Gerald "Jerry" Mouse is a fictional character and is one of two protagonists in Metro-Goldwyn Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon short films. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, he is a brown house mouse, who first appeared as an unnamed mouse in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. Hanna gave the mouse's original name as Jinx, while Barbera claimed the mouse went unnamed in his first appearance.
Personality[]
Jerry is a cute mouse - but don't let his appearance fool you. He is clever, sneaky and charming.
History[]
Jerry's name was chosen by Geraint Rowlands, who submitted "Tom and Jerry" as potential names for the duo after an important Loews Inc. distributor in Texas asked for follow-ups to Puss Gets the Boot. While the idea of a cat-and-mouse duo was considered shopworn by the 1940s, Hanna and Barbera decided to expand upon the standard expected cat and mouse relationship. Instead of being a "cowering victim" of Tom, he took delight in besting, and even torturing, his feline frenemy. Hanna and Barbera considered Tom and Jerry "the best of enemies", whose rivalry hid an unspoken amount of mutual caring and respect for one another.
In later Tom and Jerry cartoons, Jerry acquired a young ward: a small grey mouse called "Tuffy" or "Nibbles" depending upon the cartoon, who was left on Jerry's doorstep as a foundling baby in the 1946 short The Milky Waif. Jerry and Tuffy were also featured together in a sub-series of Tom and Jerry cartoons set in 17th century France which featured the characters as musketeers. The first of these shorts, The Two Mouseketeers, won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoon.
Other Voices[]
- Harry E. Lang - "The Lonesome Mouse" (vocal effects and speaking), "Mouse in Manhattan" (whistling and sneezing)
- Kent Rogers - "Fraidy Cat", "Puss N' Toots"
- Sara Berner - "Baby Puss" (humming and screaming), "The Zoot Cat" (speaking), Anchors Aweigh (speaking and singing)
- Jerry Mann - "The Million Dollar Cat"
- Lillian Randolph - "The Milky Way" (disguised as Mammy Two Shoes)
- Frank Graham - "Kitty Foiled" (speaking)
- Georgia Stark - "Kitty Foiled" (whistling)
- Paul Frees - "His Mouse Friday", "Blue Cat Blues" (both speaking)
- Manuel Paris - "Mucho Mouse" (speaking)
- Gene Deitch - "Buddies Thicker Than Water" (laughing)
- Terence Monk - "The Cat Above and the Mouse Below" (singing)
- Chuck Jones - 1965-1967
- Abe Levitow - 1966-1967
- Dallas McKennon - "Cat and Dupli-cat" (singing)