Jerry and the Lion is a 1950 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
Tom is relaxing on a couch chair while listening to music on the radio, when he hears a crash from a milk bottle in the kitchen. Jerry appears to be stealing food from the fridge to a hole by using a food conveyor belt. When Tom tries to stop Jerry by putting his hand on the food conveyor belt, the mouse squeezes a tomato into Tom's face like an umbrella. As Jerry rushes toward the basement door, Tom manages to close the door. However, the mouse sneaks through his own mousehole door, before squeezing another tomato into Tom's face again. Not wanting to waste his time further to catch Jerry, Tom returns to his chair to relax. However, an emergency alert from the radio announces:
Attention! Attention everyone. We interrupt this program to bring you this warning. A ferocious lion has just escaped from the circus. I repeat, a ferocious lion has just escaped from the circus. You are advised to bar your windows and doors immediately.
Upon hearing this, Tom frantically closes all the first floor windows, barricades the front door with a couch, and closes the basement windows before grabbing a rifle and a safari hat while hunkering down behind a table. Tom inspects his surroundings to make sure no lion gets in the house.
Meanwhile Jerry, who overheard the warning in the basement, comes out of hiding in a teapot, decides to run away. However, to his terror, he sees a pair of two blue angry eyes, who turns out to be the circus lion himself. The mouse attempts to flee, but ends up getting pounced by the lion. After checking that the coast is clear, the lion frees Jerry and begs the mouse "Don't give me away, pal. Don't let 'em catch me. If they take me back to that circus, I'll go crazy. I can't stand that corny music, all that crackle, crackle, crackle, of them popcorn bags. Say you'll help me get back to the jungle, please?" with a big toothy but friendly smile. Surprised and confused, Jerry accepts to help the lion. The lion thanks Jerry, but adds to the mouse that he is hungry and needs food.
Jerry and the lion then sneak over the kitchen. Jerry sneaks a large ham for the lion and are spotted by Tom. Tom stops Jerry with his rifle and takes the ham away from him. Tom then catches Jerry by his tail and Tom holds the ham behind him. The lion, who is hiding behind a curtain, eats the ham in one bite. Tom then goes to take a bite into the ham, but sees there's nothing there, hears crunching noises from behind the curtain, then gets scared and points the rifle at the curtain. Jerry then raises the gun and it goes off, hitting the ceiling. Jerry then starts acting if he had been shot until he hits the ground. Tom sees this and runs away. Jerry and the lion run away in the other direction. Tom returns with a first aid kit, but finds Jerry nowhere to be found.
Tom then looks for the lion, but finds Jerry in another room, and doesn't notice that the lion is perched on top of the lamp. Tom points the rifle in Jerry's face and grabs Jerry, who starts to throw punches. Amused, Tom sticks out his chin to dare the mouse to punch at him. Unknowingly for the cat, the lion obligingly raises his paw and powerfully smacks Tom right in the kisser, sending him flying halfway across the room to crash right through the chimney stack, The fireplace mantle converts into a slot machine, which turns up three lemons, before Tom falls into the fireplace and has bricks land on his head. Jerry and the lion then run and hide in an umbrella stand. Tom grabs the umbrella and opens it, but quickly learns why it is bad luck to do so when the lion falls out and squashes him flat.
They run off, and the lion, presumably having a plan in mind, then suggests that he and Jerry hide in the safe closet, which the mouse proceeds to do so. Tom then closes the door on the closet, gives an evil laugh whilst slipping inside it and locks the door from the outside. Then crashes inside the door can be heard, as Tom screams in pain, before the door breaks off and get flung to the other side of the room with the cat.
Jerry then appears, glaring at Tom menacingly before giving a very threatening gesture to the cat. Tom, now thoroughly intimidated by the mouse, screams in terror as he opens the door before ramming straight through the wall to escape, presumably never to return. The lion appears soon after, and the two shake hands as an exchange of gratitude.
Later that night, the lion and Jerry approach the docks. Jerry shoves the lion into an empty lifeboat from a ship called S.S. Africa before it departs. As it toots and sails off to Africa, Jerry and the lion, both saddened that they now have to part ways, tearfully bid each other farewell.
Availability[]
- (1982) CED - Tom & Jerry Cartoon Festival: Volume 2
- (1984) LaserDisc - Tom & Jerry Cartoon Festival: Volume 2
- (1993) LaserDisc - The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume I
- (2004) DVD - Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 1
Notes[]
- This is the first appearance of the lion. Frank Graham, who voiced the lion, also voiced the news announcer.
- Jerry and the Lion was the 50th Tom and Jerry cartoon to be released. It is alleged that the lion was based on Leo the Lion, the live-action lion who appears in the opening credits for every MGM cartoon and film.
- When the lion tells Jerry about how much he loathes his life as a circus lion, the opening theme music for the 1947 Tex Avery MGM cartoon Slap Happy Lion briefly plays in the background, albeit at a much slower tempo.
- This cartoon is loosely inspired by the Aesop's Fable The Lion and the Mouse. In the fable, the lion catches the mouse, but chooses to spare him instead of eating him. Later, a group of hunters capture the lion, whom the mouse eventually sets free. The lion expresses gratitude towards the mouse and befriends him.