Carmen Get It!

Carmen Get It! was the 13th and final Tom and Jerry cartoon produced by William L. Snyder and directed by Gene Deitch in the present-day Czech Republic (known as Czechoslovakia at the time), released on December 1, 1962 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This short ended Deitch's contract with MGM, and Chuck Jones took over production of the Tom and Jerry cartoons shortly afterwards, and moving production back to Southern California, with the Summer of 1963 short Pent-House Mouse. The name is a pun on the phrase "Come and get it!"

Plot

Tom chases Jerry into the then-brand new Metropolitan Opera House, where Georges Bizet's Carmen opera is being performed, but is quickly thrown off the premises by the guard. Tom attempts to get in by disguising himself as a wealthy gent, but is tossed out once again by the guard. Tom tries once more, dressed as a musician and carrying a large string contrabass case, successfully bluffing his way through by whistling a few notes of the Toreador Song.

Tom makes his way towards the opera, and opens up the case to reveal a cello case, a viola case, a violin case, and finally a violin. During the preparing of the orchestra, Tom opens up the violin, which contains a tape recorder inside, which simulates Tom's portion of the score. Tom lures Jerry by scraping the violin's bow with cheese, and while attacking Jerry with the bow, Jerry falls into the violin and rewinds the tape. The squeaking noise disturbs the conductor, who promptly breaks the violin on Tom's head.

The conductor then resumes the music. Jerry runs up the conductor's leg and when Tom chases Jerry, the conductor sees Tom and stomps him on the head. Jerry starts crawling around the conductor's back, while the conductor's gyrations cause the orchestra to start playing a rhythmic jazz score instead, making the conductor to start dancing hilarously. Finally, the movements cause Jerry to be flung out of the conductor's sleeve, and Tom (hiding in a tuba) reaches out to grab Jerry with a baseball glove. However, the tuba player begins a solo passage, and Tom is blown out of the tuba.

As the conductor has a glass of water to calm down, Tom chases Jerry onto the conductor's score. The conductor notices this and slams the book shut, flattening Tom and leaving the notes from the book on him. The conductor snickers sadistically and resumes the music until he pushes Tom off the book. Meanwhile, Jerry escapes into a break room and lures some ants onto a blank page of the score. He gets Tom's attention, and as Tom tries to get him at the conductor's stand, the spotlight goes back on. Tom has no choice but to conduct the orchestra. However, Jerry causes the ants to change positions, causing Tom to misconduct the music, such that it changes to "American Patrol", "Yankee Doodle", "Dixie" and "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight". Finally, the ants scatter and Tom sees Jerry. He screws Jerry into a light bulb socket, and lights Jerry. But at that moment, the conductor returns and Tom runs off.

The opera finally begins, and the singer playing Carmen walks onto the stage. She is just about to begin singing the "Habanera" when she suddenly screams because she sees Jerry dressed like a toreador and dancing at the front of the stage. Tom reaches onto the stage and finally catches Jerry, but the conductor having finally had enough of the cat's antics, gets on the stage and blocks Tom's way, appearing ready to kill Tom. Jerry gives a terrified Tom a red blanket, and the enraged conductor starts to charge him like a raging bull. The dignified opera thus devolves into a farcical bullfight between Tom and the conductor while Jerry takes over the conducting duties. After the song finishes, Jerry bows down to the audience and the ants spell "THE END" on the book pages, to thunderous cheering and applause.^[1]

References

External links

• Carmen Get It! at the Big Cartoon DataBase