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Jerry Mouse
Gerald Jinx Mouse, known simply as Jerry, is an American character and one of the two titular characters in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical animated short films and other animated media, usually acting as the protagonist opposite his rival Tom Cat. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Jerry is an anthropomorphic (but usually silent) brown house mouse, who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot.
The character was not referred to by name in his debut cartoon; Hanna said that the mouse's original name as "Jinx", while Barbera claimed the mouse went unnamed in his first appearance. A 1940 article from MGM's Short Story magazine, however, would refer to the character as "Pee-Wee".
The name "Jerry" was chosen by Geraint Rowlands, who submitted "Tom and Jerry" as potential names for the duo after an important Loews Inc. distributor in Texas asked for follow-ups to Puss Gets the Boot. While the idea of a cat-and-mouse duo was considered shopworn by the 1940s, Hanna and Barbera decided to expand upon the standard expected cat and mouse relationship. Instead of being a "cowering victim" of Tom, he took delight in besting, and even torturing, his feline frenemy (even if Tom is just following orders or is even just minding his own business and is antagonized by Jerry). Hanna and Barbera considered Tom and Jerry "the best of enemies", whose rivalry hid an unspoken amount of mutual caring and respect for one another. Indeed, Tom and Jerry are not always enemies; they have been known to stop fighting with each other long enough to team up on occasion and get rid of a common foe if the situation calls for it.
In later Tom and Jerry cartoons, Jerry acquired a young ward: a small grey mouse called "Tuffy" or "Nibbles" depending upon the cartoon, who was left on Jerry's doorstep as a foundling baby in the 1946 short The Milky Waif. Jerry and Tuffy were also featured together in a sub-series of Tom and Jerry cartoons set in 17th century France which featured the characters as musketeers. The first of these shorts, The Two Mouseketeers, won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons.
Hanna and Barbera served as writer/directors of the Tom and Jerry cartoons until 1956, when they also became the producers. Fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons between 1940 and 1954 were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, with seven of the shorts winning that award. MGM shut down its animation department in 1957, but new Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced by Gene Deitch and later Chuck Jones during the 1960s. Jerry would also appear in later Tom and Jerry productions made for television, a series of direct-to-video features, and Tom and Jerry: The Movie, a 1992 theatrical film. Later productions eschewed much of the violence the 1940s and 1950s shorts were known for, and in several of the television shows Jerry was given a red bowtie and a kinder disposition in Tom & Jerry Kids.
On his own, Jerry Mouse appears in a fantasy sequence in the 1945 Gene Kelly MGM musical film Anchors Aweigh. Jerry appears as the young ruler of a kingdom where music is banned because he feels he lacks talent, and Kelly persuades the mouse into performing a song-and-dance number with him. Kelly and MGM had originally wanted Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse as Kelly's dance partner for the sequence, but Disney was unwilling to license the character.
Hanna and Barbera achieved the effect of Kelly dancing with Jerry by rotoscoping: live-action plates of Kelly dancing alone were shot first, and the action traced frame by frame so that Jerry's movements would match. The success of the animated segment of Anchors Aweigh, which was mentioned as "stealing the show" in contemporary trade reviews, led to two more live-action/animated projects for Hanna and Barbera and MGM: an underwater ballet sequence featuring both Tom and Jerry in the 1953 film Dangerous When Wet, with Esther Williams, and the "Sinbad the Sailor" sequence of Kelly's 1956 film Invitation to the Dance.
In 1990, this version of Jerry wears a red bowtie (just like what he used to have in the 1975 Tom and Jerry Show) and has a tuft of hair on his head. He often taunts Tom (as a kitten) any chance he gets. Sometimes, in a few episodes, he is friends with/allies of Tom.
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Jerry Mouse
Gerald Jinx Mouse, known simply as Jerry, is an American character and one of the two titular characters in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical animated short films and other animated media, usually acting as the protagonist opposite his rival Tom Cat. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Jerry is an anthropomorphic (but usually silent) brown house mouse, who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot.
The character was not referred to by name in his debut cartoon; Hanna said that the mouse's original name as "Jinx", while Barbera claimed the mouse went unnamed in his first appearance. A 1940 article from MGM's Short Story magazine, however, would refer to the character as "Pee-Wee".
The name "Jerry" was chosen by Geraint Rowlands, who submitted "Tom and Jerry" as potential names for the duo after an important Loews Inc. distributor in Texas asked for follow-ups to Puss Gets the Boot. While the idea of a cat-and-mouse duo was considered shopworn by the 1940s, Hanna and Barbera decided to expand upon the standard expected cat and mouse relationship. Instead of being a "cowering victim" of Tom, he took delight in besting, and even torturing, his feline frenemy (even if Tom is just following orders or is even just minding his own business and is antagonized by Jerry). Hanna and Barbera considered Tom and Jerry "the best of enemies", whose rivalry hid an unspoken amount of mutual caring and respect for one another. Indeed, Tom and Jerry are not always enemies; they have been known to stop fighting with each other long enough to team up on occasion and get rid of a common foe if the situation calls for it.
In later Tom and Jerry cartoons, Jerry acquired a young ward: a small grey mouse called "Tuffy" or "Nibbles" depending upon the cartoon, who was left on Jerry's doorstep as a foundling baby in the 1946 short The Milky Waif. Jerry and Tuffy were also featured together in a sub-series of Tom and Jerry cartoons set in 17th century France which featured the characters as musketeers. The first of these shorts, The Two Mouseketeers, won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons.
Hanna and Barbera served as writer/directors of the Tom and Jerry cartoons until 1956, when they also became the producers. Fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons between 1940 and 1954 were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, with seven of the shorts winning that award. MGM shut down its animation department in 1957, but new Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced by Gene Deitch and later Chuck Jones during the 1960s. Jerry would also appear in later Tom and Jerry productions made for television, a series of direct-to-video features, and Tom and Jerry: The Movie, a 1992 theatrical film. Later productions eschewed much of the violence the 1940s and 1950s shorts were known for, and in several of the television shows Jerry was given a red bowtie and a kinder disposition in Tom & Jerry Kids.
On his own, Jerry Mouse appears in a fantasy sequence in the 1945 Gene Kelly MGM musical film Anchors Aweigh. Jerry appears as the young ruler of a kingdom where music is banned because he feels he lacks talent, and Kelly persuades the mouse into performing a song-and-dance number with him. Kelly and MGM had originally wanted Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse as Kelly's dance partner for the sequence, but Disney was unwilling to license the character.
Hanna and Barbera achieved the effect of Kelly dancing with Jerry by rotoscoping: live-action plates of Kelly dancing alone were shot first, and the action traced frame by frame so that Jerry's movements would match. The success of the animated segment of Anchors Aweigh, which was mentioned as "stealing the show" in contemporary trade reviews, led to two more live-action/animated projects for Hanna and Barbera and MGM: an underwater ballet sequence featuring both Tom and Jerry in the 1953 film Dangerous When Wet, with Esther Williams, and the "Sinbad the Sailor" sequence of Kelly's 1956 film Invitation to the Dance.
In 1990, this version of Jerry wears a red bowtie (just like what he used to have in the 1975 Tom and Jerry Show) and has a tuft of hair on his head. He often taunts Tom (as a kitten) any chance he gets. Sometimes, in a few episodes, he is friends with/allies of Tom.