Blue Cat Blues

Blue Cat Blues
File:Blue Cat Blues title.JPG Title Card
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Animation by	Ed Barge Irven Spence Lewis Marshall Kenneth Muse
Layouts by	Richard Bickenbach
Backgrounds by	Robert Gentle
Color process	Technicolor CinemaScope
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running time	6:50

Blue Cat Blues is a 1956 one reel animated Tom and Jerry cartoon directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. Released on November 16, 1956 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the cartoon was animated by Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Lewis Marshall and Kenneth Muse, with layouts by Richard Bickenbach and backgrounds by Robert Gentle.

Unusual for a Tom and Jerry short, Jerry "speaks", narrating the story in voiceover via Paul Frees. Since Jerry narrates through inner monologue, the short does not break the "cardinal rule" of not having Tom or Jerry physically speaking on screen. Also, unusually for a Tom and Jerry cartoon, while all the others have comical storylines, this one has a tragic one. Because of this — and Tom and Jerry's implied suicide at the end — this cartoon has rarely been seen on American television, although it has aired once on TNT in the early 1990s and made its rounds on local affiliate channels. However, the short aired for only once on Cartoon Network Southeast Asia in November 2010. As of March 2014, very few airings are known but it has been shown briefly on Cartoon Network in the USA.

This cartoon marks the final appearance of Butch in Tom and Jerry cartoons produced before the MGM cartoon studio shuts down in 1957. Although Butch would make one last appearance (along with his other alley cat pals Meathead, Topsy and Lightning) in the Spike and Tyke cartoon Scat Cats before the studio's closure.

Plot

A depressed Tom sits on the railroad tracks, bent on suicide. Watching from a bridge above the tracks overhead, Jerry laments his old friend's state. Jerry knows that, when he gets home, his own friends will ask him why he didn't even try to stop Tom. Jerry believes that "it's better this way, and for the first time since he met her, he will be happy". Jerry recalls the events leading up to Tom's depression:

Tom and Jerry are inseparable friends, until a beautiful white female cat catches Tom's eye. The white cat initially reciprocates Tom's affections, but that soon changes for the worst: the much-wealthier Mr. Butch lives next door to the white cat and he also becomes smitten by her. He rudely interrupts her relationship with Tom to make his move and ignores Tom's attempts to stop him. Attracted by Butch's wealth, the white cat proves herself to be an opportunist as Jerry always suspected her to be and leaves Tom.

Having seen the white cat for what she is, and how she has made a fool of his best friend, Jerry urges Tom to give up and let Butch have her. Ignoring Jerry's warnings, Tom pushes himself and his finances to the limit and beyond, in futile attempts at winning back the white cat's affections. He brings her such presents as flowers, perfume, a diamond ring (with the diamond so small it has to be looked at with a magnifying glass), and a car (an utter jalopy, for which Tom literally sold himself into slavery - 20 years of it - so that he could cover 26 years' worth of payments at the annual interest rate of 112%). However, because Butch's presents are much bigger, to the point of outrageous extravagance (a large floral wreath, a tanker truck full of perfume, a ring with a diamond so large and shiny that it could not be looked at without eye protection, and an extremely long luxurious car), the white cat rejects the desperate Tom. After this incident (the refusal of his jalopy), Tom gives up all hopes of gaining the white cat and falls into a depression.

Broken-hearted, penniless and hopelessly in debt, Tom drowns his sorrows in milk - despite Jerry's pleas for him to stop. Tom almost lets himself go down the gutter (literally), but Jerry rescues him. As Jerry resuscitates Tom, they both see the white cat riding by in Butch's coupe, laden with luggage and a "Just Married" sign on the back.

Jerry breaks from the sad story to think about his own girlfriend, "Toots". He is happy that, unlike Tom's ex-girlfriend, she has been faithful. Suddenly, Jerry's love world is shattered when Toots rides by with another mouse (who looks like an adult Tuffy), a "Just Married" sign on the back of their car. Jerry, now dejected, joins Tom on the railroad tracks. They sit and wait for an oncoming train, which draws near to run over them. The oncoming train's whistle sounds louder as the cartoon fades out.

Themes

This is one of the very few shorts in which Jerry is not an antagonist, instead he is extremely sympathetic to Tom's plight and even tries to stop or intervene to the point of saving the cat's life. Overall, it's futile but it shows a rare moment of pity towards a character that a lot of fans feel usually goes out of his way to provoke Tom into harming himself or others.

The short is often praised as very realistic and it's gloomy tone has won praise for not editing the very bleak situation Tom gets himself into. Although he begins 'drinking', his beverage is milk instead of alcohol but apparently has the same effect on he tries to commit suicide twice, once passively (saved by Jerry at the last minute) and finally at the train tracks with a similarly broken-hearted Jerry next to him. Both alcoholism and suicide are often taboo subjects and both are never mentioned or represented in modern American animation since most modern American animation is catered to younger audiences.

File:TomandJerryTitleCard3.jpg

The sixth and final Tom and Jerry cartoon to feature this title card that first appeared in The Flying Sorceress.

Availability

DVD

• Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 3
• Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1, Disc Two

ITunes Tom and Jerry Vol.1 Tom and Jerry and Friends Vol.1

External links

• Template:Bcdb title
• Blue Cat Blues at IMDb