Push-Button Kitty is a 1952 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 70th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
Mammy Two Shoes is sweeping the floor while Tom is relaxing near Jerry's mouse hole, not caring or noticing as Jerry comes out and returns with a piece of cheese. Then Mammy receives a package she has been expecting. She opens it to reveal Mechano, a talented robotic cat, just for the opportunity to downsize Tom after his laziness. In disbelief, both Tom and Jerry laugh out loud. Then Mammy turns on Mechano with the controller, and it immediately darts to the mouse, hits him with a hammer, and slingshots him out through the open window.
Then Mammy laughs. Realizing that he's been replaced, the unwanted cat packs up and leaves the house. Mammy praises Mechano on its job. Jerry tries to get back into his hole in defiance, using various disguises to elude the computerized cat, but these efforts fail and there is no match for Mechano's every thwarting gadget.
Knowing he cannot win by himself, Jerry inserts a series of clockwork mice under the door slot to create a diversion for Mechano. Mechano starts to attack the mice and the house as soon as it detects them, but goes haywire and chops up the piano with an axe, breaks the china with his cannon, saws a table with a buzzsaw, and launches dynamite into a mouse hole, causing serious wreckage in the house. Mammy hears all of this, and when she sees Mechano chopping onto the floor after one of the mice, shouts at Mechano to stop. However, the computer only responds to the controller, so nothing happens. Mammy runs around screaming for help from Tom, who hears her.
Mammy runs away from the assault as Mechano tries to break through the wardrobes and doors to chase the mouse but ends up crashing and breaking itself into pieces, with its computer hub flying out and accidentally swallowed by Tom just before the maid reaches him. Mammy, with great relief, welcomes the cat back into the house and grateful to have him back on mouse-catching duties. However, Jerry gets the last laugh when he turns the Mechano's controller, causing Tom to transform into Mechano before the chase resumes. The terrified woman watches helplessly and starts screaming for the mechanized Tom to stop as he goes on a path of destruction.
Notes[]
- This short marks the final appearance of Mammy Two Shoes, as she would be retired from the series following protests from the NAACP.