Puss n Toots is the sixth Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera released in 1942.
Plot[]
Tom is watching Jerry as he runs around an empty fishbowl. Jerry tries to escape the bowl, but Tom pushes him back in. Then the doorbell rings and Mammy Two Shoes goes to answer it. Tom then puts the flowers back in the bowl, grabs Jerry, and hides him in a filing cabinet under the letter "M" for mouse. Tom now has to hide under the cabinet as Mammy comes directly towards him, and she answers the door to receive a cute female cat named Toots to take care of temporarily. Mammy sits her up on the couch as Tom sees her and instantly falls in love. The cat is struck by Cupid's arrow and dresses up by smoothing down his hair, curling his whiskers and tail, and spraying himself with cologne. He then proudly walks over to her and she smiles back. He offers her a goldfish and a canary, but she is not hungry for either.
Seeing a chance to humiliate Jerry, Tom instead goes over to the filing cabinet to release him. Jerry escapes and runs away, but Tom takes his time looking through a magazine to shake him off his tail before giving chase. Tom catches Jerry by his tail just before he runs through his mouse hole, releases him, and sits on the couch. As Jerry runs toward him, Tom holds out his arm for Jerry to climb, and Jerry climbs it and is then caught between the cat's fingers.
Tom then holds Jerry in his hands, blows into them and makes Jerry disappear like a magician, although the camera shows that he is holding Jerry by his tail. Tom pokes his fingers into the bow around Toot's neck and reveals Jerry. This makes her smile as she apparently begins to fall for Tom.
Tom rolls up his hands, grabs a box of chocolates and opens it to reveal Jerry is sitting in the middle of it. Tom then grabs a handkerchief and stuffs Jerry into it before throwing the handkerchief in the air, and Jerry parachutes down to the couch. The cat quickly covers Jerry, then hides him fast enough for Toots not to notice. Then, he opens the handkerchief and Jerry has "disappeared", though of course, Tom is actually sitting on Jerry.
Underneath the cat's rear, Jerry tries to escape, but he can't, so he grabs a ribbon which pulls part of a hat with a hat pin in it into the mouse's reach. Jerry grabs the pin and sticks Tom, allowing him to escape. The mouse leaves the pin out for Tom to (almost) stick himself on the fall, and then runs over to the desk and quickly raises the telephone to call for help. Since there is no response, Jerry then runs inside a full automatic record player, but Tom turns on the turntable, causing the mouse to go nowhere fast. Tom then presses the button to change records, but forgets he is sitting on one. Jerry flops himself to get off the turntable just before Tom falls onto it and is "played" by the turntable due to the record on his tail. The girl cat now wonders where her beau is and peeks at the developing scene.
Jerry, inside needle container in a record player, digs himself out only to see he has been impaled repeatedly with the needles. After shaking them out of him, Jerry avenges himself by causing the records to change again, and it hits Tom's head, causing the cat to assume a Zen Buddhist caricature as the table spins. Happy with himself, Jerry dances to the Oriental music, then changes the record to a Spanish tango, which causes Tom's rear to gyrate in time, supplemented by Jerry kicking it. The mouse continues to dance to the music, but accidentally sits on the Stop button, freeing the cat. Tom is eager for revenge of his own and pounces at the mouse, but Jerry takes stock of the situation fast enough to restart the player as Tom jumps through the record passer, causing Tom to be lodged in it. Now, the cat tries to escape the turntable, but is forcibly slapped back onto it by the needle whenever he does, and is then planted directly on the record and smacked by the reader as he makes the revolutions. Jerry then presses the start button to stop Tom and get him running on a record again. Jerry then starts pressing random buttons and waves at the helpless female cat as records fly at her and then continually break over Tom's head, except for one that doesn't. Eventually, with help from the needle holding Tom into place, the last record knocks Tom out as it breaks and Tom is thrown through the player as it self-destructs. Jerry then goes over to the mirror, grooms himself, kisses Toots and prances proudly into his mouse hole.
Availability[]
Notes[]
- The original end title card before being reissued was the red MGM end title with a "Buy Bonds" label.
- In the title card, the small quotation marks that surround the name of the cartoon from left and right are subtlely replaced with heart shapes.
- The name of this cartoon is a pun on "Puss in Boots".
- The heart from this cartoon's title card would later serve as the end title card of Springtime for Thomas.