The Cat Concerto

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The Cat Concerto

Tom and Jerry series

The title card of The Cat Concerto.
Directed by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Produced by Fred Quimby
Story by William Hanna (unc.)
Joseph Barbera (unc.)
Music by Scott Bradley
Animation by Kenneth Muse
Ed Barge
Irven Spence
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) April 26, 1947
Color process Technicolor
Running time 7 min 49 secs
Preceded by Part Time Pal
Followed by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse
IMDb profile

The Cat Concerto is a 1947 one-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Tom and Jerry series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on April 26, 1947 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 Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge and Irven Spence. It won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. In 1994 it was voted #42 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

[edit] Plot

The plot centres on a formal concert, where Tom, a piano virtuoso, is giving a piano recital of Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 by Franz Liszt. Jerry, who has been asleep inside the piano, is rudely awakened by the hammers, then sits on top of the grand piano to mock the cat by "conducting" him. Tom cannot abide this, and flicks Jerry off the piano. All the while, Tom continues playing without any interruptions.

Now Jerry arises from under one of the keys. Tom hammers down on the key, while Jerry runs back and forth underneath. As Tom lifts his paws from the keys, the piano continues playing. He looks over the edge of the piano and spots Jerry playing the felts from inside. Tom knocks the rodent out with a tuning tool. Jerry gets revenge by slamming the piano lid onto Tom's fingers, flattening them. But he resumes playing, as Jerry attempts to chop off the cat's fingers with a pair of scissors. When this fails, he substitutes a mousetrap for some of the keys. Now Tom's finger does get caught and swells to ballooning proportions.

Tom and Jerry at odds in The Cat Concerto.
Tom and Jerry at odds in The Cat Concerto.

Jerry prances up and down on the piano, upon which Tom climbs and proceeds to play - with his feet. As Tom gets back down to play with his fingers, Jerry dances around on the felts, changing the tune from the Rhapsody to "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe". Tom snatches Jerry in his fist and throws him into the piano stool. Jerry crawls out of an opening and manipulates the seat's controls, cranking it up, and then sending it crashing down.

Still playing, Tom stuffs Jerry into the felts. The felts take on a life of their own, bashing Jerry about, spanking him, and squashing him to and fro. Jerry manages to break off some felts and plays them on the strings, faster and faster, so that Tom simply cannot keep up. No longer in control of the piano, Tom tries to keep up appearances but collapses in exhaustion after finishing the tune.

And of course, Jerry takes all the applause and credit for himself.

[edit] Controversy

Jerry attempts to play a solo of his own in this scene from The Cat Concerto.
Jerry attempts to play a solo of his own in this scene from The Cat Concerto.

The same year MGM produced The Cat Concerto, Warner Bros. released a very similar cartoon entitled Rhapsody Rabbit. Directed by Friz Freleng, Rhapsody Rabbit featured Bugs Bunny opposite an unnamed mouse. Both shorts had very similar plots, and even use the same piece by Liszt.

Both MGM and Warner Bros. accused each other of plagiarism, after both films were shown during the 1947 Academy Awards ceremony. Technicolor was accused of sending a print of either cartoon to the competing studio, who then allegedly plagiarized their rival's work. Ironically, Warner's current parent Time Warner now owns the Tom and Jerry cartoons as well. This controversy was the subject of an episode on the Cartoon Network documentary show ToonHeads.

[edit] External references