The Little Orphan is a 1949 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
The cartoon starts with Jerry reading a book whilst taking cheese from a mousetrap. Nibbles arrives and passes Jerry, before trying to take all the cheese from the trap. Jerry saves Nibbles in time. Jerry has been asked to take care of Nibbles over the Thanksgiving holiday. However, Nibbles is, as the note pinned to his scarf says, always hungry. Jerry attempts to feed the little mouse with his own food, but his cupboards are empty. Quietly, he leads Nibbles out of the mousehole, and sneaks into the living room, where Tom is sleeping beside a bowl of cream. Jerry allows Nibbles to drink the cream from the bowl, before spotting a turkey. Mammy Two Shoes (in cameo) takes the turkey and puts it on the table then leaves. Nibbles spots the feast too. Nibbles proceeds to eat certain foods from the table, while Jerry dresses himself and Nibbles as pilgrims, but the trouble begins when Nibbles swallows an orange whole. Jerry hits Nibbles with a knife to remove the orange. It shoots straight out of Nibbles' mouth and right into the sleeping Tom, waking him up.
After Tom's rude awakening, he spies on the two mice, and wearing a feather duster as a Native American headdress, catches Nibbles. Jerry pops a champagne cork into Tom's face. Tom returns, grabbing Jerry. Nibbles takes a fork and propelled by a plate of jell-o, launches the fork into Tom's rear end. Tom picks up the offending fork and hurls it towards Nibbles, catching him by the diaper. As Tom catches Nibbles, Jerry runs up a nearby candlestick and whacks Tom in the face with a spoon.
Tom launches flaming cattails, melting Jerry and Nibbles' hiding places. As they flee, Jerry runs into a knife thrown by Tom, and is knocked out cold. Tom grabs Jerry once again. Nibbles catapults a pie into Tom's face, knocking the cat off the table. Nibbles slingshots a candle onto Tom's tail, burning him, so that he appears in blackface (Censorship). Finally, Nibbles launches a champagne bottle like a missile, which hits Tom and shoots him into a cabinet. Tom finally surrenders.
Finally, Tom, Jerry and Nibbles do grace at the table. Nibbles finishes his prayers and proceeds to devour the entire turkey before Tom and Jerry are able to pick up their cutlery, leaving the little orphan with a full stomach with him patting it experiencing delight.
Availability[]
Notes[]
- This is the fifth Tom and Jerry short to win an award.
- This cartoon was not reissued, and thus survives with its original titles.
- Unlike his appearance in the short, Nibbles is tinted brown on the poster.
- This is the third and final Tom and Jerry cartoon to re-use the opening theme from Polka-Dot Puss. After the latter short and The Cat and the Mermouse, the next two cartoons did not use this theme.
- The opening title reuses the picture of the gold Oscar statue from the opening title of The Yankee Doodle Mouse, the only difference being that the background behind the statue in this opening is tinted red instead of blue.
- The Little Orphan is one of three Fred Quimby shorts which Hanna and Barbera remade in the CinemaScope format, in this case under the title Feedin' the Kiddie. Its Cinemascope version is rarely aired on TV in favor of the original.
- As of 2010, this short is rarely aired on Cartoon Network or Boomerang due to their unofficial ban on any shorts featuring Mammy-Two Shoes.
- When shown on MeTV, this short is presented unrestored and on PAL audio.
- This also makes it one of two Tom and Jerry shorts presented as an unrestored 90s Turner master on MeTV, the other being Casanova Cat.