| Little Runaway | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
| Directed by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Story by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by | Ed Barge Kenneth Muse Irven Spence Ray Patterson |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | June 14, 1952 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7' 04" |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Triplet Trouble |
| Followed by | Fit to Be Tied |
Little Runaway is a 1952 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 68th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by the usual team of animators who worked under Hanna and Barbera, credited to Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ray Patterson. As with the majority of Tom and Jerry cartoons, Robert Gentle created the backgrounds, and Scott Bradley composed the music.
A baby seal cuts his way out of his cage while the circus owners are sleeping and makes his way to Tom and Jerry's house. Meanwhile, at the house Jerry is getting ready for a swim. He dives headdown into the pond and then he sees the seal. They quickly become friends and the seal tells him where he came from and asks for his help. Jerry is glad to help the seal and they shake hands while the seal happily says "Thanks!" He continues "Can you spare a fish?"
Jerry takes a sleeping Tom's fish, but Tom wakes up before he can get away. Jerry then hides behind the fish, does a little dance with it, then waltzes away. Tom enjoyed this performance very well so he whistled for an encore. The dancing fish took a bow with finale music. But as Jerry does repeated bows he accidentally reveals himself behind the fish and takes a bow himself. Tom gives chase. Jerry tosses the fish into the pool, only to have Tom retrieve it but the seal eats it. Tom notices the fish is gone and Jerry laughs at him when he's about to run away, Tom grabs Jerry, but the seal picks up Tom with his nose and throws him into a birdbath. Just then, Tom overhears a radio news report detailing the seal's escape and the $10,000 reward for his return.
After several failed attempts at catching the baby seal, Tom cuts up a tire and covers himself in black rubber to disguise himself as an adult seal. The little seal and Jerry are playing catch and Tom joins the game. The little seal follows Tom's every move, and is just about to be captured by the cunning feline until a circus worker grabs Tom.
Tom is brought to the circus, and is forced to play Yankee Doodle on the trumpet. Though annoyed at first, Tom receives thunderous applause and soon embraces the adoration. As a finale, a fish is thrown into his mouth.
In the Cartoon Network edit of the cartoon, a brief instance where Tom crashes into the birdbath is removed, as it includes the basin landing upside-down on Tom's head, briefly transforming him into a stereotypical caricature of a Chinese man.[1]