Sufferin' Cats!

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Sufferin' Cats! Tom and Jerry series
The title card of Sufferin' Cats!
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Kenneth Muse George Gordon Jack Zander Pete Burness
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	January 16, 1943
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	8 min.
Preceded by	Fine Feathered Friend
Followed by	The Lonesome Mouse
IMDb profile

Sufferin Cats! is a 1943 animated cartoon short subject, starring Tom and Jerry. It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on January 16, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

[edit] Plot

The cartoon opens with Jerry running with a line tied to his tail. The line jerks, tripping him and he is dragged across the floor and under the radiator. At the end of the line is Tom with a fishpole and he is dressed like a fisherman. When Jerry reaches Tom, Tom makes a face and scares Jerry causing him to run away again. Tom starts to reel in Jerry again and he grabs a large bag of jerked beef (Beef Jerky) and causing Tom to reel in a little harder. As the line returns to Tom, a piece of the bag Jerry had grabbed onto is in his place and the bag has the word "Jerk" on it. Jerry then escapes through an open window and into another alley cat (here named Meathead) who is going through garbage cans trying to find something to eat. Jerry starts to run away from the alley cat but then runs into Tom who is coming towards him. Jerry then jumps into the alley cat and gives him a kiss, hug, and plays with his whiskers. Then Jerry sticks his tongue out at Tom. This angers Tom who grabs Jerry and hisses at the alley cat. The alley cat then grabs Jerry back and hisses louder than Tom. This causes Tom to retreat for a short while.

The alley cat then tries to make a sandwich with Jerry in it. But when he puts pepper on the sandwich, it causes Jerry to sneeze himself out of the bread and run away. Jerry runs into Tom and gives him a kiss and then sticks his tongue out at the alley cat. The cat grabs Jerry and breaks the bread over Tom's head. Tom then grabs the alley cat's whiskers and pulls one of them out. The alley cat then locks Jerry in a sardine can and pulls one of Tom's whiskers out. The alley cat is just about to punch Tom when he notices Jerry trying to escape. The alley cat scolds Jerry and points to the can as if to say, "You belong to me, get back in the can." Jerry goes back in the can and Tom has been replaced with a flower pot. This gives Tom the opportunity to steal the sardine can with Jerry in it and he runs away causing the alley cat to slam into the front gate.

In the backyard, Tom sits on Jerry and produces the empty sardine can. But Jerry sticks him with a gardening fork. Jerry then runs away and Tom ties the alley cat's tail to the garden hose. Tom then chases Jerry and catches him near an open window where a pie is sitting and as the alley cat comes around the corner of the house, Tom hits the alley cat with the pie. Tom runs away with Jerry, but trips into a garbage can. The alley cat grabs Jerry but then Tom emerges and wallops him with a frying pan. Jerry then runs away and through a hole in a fence. As Tom sticks his head into the hole, Jerry hits Tom with a pipe. The alley cat shows up and Tom puts to the hole as if to say, "Be my guest". Jerry then hits the alley cat with the pipe.

Jerry runs away and disguises himself with the help of a mop bristles in the shape of a beard. As both cats come around Jerry points in a direction as if to say, "He went that way". The cats run off then realize they've both made a mistake and they search the mop. Jerry then emerges from a drainpipe and ties both cat's tails together. He then runs away and both the cats get tangled around a tree. Jerry then runs and finds a box of thumbtacks and he lays them out for the cats to run through which they do. They finally catch Jerry and after a brief fight they look at a tree stump with an ax on it. They look at the ax and agree to cut Jerry in half. The alley cat holds Jerry while Tom readies the ax and as Tom raises the ax over his head, his devilish conscience appears and says, "You don't have to share that mouse." He then makes an X on the alley cat's head. Tom readies the ax and swings but he stops short. The conscience appears again and calls him yellow. Tom get ready to swing the ax again but the blade falls off and all he ends up doing his hitting the alley cat with a stick which causes a lump to form on the top of his head. The alley cat starts to chase Tom and beat him with the stick and in the meanwhile Jerry has escaped, he runs and ducks under the front gate and the cats end up crashing through the gate with their heads and paws stuck on the front side of the gate and their rear ends hanging out the back. Jerry then returns with a two by four and gives the cats a spanking. The cartoon ends with a sign being shown above the cats' heads saying "Make all deliveries in rear".

[edit] Trivia

• This is the first appearance of Meathead, and also the first short where Tom is given an adversary to fight with over Jerry, although Meathead is later replaced with Butch.
• Jerry ties Tom's tail with Meathead the same way he did with Butch in Casanova Cat.