Solid Serenade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IMDb page
Solid Serenade
Tom and Jerry series
The title card of Solid Serenade.
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Animation by	Ed Barge Michael Lah Kenneth Muse Ed Barge
Music by	Scott Bradley
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	March 31, 1946
Format	Technicolor, 7 min
Language	English
Preceded by	Trap Happy
Followed by	Cat Fishin'

Solid Serenade (1946) is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Tom and Jerry series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on March 31, 1946 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley, and animation by Ed Barge, Michael Lah and Kenneth Muse.

Tom woos his lover in Solid Serenade.

[edit] Plot

The cartoon, one of the most popular in the Tom & Jerry series, revolves around Tom's attempts to serenade a female cat, which are thwarted both by Jerry (whose sleep is disturbed by Tom's singing) and by "Killer" (later "Spike") the bulldog. The cat brings along his bass fiddle and ties up the bulldog. As Jerry is woken up by Tom's music, which bounces everything in his room, the mouse gets his revenge by hurling a pie with an iron stuffed inside, then another pie into Tom's face. So begins the chase. Tom ends up diving into a sink full of crockery, and manages to get his neck trapped in a window. Jerry unties the bulldog, but Tom eventually manages to knock the bulldog out cold. By the cartoon's end, Tom is lured into the dog house and throttled, beaten and bruised, ending up tied to the bass cello by the whiskers and being strummed by the dog and plucked by Jerry.

[edit] Trivia

Tom ends up tied to the cello by the cartoon's end.

Excerpts of this cartoon are also seen in 1949's Jerry's Diary, 1952's Smitten Kitten, and 1954's Smarty Cat, all three of which are "wrap-around" cartoons, featuring flashbacks from older cartoons as part of the plot.

The song that Tom sings to his sweetheart (Toodles) is Louis Jordan's 1944 hit "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby." The version of "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" used here is an up-tempo version of Louis Jordan's hit, with cello accompaniment. It is believed by many fans that the song was sung by producer Fred Quimby.

When wooing his ladyfriend/Spike, Tom remarks in a Charles Boyer-esque tone "I love you, and you set my soul on fire. It is not just a little spark, it is a flame. A big roaring flame. I can feel it now." The same voice-over was used before in 1944's The Zoot Cat, in which Tom was wooing another female cat.