The Midnight Snack

The Midnight Snack is a 1941 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It was reissued in March 13, 1948 and again on January 18, 1958.

Plot[]

The cartoon takes place in a kitchen. The clock on the wall is blurry, but it can be seen that it is midnight. Jerry pokes his head out of the refrigerator door and steals some cheese, using a celery stick to bridge back to the counter top. Jerry looks out through the holes in the cheese and then begins carrying it across the counter as Tom pokes his head up with a malevolent grin. The camera cuts to Jerry carrying the cheese (which weighs several times as much as he does) and then we see Tom strolling along behind him. Jerry senses someone behind him, but Tom grabs a lampshade and disguises himself as a lamp; Jerry, unable to see the exposed light bulb because of the girth of the cheese, shrugs it off and continues carrying the cheese. Jerry soon begins struggling with the cheese and Tom, lampshade on his head as a precaution, soon begins to make it tougher: he piles dishes of all sorts on top of the cheese and finally tops it off with an egg. Jerry can no longer see in front of him, so he does not notice that Tom has stacked bread slices into stairs and baited the end of it with a rolling pin. Jerry walks up the stairs and soon steps on the rolling pin, which causes him to fall within a few seconds; the dishes scatter while he pokes his head out of the cheese and promptly gets pelted with the falling egg. Jerry shadow-punches to get the egg off, and Tom emerges from his hiding place with a smug face. Jerry "salutes" the cat and returns the slice of cheese to the refrigerator, breaking the celery stick on the way. He then proceeds to steal just a tiny bit of cheese, but Tom stomps on his tail with one of his hind paws and replaces the cheese. However, the cat gets a finger in a bowl and realizes that he has the free run of the refrigerator, so he places an iron on top of Jerry's tail and raids the refrigerator. Jerry frees himself, but is soon caught by Tom and returns himself to his prison. Tom then spoons out some jiggling Jell-O and eats it, causing his entire body to shake and Jerry to snigger. Tom then presents Jerry with the wedge of cheese and Jerry attempts to run at it, but is repeatedly restricted by the iron on his tail. Tom then proceeds to allow Jerry to lick some cream off a few donuts, and then the mouse gets sprayed with the rest of it, plus a cherry for good measure. Tom then smells the food in his hand and prepares to eat it, but soon sees that it is the wedge of cheese to his nose's displeasure and tosses it away. Unfortunately, the cheese smashes some crockery and wakes up Tom's owner Mammy Two Shoes who goes downstairs. Tom quickly shoves Jerry into the refrigerator and hides. effectively framing Jerry. The housemaid screams in fright, and calls for Tom, who emerges from his hiding place to pursue Jerry. In the midst of the chase, he gets tied up around the stool that Mammy is standing on to escape the mouse, knocking the stool over in the process. Mammy exits the room because "this here's no place for a lady!" Jerry lands Tom in the refrigerator by the end of the cartoon. Tom surprises Jerry behind a pedal bin, but Jerry tricks Tom into looking over the bin and jumps on the pedal, sending the bin crashing into Tom's face. Jerry accidentally jumps into the toaster and Tom calmly pushes down the lever. Jerry pops up, his tail was on fire, and cools it in a sink full of water, only to be chased again by Tom. He climbs up a blind and onto a high-rise counter, but soon stops when he runs out of room, with Tom just below him, ready to pounce. Tom obliges, but loses his grip and gets his tail caught up in an ironing board, facing the refrigerator. Jerry climbs down the blind, picks up a fork with his tail, and strolls confidently towards the cat. Tom looks at the open refrigerator and gulps with dread as Jerry stabs him in the rear. The cat meows in pain, then is sent down the ironing board, into the sink, breaking the clean/dirty dishes, up a washboard, onto a grater, and straight into the fridge, just as Jerry had planned. Mammy re-enters the room on the belief that Tom has caught Jerry and disposed of Jerry. Then she opens the refrigerator door to get Tom a bowl of cream, only to find Tom in the refrigerator, covered in food. Jerry overhears Mammy shouting at Tom and kicking the screeching cat out of the house while munching on his wedge of cheese and feeling very pleased with himself.

Availability[]

(1988) VHS - Starring Tom & Jerry!
(1991) LaserDisc - Tom & Jerry Classics
(1993) LaserDisc - The Art of Tom & Jerry, Side 1
(2005) DVD - Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection: Volume 2, Disc 1 (remastered; Warner Bros.)
(2010) DVD - Tom and Jerry: Deluxe Anniversary Collection, Disc 1 (Warner Bros.)
(2011) DVD/Blu-ray - Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (remastered; Warner Bros.)

Notes[]

The first cartoon where Tom and Jerry names are given.
The first cartoon in Tom and Jerry series.
This is the only short of 1941 to be reissued.
Production of the cartoon was began on April 18, 1940^[4] and completed on October 11, 1940.^[5]

Gallery[]

References[]

[1] ttps://archive.org/details/boxofficebaromet00boxo_7/page/152/mode/1up

[2] ttp://www.whataboutthad.com/mgm-cartoon-filmography-by-production-number/

[3] ttps://archive.org/details/catalogofc19683221213libr/page/108/mode/1up/

[4] ttps://books.google.com/books?id=xt5k08yuAXIC&pg=PT622&

[5] ttps://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2021/10/mgm-odds-and-ends-part-1.html

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