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Mouse in Manhattan is the 19th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera released in 1945.

Plot[]

Jerry has enough of the country life and decides to leave for the city. He writes a goodbye letter to Tom saying he's off to see the city sights. In a series of antics in Manhattan, he gets stuck in gum on the floor of Grand Central, ends up as a makeshift shoe-polisher, admires the towering skyscrapers, and even attempts to literally climb the Empire State Building, but to no avail, and gets scared when he sees the statue and runs into a woman's green heeled shoes. He looks straight up at her dress and walks under her shoes. As Jerry makes it there, he sees a woman's large toe and polished toenail at the bottom of her shoe and he uses it as a mirror to make him look nice.

After he's done grooming, he walks away and accidentally falls into a stream beside the sidewalk and floats away on a bottle cap. He admires beautiful girls wearing pretty shoes and also Times Square before falling down the sewer, has a close shave with oncoming traffic, gets nauseated in an elevator, moves under the carpet to the Starlite Room and moves again where he bumps into a doorway, crawls into a room and comes out with his face red. He looks up at the sign which says Powder Room and runs to the Check Room near the Powder Room he passed. As he tries to fix the top hat he was on, it pops up fast squishing him down and down again before he bounced out of the room. After he fixes his hat, he sees the woman from the powder room and he jumps on the back of the train dress behind her legs and takes a ride. He almost falls down the drain and gets knocked off by the plant handle in the way, gets back up and follows the direction where she went so he can have fun with her shoes and go home with her but instead heads toward the table and dangles precariously over the city on an ever-breaking candle. Later, he dances with several placecards (in the form of attractive women).

While dancing, Jerry loses his balance and gets stuck in a champagne bottle which pops him out of the building and he falls all the way to the ground with the help of a sock on a clothesline which becomes his parachute. He lands in a dark alley in a puddle; sneezes and is heard and scared off by an alley full of vicious cats. He then hurtles across the city on trash cans, one of which hits a fire hydrant and sends him flying through a jewelry shop window, after which he is shot at by the police. As Jerry escapes the city (nearly being run over by an uptown express train on one of the Interborough Rapid Transit lines in the process): he quickly races over the George Washington Bridge, empty highway, and railroad tracks back to the countryside (deciding citylife is not for him). Upon returning home, it would seem that Tom had been sleep the entire time that Jerry was gone (and thus didn't read the note that Jerry left, ultimately unaware of the mouse's antics in the big city). Jerry tears up the (unread) note and kisses Tom, waking him up in the process. The short ends with Jerry nailing a sign reading "Home Sweet Home" above his mouse hole, and entering afterwards, choosing to remain in the countryside.

Animation Error[]

  • During the scene featuring Jerry dancing with the dolls, after dancing with the black-haired and blond-haired dolls, he looks at an orange-haired doll and begins to dance with it. A few seconds later, when Jerry and the doll dance on the plate, the orange-haired doll's hair becomes blond for the rest of the scene.

Censorship[]

  • On Cartoon Network and Boomerang, the scene of Jerry's head being used to polish a black shoe cuts off before the viewer can see Jerry in blackface. TBS and TNT (in the days when they aired classic shorts before moving them to Cartoon Network), surprisingly, did not edit this part.

Production[]

This is the second Tom and Jerry cartoon to have animation by Ed Barge, although this is the first time he was credited. The first Tom and Jerry cartoon with animation by Ed Barge was Quiet Please! which was released some months later.

Notes[]

  • Tom plays a rather insignificant role in this cartoon, as he shows little to no action throughout the entire short, only being shown sleeping in the beginning and the end of the short. This makes it the first cartoon to focus only on one of the duo characters.
  • This was the first cartoon to be released after V-E Day.
  • This cartoon is possibly a nod to Aesop's fable, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, where two mice visit the countryside and the city, only to end up going through so many dangers while being in the city. The country mouse concludes he would rather live the countryside than the city, due to better safety.

Gallery[]

References[]

Tom and Jerry Cartoons
1940 Puss Gets the Boot
1941 The Midnight SnackThe Night Before Christmas
1942 Fraidy CatDog TroublePuss n' TootsThe Bowling Alley-CatFine Feathered Friend
1943 Sufferin' Cats!The Lonesome MouseThe Yankee Doodle MouseBaby Puss
1944 The Zoot CatThe Million Dollar CatThe BodyguardPuttin' on the DogMouse Trouble
1945 The Mouse Comes to DinnerMouse in ManhattanTee for TwoFlirty BirdyQuiet Please!
1946 Springtime for ThomasThe Milky WaifTrap HappySolid Serenade
1947 Cat Fishin'Part Time PalThe Cat ConcertoDr. Jekyll and Mr. MouseSalt Water TabbyA Mouse in the HouseThe Invisible Mouse
1948 Kitty FoiledThe Truce HurtsOld Rockin' Chair TomProfessor TomMouse Cleaning
1949 Polka-Dot PussThe Little OrphanHatch Up Your TroublesHeavenly PussThe Cat and the MermouseLove That PupJerry's DiaryTennis Chumps
1950 Little QuackerSaturday Evening PussTexas TomJerry and the LionSafety SecondTom and Jerry in the Hollywood BowlThe Framed CatCue Ball Cat
1951 Casanova CatJerry and the GoldfishJerry's CousinSleepy-Time TomHis Mouse FridaySlicked-up PupNit-Witty KittyCat Napping
1952 The Flying CatThe Duck DoctorThe Two MouseketeersSmitten KittenTriplet TroubleLittle RunawayFit to Be TiedPush-Button KittyCruise CatThe Dog House
1953 The Missing MouseJerry and JumboJohann MouseThat's My Pup!Just DuckyTwo Little IndiansLife with Tom
1954 Puppy TalePosse CatHic-cup PupLittle School MouseBaby ButchMice FolliesNeapolitan MouseDownhearted DucklingPet PeeveTouché, Pussy Cat!
1955 Southbound DucklingPup on a PicnicMouse for SaleDesigns on JerryTom and ChérieSmarty CatPecos PestThat's My Mommy
1956 The Flying SorceressThe Egg and JerryBusy BuddiesMuscle Beach TomDown Beat BearBlue Cat BluesBarbecue Brawl
1957 Tops with PopsTimid TabbyFeedin' the KiddieMucho MouseTom's Photo Finish
1958 Happy Go DuckyRoyal Cat NapThe Vanishing DuckRobin HoodwinkedTot Watchers
1961 Switchin' KittenDown and OutingIt's Greek to Me-ow!
1962 High SteaksMouse into SpaceLanding StriplingCalypso CatDicky MoeThe Tom and Jerry Cartoon KitTall in the TrapSorry SafariBuddies Thicker Than WaterCarmen Get It!
1963 Pent-House Mouse
1964 The Cat Above and the Mouse BelowIs There a Doctor in the Mouse?Much Ado About MousingSnowbody Loves MeThe Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse
1965 Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of LifeTom-ic EnergyBad Day at Cat RockThe Brothers Carry-Mouse-OffHaunted MouseI'm Just Wild About JerryOf Feline BondageThe Year of the MouseThe Cat's Me-Ouch
1966 Duel PersonalityJerry, Jerry, Quite ContraryJerry-Go-RoundLove Me, Love My MousePuss 'n' BoatsFilet MeowMatinee MouseThe A-Tom-Inable SnowmanCatty-Cornered
1967 Cat and Dupli-catO-Solar-MeowGuided Mouse-illeRock 'n' RodentCannery RodentThe Mouse from H.U.N.G.E.R.Surf-Bored CatShutter Bugged CatAdvance and Be MechanizedPurr-Chance to Dream
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