Everything you need to know about Tom and Jerry

Which one's which

Tom is the tall one, and Jerry is the short one.

First cartoon

Tom and Jerry's first cartoon was Wot a Night, which premiered on August 1, 1931. Directed by John Foster and George Stallings, this cartoon features Tom and Jerry escaping the rain by taking shelter in a haunted house. It has very similar vibes to Scooby-Doo. Foster would go on to create Gandy Goose for Terrytoons.

Where they got their names

One theory is that they were named after the Tom and Jerry cocktail, a drink featuring brandy or rum, eggs, spices, and hot milk or water. The Tom and Jerry was famed for its spicy notes and either popularized or invented by a bartender who went by "Professor" Jerry Thomas, who said he named it after his two pet mice.

Where they got their names

Another theory behind the characters' names is that they were named after another pair of troublemaking characters, Tom and Jerry, in Pierce Egan's book Life in London. Egan's Tom and Jerry were a couple of Regency-era cads who went around pranking people and causing trouble. The book was published but remained popular enough to require a reprint in 1904. Eventually, the book was adapted into a play, which had a shortened title: Tom and Jerry.

Evolution

Originally the characters were supposed to be animals, but not a cat and mouse. Rather, Tom was supposed to be a dog and Jerry was supposed to be a cat. John Foster, George Stallings, and George Rufle made the executive decision to change the characters into humans. 

Their Jobs

As characters of the Great Depression, Tom and Jerry reflected the times they lived in by working various odd jobs to make ends meet. Each cartoon they have a new gig; they have been accident lawyers, plumbers, bakers, and more!

Music

Each cartoon also features a new original song performed by Tom and Jerry. Sound in film was still new, so Tom and Jerry was one of the first cartoons to feature synchronized sound and time the animation to flow with the music. 

Voice Actors

This is normally where we tell you that the voice actor is so and so,  and they also voiced all these other cartoon characters - nope! The voice actors of Tom and Jerry are unknown! Fans speculate that maybe Van Beuren Studios shared voice talent with nearby Fleischer Studios, but we have no concrete evidence for that. One potential contributor was Margie Hines, who voiced Betty Boop and had an exclusive contract with Van Beuren. Sharp-eared fans have noticed that the songs on Magic Mummy and Tight Rope Tricks sound like Hines, but we have no actual voice credits for her or anyone else who contributed to the cartoons.

Name change

Later on, in television and DVD collections, the series was renamed "Dick and Larry," likely to avoid confusion with the other Tom and Jerry.

Joseph Barbera

Before he was half of the animation power couple of Hanna-Barbera, Joseph Barbera took his first steps as an animator at Van Beuren Studios. He worked on this Tom and Jerry as a scenario writer and animator before leaving to work at MGM's animation department. 

The end

The series began to fade in 1933 when Van Beuren fired Foster, who had been the heart and soul of the Tom and Jerry series. Stallings took over, but his attention was redirected to other Van Beuren cartoons. Tom and Jerry ended with The Phantom Rocket in 1933, after two years and 26 cartoons.

Seven years later, a new cartoon about a cat and a mouse would premiere, Puss Gets the Boot. After the first cartoon's success, Joseph Barbera pulled two names out of a hat to christen the two characters, and the names he pulled were Tom and Jerry.