History WesternAnimation / PussGetsTheBoot

[[caption-width-right:300:Franchise/TomAndJerry sure have [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness changed over the years]]...]]

The short begins with the mouse, named Jinx but later known as Jerry, being tormented by Jasper, the cat later known as Tom (we'll refer to them by their finalized names from here on, for convenience's sake). Jerry struggles to stay alive, being chased by Tom until he unwittingly knocks over a houseplant, raising the ire of his owner. She delivers Tom an ultimatum; if he knocks down one more thing, she'll throw him out. Jerry uses this ultimatum to his advantage, and manages to turn the tables on Tom by threatening to knock fragile things over for the rest of the short, and of course, HilarityEnsues.

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[[caption-width-right:300:''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' sure have [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness changed over the years]]...]]
''Puss Gets the Boot'' is an {{WesternAnimation/MGM Oneshot Cartoon|s}}, and is the first WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry short. It was produced in 1939 and released to theaters on February 10, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1940]] by Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer. It was produced by [[Creator/HarmanAndIsing Rudolf Ising]] (who had virtually nothing to do with the entire production; according to Joseph Barbera, he was never even in the room during production) and directed by [[Creator/HannaBarbera William Hanna and Joseph Barbera]], their first collaboration in what would be a half-century long partnership, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Carl Urbano, Tony Pabian, Jack Zander, Pete Burness and Bob Allen.

''Puss Gets the Boot'' is an {{WesternAnimation/MGM Oneshot Cartoon|s}}, and is the first WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry short. It was produced in 1939 and released to theaters on February 10, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1940]] by Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer. It was produced by [[Creator/HarmanAndIsing Rudolf Ising]] ( who had virtually nothing to do with the entire production) and directed by [[Creator/HannaBarbera William Hanna and Joseph Barbera]], their first collaboration in what would be a half-century long partnership, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Carl Urbano, Tony Pabian, Jack Zander, Pete Burness and Bob Allen.

The short begins with the mouse, named Jinx but later known as Jerry, being tormented by Jasper, the cat later known as Tom (we'll refer to them by their finalized names from here on, for convenience's sake). Jerry struggles to stay alive, being chased by Tom until he unwittingly knocks over a houseplant, raising the ire of his owner. She delivers Tom an ultimatum; if he knocks down one more thing, she'll throw him out. Jerry uses this ultimatum to his advantage, and manages to turn the tables on Tom by threatening to knock fragile things over for the rest of the short, and of course, HilarityEnsues.

The short begins with the mouse, possibly named Pee-Wee but later known as Jerry, being tormented by Jasper, the cat later known as Tom (we'll refer to them by their finalized names from here on, for convenience's sake). Jerry struggles to stay alive, being chased by Tom until he unwittingly knocks over a houseplant, raising the ire of his owner. She delivers Tom an ultimatum; if he knocks down one more thing, she'll throw him out. Jerry uses this ultimatum to his advantage, and manages to turn the tables on Tom by threatening to knock fragile things over for the rest of the short, and of course, HilarityEnsues.

* LiteralAssKicking: Upon hearing the Maid's footsteps, Jerry

%%* KarmicTrickster: Jerry.

%%* LiteralAssKicking

%%* NoNameGiven: For Jerry and the Maid.

** Another noticeable difference from later shorts is that the characters' names are completely different, the cat being named Jasper and the mouse being unnamed but possibly being called Pee-Wee. The very next short would switch to naming them Tom and Jerry, respectively, and Hanna & Barbera never looked back.
*** To elaborate, the housemaid refers to Tom as "Jasper;" this is because the original name for the pair was "Jasper and Jinx" (the name "Jinx" is never mentioned onscreen, but appears in pre-production materials). When MGM decided to make a series with the pair, a studio contest was held to rename them, with the $50 prize going to animator John Carr, who is reputed to have taken the names from a 1932 Damon Runyon story (Runyon himself got the names from a cocktail, which derives its name from a 19th century stage play).

The only screen credit on this film was "a Rudolf Ising Production." The short is notable for featuring the first appearances of the characters who would later be christened "Tom and Jerry" and would go on to appear in over 110 more short cartoons, seven of which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Short Subject. As such, Puss Gets the Boot gave the animated duo their first Oscar nomination, though the short [[AwardSnub lost out to another Rudolf Ising MGM cartoon]], ''The Milky Way''. In the short, Tom's name is Jasper and Jerry is not given a name[[note]]Bill Hanna gave an apocryphal statement that the mouse was named Jinx, but Joe Barbera claimed the mouse straight-up didnt have a name. Muddling things further is that MGM's press for the cartoon gave the mouse the name Pee-Wee[[/note]]. The plot set up the basic formula for Tom and Jerry cartoons for years to come, and as such, established many of the tropes commonly found in their shorts.

''Puss Gets the Boot'' is an {{WesternAnimation/MGM Oneshot Cartoon|s}}, and is the first WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry short. It was produced in 1939 and released to theaters on February 10, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1940]] by Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer. It was produced by [[Creator/HarmanAndIsing Rudolf Ising]] ([[InNameOnly who had virtually nothing to do with the entire production]]) and directed by [[Creator/HannaBarbera William Hanna and Joseph Barbera]], their first collaboration in what would be a half-century long partnership, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Carl Urbano, Tony Pabian, Jack Zander, Pete Burness and Bob Allen.

* SpoilerTitle: Yes, as the title suggests, the 'puss' ultimately does 'get the boot'.

[[caption-width-right:300:''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' sure have [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness changed over the years]], haven't they?]]

The short begins with the mouse, possibly named Pee-Wee but later known as Jerry, being tormented by Jasper, the cat later known as Tom (we'll refer to them by their finalized names from here on, for convenience's sake). Jerry struggles to stay alive, being chased by Tom until he unwittingly knocks over a houseplant, raising the ire of Mammy Two-Shoes, his owner. She delivers Tom an ultimatum; if he knocks down one more thing, she'll throw him out. Jerry uses this ultimatum to his advantage, and manages to turn the tables on Tom by threatening to knock fragile things over for the rest of the short, and of course, HilarityEnsues.

!! This short contains examples of the following tropes:

* AmusingInjuries: Notably less violent than the series would become later, though.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Most versions of this cartoon aired on TV (particularly Cartoon Network and Boomerang in America) redub Mammy Two-Shoes' (the black maid's) voice so she doesn't sound stereotypically black, which, in this case, includes correcting the two times she misspells "out" when she warns Jasper (Tom) not to break anything else in the house. Contrast to UK dubs, which do keep in Mammy Two-Shoes' voice, but slightly edit the voice track to make it sound like she's spelling "out" correctly (the latter edit of which makes it painfully obvious that censorship editing has been done. The former would only set off alarms to those who have watched the uncut version before).
* CatsAreMean: Jasper/Tom is much more mean-spirited in his debut [[CharacterizationMarchesOn than most of his later appearances]], bordering on [[TheSociopath sociopathic]].
* DishDash: Jerry piles dozens of dishes into Jasper's/Tom's paws near the end of the episode, [[spoiler: and then causes him to drop them, getting Tom kicked out.]]

* EyeScream: Jerry poking Tom's eye near the beginning of the short.

* TheForties

* IrisOut

* KarmicTrickster: Jerry.

* LiteralAssKicking

* NoNameGiven: For Jerry and the Maid.

* PunBasedTitle: An obvious play on "{{Literature/Puss in Boots}}".
* SassyBlackWoman: The Maid of course.

* SpoilerTitle: Yes, at the end the 'puss' does indeed 'get the boot'.

The only screen credit on this film was "a Rudolf Ising Production." The short is notable for featuring the first appearances of the characters who would later be christened "Tom and Jerry" and would go on to appear in over 110 more short cartoons, seven of which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Short Subject. As such, Puss Gets the Boot gave the animated duo their first Oscar nomination, though the short [[AwardSnub lost out to another Rudolf Ising MGM cartoon]], ''The Milky Way''. In the short, Tom's name is Jasper and Jerry is not given a name[[note]]Bill Hanna gave an apocryphal statement that the mouse was named Jinx, but Joe Barbera claimed the mouse straight-up didnt have a name. Muddling things further is that MGM's press for the cartoon gave the mouse the name Jinx[[/note]]. The plot set up the basic formula for Tom and Jerry cartoons for years to come, and as such, established many of the tropes commonly found in their shorts.

The short begins with the mouse, unnamed in the cartoon but referenced in publicity as Jinx, later known as Jerry, being tormented by Jasper, the cat later known as Tom (we'll refer to them by their finalized names from here on, for convenience's sake). Jerry struggles to stay alive, being chased by Tom until he unwittingly knocks over a houseplant, raising the ire of Mammy Two-Shoes, his owner. She delivers Tom an ultimatum; if he knocks down one more thing, she'll throw him out. Jerry uses this ultimatum to his advantage, and manages to turn the tables on Tom by threatening to knock fragile things over for the rest of the short, and of course, HilarityEnsues.

* AllThereInTheManual: As mentioned above, Jerry is not yet named in this short, though most sources give him the name Jinx. Alternatively, [[https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2020/02/metro-myths.html?spref=fb&m=1 MGM's press gave him the name Pee-Wee.]]

** Another noticeable difference from later shorts is that the characters' names are completely different, the cat being named Jasper and the mouse being unnamed but labelled as Jinx in publicity. The very next short would switch to naming them Tom and Jerry, respectively, and Hanna & Barbera never looked back.