Mouse Cleaning
Encyclopedia
Mouse Cleaning is a 1948
one-reel animated cartoon
and is the 38th Tom and Jerry
short
. The title is a play on "house cleaning". It was produced in Technicolor
and released to theatres on December 11, 1948 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge, who were the usual animators for the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the early 1940s up until the late 1950s. As per most Tom and Jerry cartoons, it was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby. The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the backgrounds were by Robert Gentle.
Tom nods his head in fright and Jerry, hiding behind a broom, also nods his head, ready as usual to take stock of the situation to sabotage Tom's efforts. After Mammy closes the door, Tom sticks his tongue out at her and makes a face, but she opens the door and points her finger at Tom, giving him a final warning to keep the place clean. Tom then nods again and kisses her finger, smiling politely, and satisfied, the maid leaves. For the rest of the cartoon, the mouse takes advantage of this conditional to torment the cat.
Tom finishes the remainder of the cleaning, and relieved, Tom wipes the sweat off his forehead, but immediately has to clean this up in addition. A fly buzzes through the room and leaves dirt behind on one of the windows, so he has to wipe the window down to boot. Jerry busts in on the fun by scooping ashes from an ashtray onto the floor. Tom quickly grabs a broom and dustpan and cleans up the mess, but no sooner has he finished than the rodent is on the floor, holding the ashtray like a parade drum, and tripping the switch to dump more ashes onto the ground. Fed up, Tom forgetfully hurls a tomato at him, and Jerry ducks as the tomato splatters into the wall, creating an even bigger mess for Tom to clean.
In apoplexy, the cat collects a bucket and starts to clean the wall, but as usual, he does not concentrate on the bucket and fails to spot Jerry ejecting blue ink from an ink pen into the bucket. Midway through cleaning up the tomato, Tom has created an identically sized mess of blue ink on the wall, and he realizes what has happened when he becomes aware that the water and towel are blue. In absolute dread, the cat covers his eyes and slowly peeks at his new mess, and then lifts his hand; his eyes and mouth exaggeratedly pop out.
Soon he sees Jerry holding the ink pen, and he starts a new chase in complete rage, which quickly stops when the mouse threatens to squirt ink over the drapes. Smirking, he carries out this threat, but no ink escapes; apparently, the pen is empty. The cat, delighted, steals the pen and accidentally empties it onto the drapes. In horror, he grabs the drapes and runs them through the washing machine, the wringer, and the iron. Exhausted, the cat replaces the drapes and breathes out hoarsely.
No sooner does this happen than Jerry has returned to his sabotage; this time, he juggles six eggs while walking a tightrope, forcing the cat to protect him in case he falls and, eventually, to catch the eggs when Jerry flings them across the room. In addition to juggling, Tom is forced to catch a cream pie on a fork using only his head, barely standing up. As the coup de grace, Jerry pulls the rug from under Tom, and although the cat recovers in time to snatch the egg carton
and catch every egg in it, he forgets about the pie, which splatters onto his face.
Having been humiliated again, Tom searches for Jerry, but shortly the mouse opens the front door for an old horse
to walk into the house. Tom scares Jerry back out of the house as he quickly grabs the horse and throws him out, and while his enemy is occupied with this, Jerry takes the opportunity to unknowingly re-enter the house through an electrical outlet marked Emergency Entrance, ready for another scheme. Tom goes to sleep, apparently rid of all threats.
Meanwhile, Jerry pushes a stamp ink pad onto Tom's paws, and when the cat wakes up, he shuts the pad on Tom's nose before the cat can process what he sees; accordingly, Tom forgets about the stamp pad and chases the mouse. Jerry leads Tom on an off-screen chase through the entire house, and when the duo finally pulls back into view, Jerry stops the chase and alerts the cat of the gigantic mess of paw prints he must now clean up. Looking at his ink-covered paws, Tom makes the connection and picks up the mouse, hurls him down the laundry chute, and races to clean the house before Mammy returns.
Meanwhile, a truck full of coal has come to the house to make a delivery; Jerry grabs a rope and ties it to the delivery chute. On the verge of finishing the sanitizing job, Tom sees Mammy coming up the sidewalk; he hurriedly finishes, then stows the cleaning supplies behind the couch and sits down hopefully, ready for Mammy's return. Jerry pulls the delivery chute up to the living room such that the entire shipment of coal barges into the house, knocking Tom down and then Mammy when she opens the front door. As soon as she digs her head out from the coal, she begins threatening to throttle Tom, despite the utter impossibility of Tom's cause for this new mess. Just then, Tom emerges in blackface.
Thinking that he is a black man with information on Tom, Mammy asks him if he saw Tom. Tom, knowing that he is in trouble now, responds (via Stepin Fetchit
's voice) that he hasn't. Tom, meanwhile, walks away from the coal pile, but only his head is blackened, so his disguise does not fool the maid. As she begins to pelt coal angrily at Tom, he taunts her and tries to run away, but Mammy throws a large dive bomb into the distance and it ends up hitting Tom square on the head, knocking him out in an identical fashion to Tee for Two
.
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
one-reel animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
and is the 38th Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
. The title is a play on "house cleaning". It was produced in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
and released to theatres on December 11, 1948 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge, who were the usual animators for the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the early 1940s up until the late 1950s. As per most Tom and Jerry cartoons, it was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby. The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the backgrounds were by Robert Gentle.
Plot
The cartoon opens with Mammy Two Shoes mopping the kitchen floor. Right after she finishes, she is happy to have cleaned the entire house and hopes it will remain clean; unfortunately, it doesn't, as the camera cuts to Tom chasing Jerry outside, rounding a corner too wide and through a mud puddle, and then continuing the chase into the house. He runs into Mammy and she hits him with the mop, chastises him for making such a huge mess and forces him to mop the floor. As Tom finishes, Mammy goes out for shopping. She warns Tom not to make any mess in the house, otherwise he'll be thrown out.Tom nods his head in fright and Jerry, hiding behind a broom, also nods his head, ready as usual to take stock of the situation to sabotage Tom's efforts. After Mammy closes the door, Tom sticks his tongue out at her and makes a face, but she opens the door and points her finger at Tom, giving him a final warning to keep the place clean. Tom then nods again and kisses her finger, smiling politely, and satisfied, the maid leaves. For the rest of the cartoon, the mouse takes advantage of this conditional to torment the cat.
Tom finishes the remainder of the cleaning, and relieved, Tom wipes the sweat off his forehead, but immediately has to clean this up in addition. A fly buzzes through the room and leaves dirt behind on one of the windows, so he has to wipe the window down to boot. Jerry busts in on the fun by scooping ashes from an ashtray onto the floor. Tom quickly grabs a broom and dustpan and cleans up the mess, but no sooner has he finished than the rodent is on the floor, holding the ashtray like a parade drum, and tripping the switch to dump more ashes onto the ground. Fed up, Tom forgetfully hurls a tomato at him, and Jerry ducks as the tomato splatters into the wall, creating an even bigger mess for Tom to clean.
In apoplexy, the cat collects a bucket and starts to clean the wall, but as usual, he does not concentrate on the bucket and fails to spot Jerry ejecting blue ink from an ink pen into the bucket. Midway through cleaning up the tomato, Tom has created an identically sized mess of blue ink on the wall, and he realizes what has happened when he becomes aware that the water and towel are blue. In absolute dread, the cat covers his eyes and slowly peeks at his new mess, and then lifts his hand; his eyes and mouth exaggeratedly pop out.
No sooner does this happen than Jerry has returned to his sabotage; this time, he juggles six eggs while walking a tightrope, forcing the cat to protect him in case he falls and, eventually, to catch the eggs when Jerry flings them across the room. In addition to juggling, Tom is forced to catch a cream pie on a fork using only his head, barely standing up. As the coup de grace, Jerry pulls the rug from under Tom, and although the cat recovers in time to snatch the egg carton
Egg carton
An egg carton is a carton designed for carrying and transporting whole eggs. These cartons have a dimpled form in which each dimple accommodates an individual egg and isolates that egg from eggs in adjacent dimples...
and catch every egg in it, he forgets about the pie, which splatters onto his face.
Having been humiliated again, Tom searches for Jerry, but shortly the mouse opens the front door for an old horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
to walk into the house. Tom scares Jerry back out of the house as he quickly grabs the horse and throws him out, and while his enemy is occupied with this, Jerry takes the opportunity to unknowingly re-enter the house through an electrical outlet marked Emergency Entrance, ready for another scheme. Tom goes to sleep, apparently rid of all threats.
Meanwhile, Jerry pushes a stamp ink pad onto Tom's paws, and when the cat wakes up, he shuts the pad on Tom's nose before the cat can process what he sees; accordingly, Tom forgets about the stamp pad and chases the mouse. Jerry leads Tom on an off-screen chase through the entire house, and when the duo finally pulls back into view, Jerry stops the chase and alerts the cat of the gigantic mess of paw prints he must now clean up. Looking at his ink-covered paws, Tom makes the connection and picks up the mouse, hurls him down the laundry chute, and races to clean the house before Mammy returns.
Meanwhile, a truck full of coal has come to the house to make a delivery; Jerry grabs a rope and ties it to the delivery chute. On the verge of finishing the sanitizing job, Tom sees Mammy coming up the sidewalk; he hurriedly finishes, then stows the cleaning supplies behind the couch and sits down hopefully, ready for Mammy's return. Jerry pulls the delivery chute up to the living room such that the entire shipment of coal barges into the house, knocking Tom down and then Mammy when she opens the front door. As soon as she digs her head out from the coal, she begins threatening to throttle Tom, despite the utter impossibility of Tom's cause for this new mess. Just then, Tom emerges in blackface.
Thinking that he is a black man with information on Tom, Mammy asks him if he saw Tom. Tom, knowing that he is in trouble now, responds (via Stepin Fetchit
Stepin Fetchit
Stepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry....
's voice) that he hasn't. Tom, meanwhile, walks away from the coal pile, but only his head is blackened, so his disguise does not fool the maid. As she begins to pelt coal angrily at Tom, he taunts her and tries to run away, but Mammy throws a large dive bomb into the distance and it ends up hitting Tom square on the head, knocking him out in an identical fashion to Tee for Two
Tee for Two
Tee for Two is a 1945 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 20th Tom and Jerry short. It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on July 21, 1945 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. The cartoon name is a pun on the phrase "Tea for two". It was the last wartime Tom and Jerry cartoon.-Plot:The...
.
Voice cast
- Lillian RandolphLillian RandolphLillian Randolph was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. An African American, she worked in entertainment from the 1930s well into the 1970s, appearing in hundreds of radio shows, motion pictures, short subjects, and television shows.-Early years:Born...
as Mammy Two Shoes (original) (uncredited) - Thea VidaleThea VidaleThea Vidale , is an American stand-up comedian and actress.She began her career doing stand-up comedy in comic clubs in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles...
as Mammy Two Shoes (dubbed version) (uncredited) - Stepin FetchitStepin FetchitStepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry....
as Tom (uncensored version) (uncredited)
Censorship and Bans
- Warner Home Video had this cartoon on their list of 2 cartoons (the other being Casanova CatCasanova CatCasanova 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 :A newspaper headline...
) to be pulled from the Tom and Jerry Spotlight CollectionTom and Jerry Spotlight CollectionThe Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection is a series of two-disc DVD sets, released by Warner Home Video. Originally planned as an uncut, chronological set, the issued Spotlight Collection sets wound up including selected Tom and Jerry shorts on each volume...
- Volume 3 DVD compilation because of the scene where Mammy emerges from the coal and discovers the "black man" is actually Tom. - Originally, Cartoon Network left this scene intact, but in 2001, it was cut to the blackfacedBlackfaceBlackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
Tom running from Mammy. - The scene of Tom in blackface showing him sneaking away from Mammy was reanimated in 1965. This time, Tom does not say anything, then resumes to the original cartoon.
- Most recent airings on Cartoon Network have Thea VidaleThea VidaleThea Vidale , is an American stand-up comedian and actress.She began her career doing stand-up comedy in comic clubs in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles...
voice Mammy.
Availability
- Mouse Cleaning can be found on the 1990 MGM/UA Home Video released VHS title Tom and Jerry's 50th Birthday Classics 3.
- The original version (with Lillian Randolph's voice) is intact in UK airings, as well as being available on Volume 2 of the Tom and Jerry Classic Collection.
- It has been recently announced that Mouse Cleaning will be available on the Tom and Jerry Golden CollectionTom and Jerry Golden CollectionThe Tom and Jerry Golden Collection is a series of two-disc DVD and Blu-ray sets, currently in production by Warner Home Video. The releases are expected to be uncut and in chronological order...
- Volume 2 on DVD and Blu-rayBlu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
, with the short being presented uncut, uncensored, and restored from its original nitrate elements that have been recently discovered. The short will be presented in 1080p1080p1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....
high definitionHigh-definition televisionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
on the Blu-ray version.