That's My Mommy
Encyclopedia
That's My Mommy is the 97th one reel
animated
Tom and Jerry
short
, created in 1955
, directed and produced by William Hanna
and Joseph Barbera
with music by Scott Bradley.
That's My Mommy was the first Tom and Jerry cartoon in which the production was undertaken by Hanna and Barbera due to Fred Quimby
's retirement. That's My Mommy was produced in CinemaScope
, a form of Widescreen, and released to theatres on November 19, 1955 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach.
In a barn, a mother duck is sleeping, in a nest full of eggs. A stray egg rolls from the nest. As the duckling starts to hatch it blindly walks to find its mother's nest.
Tom is sleeping outside. The egg stops directly next to him. Just as the egg thinks it found its mother, it slips under Tom. Tom wakes up, feeling disturbed, but he accidentally sits on the egg, causing Quacker to hatch from it. The naive duckling immediately assumes that Tom is his mother and hugs him (as birds tend to form a bond with the first thing they see upon hatching).
While the little duckling compliments "mommy", Tom gets two sticks and some firewood and lights a fire. He grabs a stick and ties Quacker to it. He puts the stick above the fire, to "warm the duckling up." However, Jerry walks into the scene, shocked as sees this.
When Tom isn't looking, Jerry grabs the stick and puts his tail on the spit
. Tom adds salt and pepper to his own tail without realising it. When his tail catches fire, he jumps and yowls in pain. Jerry runs to the side of the barn and unties Quacker from the stick. However, the duckling runs and shouts for help. Tom is blowing the fire off his tail. Quacker runs to him and hugs his face asking for his help. Tom raises and lowers his eyes, as if to agree.
In the kitchen, he is making a bed for Quacker out of pastry which, for Quacker, "is just the right size." He takes Quacker to his new "bedroom": the oven. He opens the oven door and puts the duckling into it. Before he closes the oven door, Quacker says goodnight.
Jerry, using a broom, smacks Tom on the head and slams him unconscious with the oven door. He grabs the bed, with Quacker in it, and runs to his mousehole. However, the duckling jumps out of the bed, just in time, and runs to his unconscious "mother." He revives Tom using a jug of water. A now conscious Tom grabs Quacker and the duckling kisses him.
In order to begin a "Stuffed Roast Duckling" Tom has prepared a pudding for Quacker. He feeds all the pudding to Quacker in order to stuff him, puts him into a tray full of potatoes and carrots and puts small broccoli pieces on to his feet. He puts a lid on the tray, places it in the oven and locks the oven door. Jerry, using a can opener, cuts open part of the oven door. Quacker promptly throws carrots and potatoes at the little mouse, and while he is carried, hits him with a leftover carrot.
Jerry carries the crazy duckling into his mousehole and throws the carrot away and shows him a picture book. On the left page is a mother duck and a Quacker lookalike. On the right page is a grey kitten and a lookalike of Tom. The duckling looks at both pages and hugs the right page, thinking its a lookalike of his "mommy". Jerry angrily walks over and points at the left page as if to say "This is your mother, duck!". Quacker promptly doesn't believe it "That's not my mommy!" and slams the book in Jerry's face, and runs away. Jerry walks out flat and frowns.
Tom, appearing to have figured out what happened, sees Quacker run into the house, traps Jerry in a can, puts him in several other cans, and ties them all up and he throws it into a well.
Tom is now stirring some food in a pot and Quacker reading a cooking book. Thinking that his "mother" is cooking dinner, Quacker helps him sit down and grabs the spoon. He reads part of the page shown, which says "PLACE YOUNG DUCK IN POT OF BOILING WATER..." Briefly fascinated, Quacker asks where they can get a little duck, then he remembers the book that Jerry showed earlier. Quacker then gulps. "He" is the little duck (Quacker completely misintrepreted the earlier book in the thought, not actually realising Tom is NOT his mother). Apparently, Tom wanted to cook and eat him all along, but his conscience gets the better of him. In an act of attempted suicide, Quacker lays the spoon at the tip of the pot making a quick bridge so he would throw himself in the boiling water. Quacker wants to cook himself for his "mommy" since "she" wanted that. Tom starts to approach as the duckling says good-bye and that "I still love you, momma."
Having a change of heart, Tom puts a stop to this immediately by grabbing the duckling in mid-air few inches away from the boiling water crying out "NO!" as the duckling is about to be his "momma's" supper. And then Tom hugs Quacker with a river of tears flowing down his cheeks smiling at the duckling. Tom realises that he would have missed him more than have a good duck dinner. Jerry escapes from the well and runs to the boiling pot on the stove, then he runs to the window and sees Quacker with Tom.
Outside, Tom has adopted the duckling as his own child and playfully leads Quacker across the nearby duck pond, with "mother" and son quacking away at each other. The happy duckling exclaims to Jerry: "That's my mommy!".
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 1955
1955 in film
The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
, directed and produced 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....
with music by Scott Bradley.
That's My Mommy was the first Tom and Jerry cartoon in which the production was undertaken by Hanna and Barbera due to 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...
's retirement. That's My Mommy was produced in CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
, a form of Widescreen, and released to theatres on November 19, 1955 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach.
Plot
Tom is sleeping outside. The egg stops directly next to him. Just as the egg thinks it found its mother, it slips under Tom. Tom wakes up, feeling disturbed, but he accidentally sits on the egg, causing Quacker to hatch from it. The naive duckling immediately assumes that Tom is his mother and hugs him (as birds tend to form a bond with the first thing they see upon hatching).
While the little duckling compliments "mommy", Tom gets two sticks and some firewood and lights a fire. He grabs a stick and ties Quacker to it. He puts the stick above the fire, to "warm the duckling up." However, Jerry walks into the scene, shocked as sees this.
When Tom isn't looking, Jerry grabs the stick and puts his tail on the spit
Rotisserie
Rotisserie is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit - a long solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This method is generally used for cooking large joints of meat or entire animals, such as pigs,...
. Tom adds salt and pepper to his own tail without realising it. When his tail catches fire, he jumps and yowls in pain. Jerry runs to the side of the barn and unties Quacker from the stick. However, the duckling runs and shouts for help. Tom is blowing the fire off his tail. Quacker runs to him and hugs his face asking for his help. Tom raises and lowers his eyes, as if to agree.
In the kitchen, he is making a bed for Quacker out of pastry which, for Quacker, "is just the right size." He takes Quacker to his new "bedroom": the oven. He opens the oven door and puts the duckling into it. Before he closes the oven door, Quacker says goodnight.
Jerry, using a broom, smacks Tom on the head and slams him unconscious with the oven door. He grabs the bed, with Quacker in it, and runs to his mousehole. However, the duckling jumps out of the bed, just in time, and runs to his unconscious "mother." He revives Tom using a jug of water. A now conscious Tom grabs Quacker and the duckling kisses him.
In order to begin a "Stuffed Roast Duckling" Tom has prepared a pudding for Quacker. He feeds all the pudding to Quacker in order to stuff him, puts him into a tray full of potatoes and carrots and puts small broccoli pieces on to his feet. He puts a lid on the tray, places it in the oven and locks the oven door. Jerry, using a can opener, cuts open part of the oven door. Quacker promptly throws carrots and potatoes at the little mouse, and while he is carried, hits him with a leftover carrot.
Jerry carries the crazy duckling into his mousehole and throws the carrot away and shows him a picture book. On the left page is a mother duck and a Quacker lookalike. On the right page is a grey kitten and a lookalike of Tom. The duckling looks at both pages and hugs the right page, thinking its a lookalike of his "mommy". Jerry angrily walks over and points at the left page as if to say "This is your mother, duck!". Quacker promptly doesn't believe it "That's not my mommy!" and slams the book in Jerry's face, and runs away. Jerry walks out flat and frowns.
Tom, appearing to have figured out what happened, sees Quacker run into the house, traps Jerry in a can, puts him in several other cans, and ties them all up and he throws it into a well.
Tom is now stirring some food in a pot and Quacker reading a cooking book. Thinking that his "mother" is cooking dinner, Quacker helps him sit down and grabs the spoon. He reads part of the page shown, which says "PLACE YOUNG DUCK IN POT OF BOILING WATER..." Briefly fascinated, Quacker asks where they can get a little duck, then he remembers the book that Jerry showed earlier. Quacker then gulps. "He" is the little duck (Quacker completely misintrepreted the earlier book in the thought, not actually realising Tom is NOT his mother). Apparently, Tom wanted to cook and eat him all along, but his conscience gets the better of him. In an act of attempted suicide, Quacker lays the spoon at the tip of the pot making a quick bridge so he would throw himself in the boiling water. Quacker wants to cook himself for his "mommy" since "she" wanted that. Tom starts to approach as the duckling says good-bye and that "I still love you, momma."
Having a change of heart, Tom puts a stop to this immediately by grabbing the duckling in mid-air few inches away from the boiling water crying out "NO!" as the duckling is about to be his "momma's" supper. And then Tom hugs Quacker with a river of tears flowing down his cheeks smiling at the duckling. Tom realises that he would have missed him more than have a good duck dinner. Jerry escapes from the well and runs to the boiling pot on the stove, then he runs to the window and sees Quacker with Tom.
Outside, Tom has adopted the duckling as his own child and playfully leads Quacker across the nearby duck pond, with "mother" and son quacking away at each other. The happy duckling exclaims to Jerry: "That's my mommy!".