Designs on Jerry
Encyclopedia
Designs on Jerry is the 93rd one reel
animated
Tom and Jerry
short
, created in 1953
directed by William Hanna
and Joseph Barbera
and produced by Fred Quimby
with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge with backgrounds by John Didrik Johnsen. It was released on September 2, 1955 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
.
designed to catch Jerry, and eventually become a worldwide success. In addition to the elaborate contraption, the blueprint also depicts stick figures of a mouse and a cat. After drawing the cheese and the mouse, tired from a hard day's work, Tom retires to his bed where he dreams of potential success, fame, and fortune.
While Tom sleeps, the stick figure mouse suddenly comes to life, abseils down the drawing board, and enters Jerry's mousehole to warn him about Tom's plan. Never having seen such a thing before, Jerry is skeptical and refuses to follow the stick mouse. When he is woken up again, stick mouse makes the decision for him, dragging Jerry to the drawing board and blueprint. Just then, the stick figure cat on the blueprint also comes to life; when the two mice pass by the cat, it reveals itself to them.
Promptly, Jerry hands stick-mouse an eraser, who erases the cat's teeth; it grabs a brush and draws a bigger set of teeth on itself before beginning the chase. Stick-mouse draws a mousehole in empty space on the blueprint, which Jerry safely enters; however, the stick mouse is pursued by the stick cat and is caught. Jerry walks behind the cat, draws shorter hind legs on it, and erases its bigger legs, causing stick-cat to fall down. It looks down at its feet while chasing Jerry and discovers its modification, and in return, uses its tail as a lasso
to retrieve Jerry.
Meanwhile, stick-mouse draws a bow and arrow and fires it at the cat, who pulls the arrow out of its rear and promptly deflates its own torso. Stick-mouse runs away and camouflages itself as one of the flowers in a flowerpot on the blueprint; the cat suspects nothing, and while turned the other way, the stick-mouse ladles the cat with a fork as one would spaghetti, then runs away as it unravels itself.
Both mice jump off the drawing board, with stick-mouse acting as a parachute, while stick-cat jumps down and bounces akin to a pogo stick
until it comes face-to-face with a jet of water fired by stick-mouse. The cat disintegrates into white ink, and before anything more than its head can reform, Jerry sucks the cat into an ink pen and empties it into Tom's jar of white ink. The two mice shake hands, but soon hear Tom yawning, about to wake up; quickly, they alter a key measurement on the blueprint, and both mice narrowly return to their original positions before Tom sees them. Tom gets to work building his mousetrap, not noticing anything amiss.
After his trap is completed, Tom hides in anticipation as Jerry emerges from his mousehole and grabs a piece of cheese which Tom has tied to his creation. This sets off a complicated chain of events which eventually lead the release of a safe which is to flatten the mouse. Tom emerges from his hiding place and prepares Jerry for his demise by giving him one last cigarette, but the altered measurement causes the safe to land two feet closer to the mousehole - onto Tom instead of Jerry. The safe door opens, and Tom emerges, now cube-shaped like the safe's interior. Not knowing the real cause behind the trap's malfunction, he curses (unintelligibly with trumpet noises) over his failure and leans on the safe.
Reel
A reel is an object around which lengths of another material are wound for storage. Generally a reel has a cylindrical core and walls on the sides to retain the material wound around the core...
animated
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...
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...
, created in 1953
1953 in film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
directed by William Hanna
William Hanna
William Denby Hanna was an American animator, director, producer, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century. When he was a young child, Hanna's family moved frequently, but they settled in Compton, California, by...
and Joseph Barbera
Joseph Barbera
Joseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....
and produced by Fred Quimby
Fred Quimby
Frederick C. "Fred" Quimby was an American cartoon producer, best known as a producer of Tom and Jerry cartoons, for which he won seven Academy Awards...
with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge with backgrounds by John Didrik Johnsen. It was released on September 2, 1955 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
.
Plot
In the attic of a large house, Tom is busy designing the "perfect" mousetrap; his blueprint details a Rube Goldberg machineRube Goldberg machine
A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction...
designed to catch Jerry, and eventually become a worldwide success. In addition to the elaborate contraption, the blueprint also depicts stick figures of a mouse and a cat. After drawing the cheese and the mouse, tired from a hard day's work, Tom retires to his bed where he dreams of potential success, fame, and fortune.
While Tom sleeps, the stick figure mouse suddenly comes to life, abseils down the drawing board, and enters Jerry's mousehole to warn him about Tom's plan. Never having seen such a thing before, Jerry is skeptical and refuses to follow the stick mouse. When he is woken up again, stick mouse makes the decision for him, dragging Jerry to the drawing board and blueprint. Just then, the stick figure cat on the blueprint also comes to life; when the two mice pass by the cat, it reveals itself to them.
Promptly, Jerry hands stick-mouse an eraser, who erases the cat's teeth; it grabs a brush and draws a bigger set of teeth on itself before beginning the chase. Stick-mouse draws a mousehole in empty space on the blueprint, which Jerry safely enters; however, the stick mouse is pursued by the stick cat and is caught. Jerry walks behind the cat, draws shorter hind legs on it, and erases its bigger legs, causing stick-cat to fall down. It looks down at its feet while chasing Jerry and discovers its modification, and in return, uses its tail as a lasso
Lasso
A lasso , also referred to as a lariat, riata, or reata , is a loop of rope that is designed to be thrown around a target and tighten when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the American cowboy. The word is also a verb; to lasso is to successfully throw the loop of rope around something...
to retrieve Jerry.
Meanwhile, stick-mouse draws a bow and arrow and fires it at the cat, who pulls the arrow out of its rear and promptly deflates its own torso. Stick-mouse runs away and camouflages itself as one of the flowers in a flowerpot on the blueprint; the cat suspects nothing, and while turned the other way, the stick-mouse ladles the cat with a fork as one would spaghetti, then runs away as it unravels itself.
Both mice jump off the drawing board, with stick-mouse acting as a parachute, while stick-cat jumps down and bounces akin to a pogo stick
Pogo stick
A pogo stick is a device for jumping off the ground in a standing position with the aid of a spring, used as a toy or exercise equipment. It consists of a pole with a handle at the top and footrests near the bottom, and a spring located somewhere along the pole...
until it comes face-to-face with a jet of water fired by stick-mouse. The cat disintegrates into white ink, and before anything more than its head can reform, Jerry sucks the cat into an ink pen and empties it into Tom's jar of white ink. The two mice shake hands, but soon hear Tom yawning, about to wake up; quickly, they alter a key measurement on the blueprint, and both mice narrowly return to their original positions before Tom sees them. Tom gets to work building his mousetrap, not noticing anything amiss.
After his trap is completed, Tom hides in anticipation as Jerry emerges from his mousehole and grabs a piece of cheese which Tom has tied to his creation. This sets off a complicated chain of events which eventually lead the release of a safe which is to flatten the mouse. Tom emerges from his hiding place and prepares Jerry for his demise by giving him one last cigarette, but the altered measurement causes the safe to land two feet closer to the mousehole - onto Tom instead of Jerry. The safe door opens, and Tom emerges, now cube-shaped like the safe's interior. Not knowing the real cause behind the trap's malfunction, he curses (unintelligibly with trumpet noises) over his failure and leans on the safe.