Pop Culture Flashback: The Early Days of Tom and Jerry (July 19)

In 1940, Hanna-Barbera’s famous cat and mouse team joined the ranks of other famous comedy pairs like Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello. However, the two didn’t become Tom and Jerry until this day in 1941.

1941-Tom and Jerry Appear as Themselves

Closeup of Tom and Jerry — *(MGM/Warner Bros.)*

After working with ink and paint work at Fleischer Studios, Joseph Barbera went to work at The Van Beuren Corporation. In 1932, he served as an animator and storybook artist. When that company closed, Barbera worked on various projects for Terrytoons before landing at MGM in 1937. It was there that he met William Hanna.

Some of Hanna’s and Barbera’s first work was for cartoons based on the comic strip, The Captain and the Kids. The results were less than impressive. The duo heard that the studio wanted to develop some original characters that would be more successful. So, they pitched a few ideas including one that contained “equal characters who were always in conflict with each other.”

Jasper and Who?

One combination involved a fox and a dog which eventually became a cat and a mouse. MGM wasn’t keen on the idea stating that cat-and-mouse cartoons were “already overdone”. However, Hanna and Barbera were allowed to proceed after impressing the studio with a filmed storyboard. Puss Gets the Boot starred a cat named Jasper and a mouse – with no name at all.

That was supposed to be the end of cat-and-mouse cartoons for MGM. However, Puss Gets the Boot was nominated for an Academy Award in 1941. (Hanna-Barbera lost the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film to The Milky Way, another MGM cartoon.)

Now convinced that this cat-and-mouse team could become comedy gold, MGM had a change of heart. The studio held a naming contest among the employees for the two critters. Animator John Carr came up with Tom and Jerry and won $50.

Hanna and Barbera and Tom and Jerry

On this day in 1941, Tom and Jerry starred as themselves for the cartoon short, The Midnight Snack. Sadly, Hanna and Barbera’s names were omitted from the film’s credits. But just like the first, this cartoon was also nominated for an Academy Award. (It lost to another MGM cartoon – The Littlest Angel.) Despite this, Hanna-Barbera continued creating cartoons for MGM.

Out of the 114 cartoons that the pari made, 13 of them were also nominated for Academy Awards. Seven of them won Oscars for The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943), Mouse Trouble (1944), Quiet Please! (1945), The Cat Concerto (1947), The Little Orphan (1948), The Two Mouseketeers (1952) and Johann Mouse (1953).

OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

1989: ‘My Sister Sam’ Actress is Murdered

On the set of "My Sister Sam" — Jenny O’Hara, Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer and Pam Dawber on the set of *My Sister Sam (CBS)*

Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer was an up-and-coming actress making her big break on the CBS sitcom, My Sister Sam. Beginning in 1986, Schaeffer shared the spotlight with Pam Dawber of Mork and Mindy fame. One of Schaeffer’s fans was stalker Robert John Bardo.

In 1987, Bardo traveled to Los Angeles twice in hopes of meeting Schaeffer in person. Arriving at the TV show set, the security team ushered him out. Then in 1989, Bardo hired a detective to locate Schaeffer’s home address through the DMV. Surprisingly he got it. He then went to Schaeffer’s home and when she didn’t give him what he wanted, he fatally shot her. She was just 22 years old.

Shortly after her death, Dawber and other former co-stars reunited to film a Public Service Announcement. The PSA for the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence led to the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. Enacted in 1994, this act prevents the DMV from releasing private addresses.

Housed at the Mule Creek State Prison, Bardo was stabbed 11 times by another inmate in 2007. He survived and today Bardo continues to serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.