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''The Cat Concerto'' is a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1946]] ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'' short, released to theatres on April 26, 1947 by Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by [[Creator/HannaBarbera William Hanna and Joseph Barbera,]] with musical supervision by Scott Bradley, and animation by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, and Irven Spence. It won the 1946 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. The short won the duo their fourth consecutive UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Animated Short Film.

In what was then an unusual setting for a ''Tom and Jerry'' short (this coming before the influx of RecycledInSpace plots that would be used in the series later), the short opens with Tom getting ready to perform Music/FranzLiszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" on a piano in front of an audience at a formal recital. Little does he know that Jerry has ([[ContrivedCoincidence for some reason]]) decided to live inside the piano, and is rudely awakened by the hammers as Tom plays the piano keys. Jerry then realizes what is happening, but decides to take it in stride and come to the top of the piano, playfully "conducting" Tom with his finger. This irritates Tom, who then flicks Jerry away. And of course, ThisMeansWar...

Also of note is that ''WesternAnimation/RhapsodyRabbit'', a ''WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies'' short starring WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and featuring a nearly identical plot (complete with Bugs playing "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" and going up against a mouse living inside the piano), was released just a few months earlier. To this day no one knows who copied from whom or whether it was a complete coincidence. Animation historian Joe Adamson relates that Technicolor was swamped with work and accidentally sent dailies of ''Rhapsody Rabbit'' to MGM, prompting Hanna and Barbera to rush their film to get it released first. Creator/FrizFreleng, the director of ''Rhapsody Rabbit'', always maintained that it was a complete coincidence that his short was so similar to the Tom and Jerry one. At any rate, ''The Cat Concerto'' was the one that received the Oscar.

{{Trope Namer|s}} for CatConcerto, when alley cats perform a serenade (though usually singing rather than on the keyboard).
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!!This cartoon provides examples of:

* AlliterativeTitle: ''The Cat Concerto''.
* AmusingInjuries: Much less of this than in most ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts, where Tom is usually ruthlessly mangled. Actually, it's Jerry who takes the worse punishment, in a sequence where he's inside the piano getting whacked and pulverized by the piano hammers. Jerry only manages to come out on top through VictoryByEndurance, replaying the fugue part whenever Tom is about to finish the song, faster and faster to the point Tom tires and collapses.
* CatsAreMean: But mice return the meanness.
* CoconutSuperpowers: A non-superpower example: the camera frequently angles itself so that you don't see Tom's hands, to cut down on the sheer difficulty of animating his fingers in time with the playing.
* CoversAlwaysLie: Look at the poster up top. It makes it look like Jerry knocked Tom out with a piano part. But the depiction of Tom is actually from when he collapsed from exhaustion after rapidly playing the end of the Rhapsody three times.
* DelayedReaction: At one point, Jerry takes his time reacting to being smacked by Tom on the head.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Unusual for Tom, of course. He wears the top half of a tuxedo but no pants. Jerry appears in an identical outfit at the very end.
* KickTheDog: Or more appropriately, Flick the Mouse. Tom flicking Jerry off the piano when Jerry was just sitting there listening kicks off the cartoon hijinks.
* MickeyMousing: To an ''insane'' degree. One scene has Tom pounding the keys playing the music as he's actually trying to squash Jerry.
* PianoCoverSlam: Jerry slams the piano key cover over Tom's fingers.
* PianoKeyWave: With Jerry under the piano keys, making the wave as he flees from Tom.
* ShownTheirWork: More musically-inclined viewers have noted that Tom is indeed playing the correct notes on the piano, albeit with liberties taken for RuleOfFunny. In fact, at least one person has reportedly learned the opening of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 just by watching Tom play it.
* SquashedFlat: Tom's hands after Jerry slams the piano key cover down on them.
* StandardSnippet: At one point, Jerry manipulates the keys to change the piece from "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" to the popular song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe".
* TeamRocketWins: Anyone who is used to Jerry dominating for the entire episode is in for a shock with this one. Tom actually deals with Jerry's repeated attempts to interrupt him quite successfully, and even though Jerry pulls a VictoryByEndurance and completely exhausts Tom, it can be argued that Tom still won, because he ''did'' get to finish the song, and was dominating for the entire short anyway. Though, some feel that even then, despite Tom's success, [[PyrrhicVictory Jerry stole his credit for the performance]].
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