorts to be produced in CinemaScope, but was the second CinemaScope-produced short to be released (after Pet Peeve, released the previous month; Touché, Pussy Cat! has an earlier MPAA certificate number). The cartoon also exists in a non-Cinemascope format. Touché, Pussy Cat! spawned two further entries in the "Mouseketeer" series of Tom and Jerry cartoons, namely Tom and Chérie in 1955, and Royal Cat Nap in 1957, released 1958.

Plot

The cartoon begins with Tuffy (formerly named Nibbles but voiced by the same actor) walking to the King's Mouseketeers Headquarters in Paris. Upon reaching the said place, Tuffy becomes excited at the prospect of finally becoming Mousekeeter that he starts lashing away at the door with his rapier. Tuffy thrusts the rapier at the door too hard and is sent flying into one of the nearby empty bottles. At that point, Jerry, being the Captain of the Mouseketeers, opens the door to investigate the ruckus. Jerry notices the note that Tuffy was carrying indicating he was sent by his father François Mouse to be trained by Jerry as a Mouseketeer.

Tuffy introduces himself (in French), but his constant talking is too much for Jerry, who cannot keep Tuffy quiet (even by covering up his mouth with his yellow hat).

To see if Tuffy would make a good mouseketeer, Jerry puts him through a series of tests. However, Tuffy fails miserably, bringing destruction to the room, ending with Jerry being stabbed in the rear. While walking down the cobbled Parisian streets, Jerry stops to give way to a pretty female mouse, while Tuffy simply stands and watches. Jerry tells Tuffy to give way to ladies, but Tuffy gives way to a large puddle. Jerry trips over Tuffy and falls face-down in the puddle. Tuffy allows another lady mouse to walk over Jerry. Just as Jerry is about to chastise Tuffy, Tom comes into the scene. Jerry tries to hide Tuffy and himself from Tom's view, but Tuffy, ever the confrontational mouse, marches up to Tom and yells "En garde!" As the little rodent counts to trois, Tom slices his hat. Jerry, fearing for Tuffy's safety, pushes down an axe. It slices through Tom, who appears unaffected by this. He sticks out his tongue, but then splits into two.

Back at Jerry's Headquarters, a stern and disgusted Jerry is responding to his friend's letter, regretting that Tuffy will never qualify as a mouseketeer. He orders Tuffy out of the building with the disgraceful letter for Tuffy to give to his parents, and Tuffy glumly walks off. Just then, he hears the sounds of swords clashing. Running back, he sees that Tom has ambushed Jerry and now's fighting Jerry with Tom winning. Tuffy comes to the rescue by using his sword to slash off the end of Tom's tail. Tom screams in pain and leaps into the air. "Touché, Pussy Cat!" exclaims Tuffy. Tom fights back and pins Tuffy to a nearby wall. However, Jerry pulls down on Tom's clothing, causing it to expose his underwear. As Tom again tries to fight back, Tuffy, who is hiding inside a barrel behind Tom, chops off his tail once more. "Touché, Pussy Cat!" yells Tuffy (again).

In the next scene, Jerry and Tuffy are running from Tom, but end up getting separated. Tuffy spies some paint and begins painting a simple and unflattering picture of Tom, to the tune of Frère Jacques. Unbeknown to him, Tom is standing right behind him and is not amused. Tuffy points out to Tom his picture of the pussy cat, until he realizes his mistake. Still armed with a paintbrush, he paints on Tom's face and runs off, leaving Tom with a painted duo-monocle and moustache on his face. Tom races after Tuffy, who delays Tom by cutting open some champagne bottles, sending several corks into Tom's face. As Tom begins to catch up with the little mouse, Tuffy slashes open a huge barrel of wine, which sent a great wave of the wine down the road, engulfing Tom and sending him down the sewers. Tuffy manages to swim to safety on a window's ledge, albeit drunk, and observes Tom's fate as he goes down the hole. Tuffy then remarks, "Pauvre, pauvre,...(hic!)...Pushee’ Cat" ("Poor, poor pussycat").

The final scene shows Jerry awarding Tuffy the coveted title of mouseketeer for his heroics after all. He gives Tuffy the mousketeer garments, and as Tuffy proudly shows off his new clothes and swordfighting skills, he accidentally stabs Jerry in the rear. At the end of the cartoon, Jerry, apparently thinking it was intentional, repeatedly spanks Tuffy's backside, as Tuffy remarks "C'est la guerre!" ("That's war"). 

External links

• Touché, Pussy Cat! at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Touché, Pussy Cat! at the Internet Movie Database