Sufferin' Cats!

Sufferin' Cats! is a 1943 American one-reel animated cartoon, is the 9th Tom and Jerry animated short released.[1] It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on January 16, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and re-released on June 4, 1949.

Sufferin' Cats!
Directed byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Produced byFred Quimby (unc. on original issue)
StarringWilliam Hanna (uncredited)
Harry E. Lang (uncredited)
Music byScott Bradley (unc. on original issue)
Animation byKenneth Muse
George Gordon
Jack Zander
Bill Littlejohn
Pete Burness (as Peter Burness on the reissue)
(all uncredited on original issue)
Additional animation:
Ed Barge (unc.)
Al Grandmain (unc.)
Layouts byHarvey Eisenberg (uncredited)
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc
Release date
January 16, 1943
Running time
7:40
LanguageEnglish

This is the final cartoon to have Harry E. Lang do the screeches and meows for Tom Cat (He would later provide his speaking voice occasionally between 1944 and 1953 respectively), though he would later voice the vicious cats in Mouse in Manhattan. After this cartoon, Tom or any other MGM cat character would just yelp in pain whenever they get hurt. Tom's yelps were performed by creator William Hanna.

Plot

Jerry runs with a fishing line tied to his tail, which proceeds to retreat; Jerry is pulled under the radiator, through a mousehole, and towards Tom at the end of the line. When Jerry reaches Tom, the cat makes a face and scares Jerry, causing him to run away. Tom puts a fishing hat on and starts to reel in Jerry again, but the mouse holds onto a bag of jerked beef, forcing Tom to struggle to regain control of the line. As the line returns to Tom, a piece of the bag's label is on the end, stating "JERK!".

Jerry escapes through an open window and runs into an alley cat (Meathead), who is going through garbage cans trying to find lunch. Jerry quickly runs the other way, but then runs into Tom who is coming towards him. Choosing between evils, Jerry gives Meathead a kiss and hug, plays with his whiskers, and sticks his tongue out at Tom; in retaliation, Tom grabs Jerry and screams at Meathead, who grabs Jerry back and screams much louder than Tom. Knowing he is outclassed, Tom retreats. Meathead makes a Jerry sandwich, but when he adds pepper, Jerry inhales it and sneezes and is propelled away from the bread - and runs into Tom. Jerry now kisses and hugs Tom and snubs Meathead, who grabs Jerry and breaks the bread over Tom's head. Tom then grabs Meathead's whiskers and pulls one of them out; after Meathead locks Jerry in a can, he returns the injury.

The two cats fight each other until Meathead, while holding Tom by the ears and fist back to punch him, spots Jerry walking out of the can. Meathead scolds Jerry and points to the can as if to say "You belong to me, get back in the can." Jerry complies grudgingly, but meanwhile Tom has replaced himself with a flower pot and stolen Jerry. Meathead chases after Tom, but runs into the front gate.

In the backyard, Tom sits on Jerry to hide Jerry and shows Meathead the empty sardine can as he comes by. Jerry reveals himself by sticking Tom with a gardening fork and runs away; Meathead attempts to catch him, but Tom has tied Meathead's tail to the garden hose, who is then pulled back into the spigot and rained on. Tom then chases Jerry and catches him near an open window; a pie is sitting on the deck, and Tom holds it out for Meathead to promptly hit. Tom runs away with Jerry, but soon trips into a garbage can and loses Jerry to Meathead; as Tom emerges from the can, he wallops Meathead with a frying pan and flips Jerry in the pan a few times. The mouse escapes and wriggles through a hole in a fence, and when Tom peeks through, he is whacked with a piece of pipe. When the cat sees his opponent arrive, he waves him ahead, and Meathead receives the same punishment.

Jerry runs away and disguises himself as an old mouse, using mop bristles in the shape of a grey mustache & beard (presumably similar to the Old Man of the Mountains). Both cats corner him, and that "old" Jerry points away from himself as if to say "He went that way". The two cats shrug, run away, soon realize their error and go back to search the mop. They then look in front of the drainpipe the mouse has hidden in, who ties both cats' tails together and then provokes a chase. The alley cat moves first and drags Tom across the ground, and both cats end up tangled around a tree. Jerry continues running and sets out thumbtacks for the cats to step on; at their speed, they can not avoid the tacks, but manage to survive the podiatric assault and catch Jerry. After a brief fight, a tree stump with an ax on it catches their eyes and they agree to cut Jerry in half. The alley cat holds Jerry while Tom readies the axe, and as Tom raises the axe over his head, his devilish conscience appears and convinces him that he does not have to share Jerry. He then makes an X on the alley cat's head, which Tom swings for, but stops short, panting at his inability to commit murder. The devil appears again, disgusted, using his famed reasoning to convince the cat that Tom had priorities on Jerry, successfully breaking through to Tom. (It is never explained whether an individual encountered the devil in the process.)

Tom prepares to chop Meathead in half, but the axe blade slides off and instead of being beheaded, Meathead is whacked on the head and a bump forms on the top and goes through his toupee. The incensed alley cat chases Tom and beats him with the stick, Tom screaming and spitting. Meanwhile, Jerry escapes and ducks under the front gate. The cats chase the mouse instead, but crash through the gate with their heads, hands and feet on the front side and their defenseless rear ends hanging out the back. Jerry arrives with a huge smile carrying a wooden paddle, and goes behind the cats' back. He has decided that as punishment for tormenting him, that both cats deserve a good paddling, and uses their compromising position to do just that. Then he brushes off Tom's waiting butt to let him know what is about to happen. Then he takes aim with the paddle; the cats look up to see a sign on the gate saying MAKE ALL DELIVERIES IN REAR, and Jerry proceeds to hit both of them repeatedly on the bottom that affects their yells of pain. The cartoon goes to black while Jerry continues the spanking to his heart's desire, leaving Tom's fate unknown.

Production
  • Directed by: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
  • Story: Bill Turner, Carl Meyer
  • Animation: Pete Burness, Bill Littlejohn, Jack Zander, Kenneth Muse, George Gordon, Nicholas Tafuri, Myron Waldman
  • Additional Animation: Ed Barge, Al Grandmain
  • Layout: Harvey Eisenberg
  • Sequence Director: Seymour Kneitel
  • Music: Scott Bradley
  • Co-Producer: William Hanna
  • Produced by: Fred Quimby

Voice cast
  • William Hanna and Harry E. Lang as Tom and Meathead (uncredited)
  • Harry E. Lang as Tom's devil (uncredited)
  • William Hanna as Jerry's sneeze (uncredited)
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References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 149–150. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
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