Springtime for Thomas

Springtime for Thomas
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Released:	March 30, 1946 Reissue: November 7, 1953
Runtime:	7 min. 37 sec.
Series:	Tom and Jerry
MPAA Number:	10181
Production Number:	137
Copyright Renewed:	March 19, 1973
Starring:	Tom Cat Jerry Mouse Butch Cat Toodles Galore
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	William Hanna (uncredited) Frank Graham (uncredited) Sara Berner (uncredited) Raul Martinez (uncredited)
Director:	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Written By:	William Hanna (uncredited) Joseph Barbera (uncredited)
Producer:	Fred Quimby
Animated By:	Ed Barge Michael Lah (credit only) Kenneth Muse Ray Patterson (uncredited) Irven Spence (uncredited)
Assistant Animators:	Tony Ligerra (uncredited) Bob Newmiller (uncredited) Barney Posner (uncredited)
Effects Animation:	Al Grandmain (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Harvey Eisenberg (uncredited)
Background Artist:	Robert Gentle (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Fred McAlpin (uncredited)
Sound Effects:	Fred McAlpin (uncredited)
Musician:	Scott Bradley

Springtime for Thomas is a 1946 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

Plot

On a beautiful spring day, Jerry wants to resume chase with Tom, but Tom is too busy, fixated with a female cat named Toodles sunbathing in the yard outside. Tom stares dreamily at her for hours, until he approaches her and falls head over heels in love with her. As Jerry watches, a small devil (his anti-conscience smaller, green with a barbed tail, small horns, and pointed ears) convinces Jerry to break things up between Tom and his new-found love. Jerry sends a forged letter laced with perfume to Tom's rival, Butch. Butch reads the letter aloud as he prepares by grooming himself and he speeds off to her address. He then enters in to gain Toodles' affections.

Tom kisses Toodles, before noticing a smell as Butch lies on the sun lounger, next to Toodles. Tom is furious at this and grabs a croquet mallet and hits Butch on the head with it. Butch does not react to the pain. Instead, he grabs Tom by the tail and throws him into the swimming pool. Tom gets out of the pool as Butch is serenading Toodles with the chorus of the Spanish song Quiéreme mucho on his guitar. As Butch continues to sing Tom grabs the end of the sun-lounger and wheels it over to the pool, where he tips Butch into the pool. Butch gets out of the pool and hits a croquet ball on Tom. Tom, drinking from a tall glass, gets hit on the back of the head and falls down. Butch hits Tom through a number of croquet rings and he crashes into the central pole. Tom lands onto a barbecue and turns around on a rotisserie.

Butch is now laid down again. Jerry, and his anti-conscience, place a pin onto a spring under the lounger. Butch is expecting Cupid's arrow any minute and he is then caught in the rump by the pin, which sticks out of the lounger, just as Tom walks over. Tom picks it up and Butch assumes that Tom had caught him with the pin. He chases Tom, who hits Butch by turning a statue as Butch is running towards Tom. Butch then chases Tom off a diving board; after landing in the water, Tom quickly drinks all the water, the reason makes Butch crash to the bottom of the pool. Tom then runs to a swing, places a flower pot on it, and hurls the swing at Butch hitting him, but then he throws the swing back, catching Tom on the seat. Tom swings back helplessly, and Butch hits him with his guitar like a baseball bat which sends Tom flying over the fence and out of the garden. Tom frowns and gives up trying. Jerry runs up to Tom, and the two shake hands as they agree that Tom is finished with Toodles. Tom then gives chase to Jerry, with both wearing happy expressions on their faces. However, this chase ends prematurely, because Jerry hypocritically finds a female mouse on the enclosure and starts to fall in love with her. He pushes Tom out of the way as if to say, "Personal space, please." and snuggles up to the new-found girlfriend.

Music Cues

• Frühlingslied (Spring Song) - Felix Mendelssohn (opening credits)
• Here Comes the Sun - Harry M. Woods (Jerry trying to get Tom's attention)
• Lovely Lady - Jimmy McHugh (Tom falls in love with Toodles)
• Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone? (Tom acting like a dog infront of Toodles)
• Over the Rainbow - Harold Arlen (sung by Butch)
• Darktown Strutters' Ball - Shelton Brooks (Butch grooms himself)
• Sweet and Lovely - Gus Arnheim, Neil Moret (Butch flirts with Toodles)
• Quiéreme mucho - Gonzalo Roig (sung by Butch)
• Honey - Richard A. Whiting, Seymour Simons, Haven Gillespie (Jerry falls in love with the female mouse)

Availability

The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume I (LaserDisc)

Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 2, Disc 1 (DVD)

Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume 1, Disc 2 (DVD, Blu-ray)

Trivia

• Similarly to Little 'Tinker, this cartoon irises out in a heart shape and has "The End" title card in red.
• Despite Michael Lah being credited on the opening titles, he made no actual contributions to this short.
• This short is also the first to feature Tom's iconic "AAAAHHHH!" scream (by William Hanna). Ironically though, it is Butch in this short who first used the scream; Tom would adopt the scream for the majority of his later appearances, including as archive audio. This scream would actually also be used in non-Tom and Jerry cartoons as well, a notable example later being in Wags to Riches when Spike gets stabbed in the buttocks by Droopy in a game of "Pin the tail on the donkey".
• Beginning from this cartoon, Tom's two whiskers are drawn far apart from each other instead of twirled together like a moustache.

Goofs

• When Butch reads out loud the forged letter, his arm and hands appear to be mis-colored grey and white respectively, like Tom's instead of black and grey respectively as for the rest of the cartoon.
• When Tom pushes the chair with Butch on it into the pool, at one point Butch's arms disappear.
• After Butch hits the ground after being hit by statue, when he raises his paws, he appears to have extra two paws.

Gallery

• Screenshots
• Production
• Other

William Hanna acting out the story for the short

Production drawing

Original 1946 poster

Publicity photo