Jerry Mouse


Jerry Mouse is a fictional character and one of the two titular main protagonists in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical animated short films. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Jerry is a brown mute anthropomorphic house mouse, who first appeared as a mouse named Jinx in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. Hanna gave the mouse's original name as "Jinx", while Barbera claimed the mouse went unnamed in his first appearance.

History

''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons

The name "Jerry" was chosen by Geraint Rowlands, who submitted "Tom and Jerry" as potential names for the duo after an important Loews Inc. distributor in Texas asked for follow-ups to Puss Gets the Boot. While the idea of a cat-and-mouse duo was considered shopworn by the 1940s,Hanna and Barbera decided to expand upon the standard expected cat and mouse relationship. Instead of being a "cowering victim" of Tom, he took delight in besting, and even torturing, his feline frenemy. Hanna and Barbera considered Tom and Jerry "the best of enemies", whose rivalry hid an unspoken amount of mutual respect. Jerry is also mute like Tom as well.
In later Tom and Jerry cartoons, Jerry acquired a young ward: a small grey mouse called "Tuffy" or "Nibbles" depending upon the cartoon, who was left on Jerry's doorstep as a foundling baby in the 1946 short The Milky Waif. Jerry and Tuffy were also featured together in a sub-series of Tom and Jerry cartoons set in 17th century France which featured the characters as musketeers. The first of these shorts, The Two Mouseketeers, won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons.
Hanna and Barbera served as writer/directors of the Tom and Jerry cartoons until 1956, when they also became the producers. Fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons between 1940 and 1954 were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, with seven of the shorts winning that award. MGM shut down its animation department in 1957, but new Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced by Gene Deitch and later Chuck Jones during the 1960s. Jerry would also appear in later Tom and Jerry productions made for television, a series of direct-to-video features, and , a 1992 theatrical film. Later productions eschewed much of the violence the 1940s and 1950s shorts were known for, and in several of the television shows Jerry was given a red bow tie and a kinder disposition.
Tom and Jerry aren't always enemies; they have been known to team up on occasion.

''Anchors Aweigh''

On his own, Jerry Mouse appears in a fantasy sequence in the 1945 Gene Kelly MGM musical film Anchors Aweigh. Jerry appears as the ruler of a kingdom where music is banned because he feels he lacks talent, and Kelly persuades the mouse into performing a song-and-dance number with him. Kelly and MGM had originally wanted Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse as Kelly's dance partner for the sequence, but Disney was unwilling to license the character.
Hanna and Barbera achieved the effect of Kelly dancing with Jerry by rotoscoping: live-action plates of Kelly dancing alone were shot first, and the action traced frame by frame so that Jerry's movements would match. The success of the animated segment of Anchors Aweigh, which was noted as "stealing the show" in contemporary trade reviews, led to two more live-action/animated projects for Hanna and Barbera and MGM: an underwater ballet sequence featuring both Tom and Jerry in Esther Williams' 1953 film Dangerous When Wet, and the "Sinbad the Sailor" sequence of Kelly's 1956 film Invitation to the Dance.

''Tom & Jerry Kids''

In 1990, this version of Jerry wears a red bowtie, and has a tuft of hair on his head. He often taunts Tom any chance he gets. Sometimes, in a few episodes, he is friends with/allies of Tom.

Voice actors

Jerry has had a number of voice actors over the years. Ever since his debut in Puss Gets the Boot his vocal effects were provided by co-creator William Hanna during the Hanna-Barbera era. Sara Berner also did vocal effects for Jerry in the short Baby Puss and voiced him in the short The Zoot Cat, as well as Anchors Aweigh in a dance sequence with him and Gene Kelly. A sequence in the short The Milky Waif features Jerry and Nibbles disguising themselves as a pair of black people, in which the former is voiced by Lillian Randolph. Paul Frees did Jerry's speaking voice in the shorts His Mouse Friday and Blue Cat Blues. Daws Butler did Jerry's voice in the short Mucho Mouse. When the MGM cartoon studio shut down in 1957, Gene Deitch and European animation studio Rembrandt Studio took over, and Deitch did Jerry's voice during the 1961–62 era. During the Chuck Jones era in 1963–1967, his voice was provided by Mel Blanc, June Foray, Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow. Terence Monk did his voice in the short The Cat Above and the Mouse Below and Dale McKennon did Jerry’s singing voice in Cat and Dupli-cat. Jim Pabian did his voice in The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off. In The Tom and Jerry Show, Jerry was voiced by John Stephenson. Lou Scheimer voiced him in The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show. Frank Welker voiced him in Tom and Jerry Kids and Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring. Dana Hill voiced Jerry in Tom and Jerry: The Movie.
Other voice actors include Bill Kopp in Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars and Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, Spike Brandt in The Karate Guard, Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse, Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure, Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon, Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest, and Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Bob Bergen in Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz and Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz, Sam Vincent in Tom and Jerry Tales, Alan Marriott in Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry and Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers, Marc Silk in Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers, and Jeff Bergman in a Cartoon Network Latin America bumper. In The Tom and Jerry Show , Jerry's vocal effects are provided by sound designer Rich Danhakl and archival recordings of William Hanna from the original theatrical shorts.

Popular culture

Tom and Jerry were planned to appear as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.