Feedin' the Kiddie is a 1957 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 107th Tom and Jerry short produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
The cartoon starts with Jerry reading a book whilst taking cheese from a mousetrap. Nibbles arrives and passes Jerry, before trying to take all the cheese from the trap. Jerry saves Nibbles in time. Jerry has been asked to take care of Nibbles over the Thanksgiving holiday. However, Nibbles is, as the note pinned to his scarf says, always hungry.
Quietly, Jerry leads Nibbles out of the mousehole, and sneaks into the living room, where Tom is sleeping beside a bowl of cream. Jerry allows Nibbles to drink the cream from the bowl, before spotting a turkey. Nibbles spots the feast too. Nibbles proceeds to eat certain foods from the table, while Jerry dresses himself and Nibbles as pilgrims, but the trouble begins when Nibbles swallows an orange whole. Jerry hits Nibbles with a knife to remove the orange. It shoots straight out of Nibbles' mouth and right into the sleeping Tom, waking him up.
After Tom's rude awakening, he spies on the two mice, and wearing a feather duster as a Native American headdress, catches Nibbles. Jerry pops a champagne cork into Tom's face. Tom returns, grabbing Jerry. Nibbles takes a fork and propelled by a plate of jell-o, launches the fork into Tom's rear end. Tom picks up the offending fork and hurls it towards Nibbles, catching him by the diaper. As Tom catches Nibbles, Jerry runs up a nearby candlestick and whacks Tom in the face with a spoon.
Tom launches flaming cattails, melting Jerry and Nibbles' hiding places. As they flee, Jerry runs into a knife thrown by Tom, and is knocked out cold. Tom grabs Jerry once again. Nibbles catapults a pie into Tom's face, knocking the cat off the table. Nibbles slingshots a candle onto Tom's tail, burning him, so that he appears in blackface (Censorship). Finally, Nibbles launches a champagne bottle like a missile, which hits Tom and shoots him into a cabinet. Tom finally surrenders.
Finally, Tom, Jerry and Nibbles do grace at the table. Nibbles finishes his prayers and proceeds to devour the entire turkey before Tom and Jerry are able to pick up their cutlery, leaving the little orphan with a full stomach with him patting it experiencing delight.
Notes[]
- This short is a shot-for-shot CinemaScope remake of The Little Orphan.
- Mammy Two Shoes, who is shown in the original version of the short, is no longer present in this short.
- The letter about bringing Nibbles mentions a Cousin George, although it is unlikely to be the one from the previous cartoon.
- This short is the third and last CinemaScope remake in the Tom and Jerry series.