Tom Cat

This article is about the cartoon character. For other uses, see Tomcat (disambiguation).

Tom Cat
Tom and Jerry character
File:FlyingSorceress3.jpg Tom Cat.
First appearance	"Puss Gets the Boot" (1940) (As Jasper)
Last appearance	"Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz" (2011)
Created by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voiced by	See below
In-universe information
Alias	Thomas
Species	Cat
Gender	Male
Family	Mammy Two Shoes, Man from Posse Cat and Cruise Cat , Gorge and Joan (owner)
Relatives	George (cousin) Butch ("buddy" or rival) Meathead ("buddy" or rival) Topsy ("buddy" or rival) Lightning ("buddy" or rival) Jerry ("buddy" mostly rival)

Thomas "Tom" Cat is a fictional character and half of the academy-award winning Tom and Jerry cartoon cat-and-mouse duo. He is a blue/grey anthropomorphic cat who first appeared in the 1940 animated short Puss Gets the Boot. Tom was originally known as "Jasper" during his debut in that short, however, beginning from his next appearance in The Midnight Snack and onwards, he is known as "Tom" or "Thomas".

History

Tom and Jerry cartoons

His full name "Tom Cat" is based on "tomcat", a phrase which refers to male cats. He is very rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons (such as Tom & Jerry Tales' League of Cats) and "Tom and Jerry: The Movie". His only notable vocal sounds outside of this are his various screams whenever he is subject to pain or panic. He is continuously after Jerry Mouse, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to him rather than Jerry. Tom rarely sets out to eat Jerry, only to hurt or compete with him, going to great lengths in order to torment Jerry. However, Tom is shown to get along with Jerry at times.

Tom has changed remarkably over the years, especially after the first episodes. For example, in his debut, he was quadrupedal and had normal cat intelligence. However, over the years (since the episode Dog Trouble), he has become almost completely bipedal and has human intelligence. As a slapstick cartoon character, Tom has a superhuman level of elasticity. When acting as Jerry's antagonist, Tom is usually defeated in the end, although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry.

Anchors Aweigh & Dangerous When Wet

Tom and Jerry appeared together in the 1945 Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical Anchors Aweigh where Tom briefly appears as a butler for Jerry, the latter who has a dance sequence with Gene Kelly, and also in another musical with the same studio Dangerous When Wet (1953),where, in a dream sequence, main character Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) does an underwater ballet with Tom and Jerry, as well as animated depictions of the different people in her life.

Voice actors

• Red Coffee: Vocal Effects in The Hanna-Barbera era (1940–1941)
• William Hanna: Vocal Effects in The Hanna-Barbera era (1942–1958) shorts, The Lonesome Mouse, The Million Dollar Cat
• Billy Bletcher: 1944 Shorts: The Bodyguard, Zoot Cat, Quiet Please!
• Daws Butler: 1956 Short: Mucho Mouse (and a few others as well)
• Allen Swift: Vocal Effects in the Gene Deitch era (1961–1962) shorts
• Mel Blanc: Vocal Effects in the Chuck Jones era (1963–1967) Shorts, Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?
• Terence Monck: 1964 Short: The Cat Above and the Mouse Below
• Frank Welker: Tom & Jerry Kids, The Tom and Jerry Show, The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show
• Richard Kind: Tom and Jerry: The Movie (speaking voice only)
• Bill Kopp: Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars, Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers
• Jeff Bennett: Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring
• Don Brown: 2005 Short: The Karate Guard, Tom and Jerry Tales
• Billy West: Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz
• Stepin Fetchit: 1948 short: "Mouse Cleaning"

Love interests

Apart from chasing Jerry, Tom has multiple love interests with female cats. Their names start with "T", like Tom. They are :

• Toots, a fluffy beige cat who appears in Puss n' Toots and The Mouse Comes to Dinner, the latter being her only speaking role. This version of Toots also appeared in some 1940s Tom and Jerry comics.
• Toots, a different cat by the same name who appears in The Zoot Cat. (She has occasionally, erroneously been referred to as "Sheikie," but this is actually Tom's nickname, as seen on a gift card in the cartoon.)
• An unnamed, non-speaking cat who appears very briefly in The Bodyguard. She was made as a mere object of slap-stick humor, as when Tom gave her a wolf-whistle he ironically gave himself away to Spike, who was supposed to protect Jerry every time he whistles.
• Tara, a non-speaking cat who appears in Texas Tom.
• Toodles Galore, a non-speaking recurring cat who sometimes adores Tom—and sometimes treats him badly (particularly in Love Me, Love My Mouse). She appears in multiple shorts.

See also

• Tom and Jerry
• List of Hanna-Barbera characters
• Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer cartoon studio