| Puss Gets the Boot | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Directed by |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by | Rudolf Ising |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Scott Bradley (uncredited) |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 9 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Puss Gets the Boot is a 1940 American animated short film and the first short in what would become the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, though neither are yet referred to by these names.[1] It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Rudolf Ising. It is based on the Aesop's Fable, The Cat and the Mice. As was the practice of MGM shorts at the time, only Rudolf Ising is credited. It was released to theaters on February 10, 1940, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
In the first short, the cat is named Jasper, and appears to be a scruffy, battle-hardened street cat, more malicious than the character that Tom would develop into over time. The unnamed mouse (named Jinx during the pre-production) is similar to who would become the Jerry character, albeit slightly thinner. The basic premise is the one that would become familiar to audiences; in The Art of Hanna-Barbera, Ted Sennett sums it up as "cat stalks and chases mouse in a frenzy of mayhem and slapstick violence".[2] Though the studio executives were unimpressed, audiences loved the film and it was nominated for an Academy Award.[2] This short ultimately lost to The Milky Way (1940 film), a MGM short about three kittens who lost their mittens and were forced to go to bed without their dinner of milk.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 149–150. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
- ^ a b Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. pp. 14–17. ISBN 978-0670829781. Retrieved June 2, 2020.