| Baby Puss | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
| Directed by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby (unc. on original issue) |
| Voices by | Sara Berner (unc.) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by | Kenneth Muse Ray Patterson Irven Spence Pete Burness |
| Studio | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 1943 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7' 51" |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Yankee Doodle Mouse |
| Followed by | The Zoot Cat |
Baby Puss is a 1943 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 12th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby, Baby Puss was released to theaters on Christmas day, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.
This is the first Tom and Jerry short to be animated by Ray Patterson, who arrived from Walt Disney Productions after working on The Old Army Game, a Donald Duck cartoon also released in 1943. Excepting some time spent at Walter Lantz Productions in the 1950s, Patterson would continue to work for Hanna and Barbera into the 1980s.
A little girl named Nancy is playing house, and pretending to be a mother and has dressed Tom, apparently the family pet, up to be her baby. She is scolding Tom, who is hiding under some furniture. She drags Tom out by his tail and threatens to spank him. Tom is resentful over his treatment and feels humiliated. She carries him to the bassinet, tucks him in, and shoves a bottle of milk in his mouth. She warns him, under threat of more spanking, to stay in bed while she "goes downtown to buy a new girdle." Indignant at first, Tom gets a taste of milk and quickly accepts his lot, cooing like a baby and drinking from his baby bottle.
Jerry peeks from behind a doll house and sees Tom. Incredulous at first, Jerry proceeds to mock him by playing "Rock-a-bye Baby" on the turntable and pretends to be a baby himself. Tom is furious and chases Jerry into the dollhouse. Just when it seems that Tom has Jerry cornered, Nancy returns and scolds Tom again. Tucking Tom back in bed, Nancy threatens to feed him castor oil if he gets out again.
Tom goes back to his role playing. Jerry emerges from the doll house and runs to the window to get the attention of Meathead (first seen in Sufferin' Cats!), Butch and Topsy, Tom's three alley cat friends who are outside. When the trio see Tom, they begin to make fun of him. When Tom confronts the other cats, they continue to tease and humiliate him.
The three cats, now joined by Jerry, are so caught up in their abuse of Tom, to the tune of Carmen Miranda's "Mama Yo Quiero," that they are startled when Nancy returns and demands to know what is going on. Meathead, Butch, and Topsy flee as Nancy prepares to scold Tom. With a little (unsolicited) help from Jerry, she feeds Tom a huge spoonful of castor oil. A sickened Tom rushes to the windowsill to vomit. Jerry laughs at Tom's misfortune, but he ends up accidentally taking a dose of castor oil himself and soon joins Tom at the windowsill.