The Vanishing Duck is a 1958 Tom and Jerry cartoon produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
George has bought his wife, Joan, a singing duck named Quacker for her birthday, much to her delight. They then leave the house to go out, but Joan is worried about leaving Quacker alone in the house with Tom around. Despite George assuring her that the house is locked up and that Tom is outside, Tom sneaks inside behind the two's backs and immediately goes to look for Quacker. Upon finding him, Tom swallows the duckling, but Quacker escapes and retreats to Jerry's mouse hole. The two become friends. Tom grabs Quacker, but Jerry trips him with an extension cord, causing Tom to release Quacker, who flies straight into a tub of vanishing cream. Quacker turns himself invisible and returns the favour by saving Jerry from Tom. Jerry then joins his friend and the two turn invisible to have fun pranking Tom.
They then eat Tom's watermelon and spit the seeds at him, shove aspirin down his throat, jam his tail into a door and cut it short, and fool the cat with a disguise tail. A poor Tom is bamboozled, and Jerry and Quacker finally trap him in the house door and bash him outside with a coal shovel. As Jerry and Quacker celebrate their victory, the cat overhears them mention the vanishing cream, and sneaks behind them to test it on himself. Fed up of Jerry and Quacker's tricks, Tom gleefully decides to exact revenge and turn invisible to give Jerry and Quacker a taste of their own medicine. The mouse and duckling are happily gloating until the invisible cat hits them from behind with the coal shovel. Jerry and Quacker run away in fright as a victorious Tom chases them around the house, hitting them alternately with the coal shovel.
Notes[]
- The cartoon reuses the plot from the 1947 short The Invisible Mouse with Jerry and Quacker both becoming invisible. Unlike the former short, Tom finds out about the invisible trick, which he uses to never stop winning in the end.
- This is one of the few CinemaScope cartoons to be re-pan-and-scanned correctly on the Boomerang app in the 2010s, having previously been pan-and-scanned incorrectly on Cartoon Network in the 1990s.
- This short marks the final appearance of Quacker, who appeared in seven previous Tom and Jerry shorts. As such, The Vanishing Duck is the antepenultimate Tom and Jerry short of the Hanna and Barbera era.
- This was also the final appearance for the husband, George (whose voice was briefly provided here by Richard Anderson). Joan the wife, would make one more appearance, in Tot Watchers.
- This short was shown in theaters with Cry Terror! in its original release.
Availability[]
- DVD - Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection: Volume 3 - (original CinemaScope format, remastered; Warner Bros.)
- DVD - Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals (Warner Bros.)
- Blu-ray - Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection (Warner Bros.)
Gallery[]
Title cards[]
TV Title Cards[]
