| Trap Happy | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
Title card |
|
| Directed by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Story by | William Hanna (unc.) Joseph Barbera (unc.) |
| Voices by | William Hanna (unc.) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by | Ed Barge Kenneth Muse Michael Lah Ray Patterson (unc.) Pete Burness (unc.) |
| Studio | MGM Cartoons |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | June 29, 1946 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7' |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Milky Waif |
| Followed by | Solid Serenade |
Trap Happy is a 1946 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 25th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Michael Lah, Ray Patterson and Pete Burness. The music was composed by Scott Bradley. It was released to theaters on June 29, 1946 and is one of Tom and Jerry's more violent cartoons. The name of this cartoon is a pun on the term Slap happy.
Tom and Jerry begins their typical chase, ending with Tom failing again. Tom, tired of the chase, searches in the Yellow Pages for an exterminator. He finds one: Ajax Mouse Exterminators. One Call - That's All. Tom calls the company up impersonating as Mammy Two Shoes to come over.
Butch arrives within seconds. He paints a steel nut yellow and sprays it to make it look and smell like cheese. Butch rolls it into Jerry's hole. Jerry then gobbles the nut. Butch then attracts Jerry with a magnet, trapping the mouse. Butch pulls out an axe and then holds Jerry down while he attempts to cleave the mouse in two, but Tom, scared of seeing the deed, turns away, allowing Jerry to substitute Tom's tail. Tom screams in pain and the 2 vs. 1 chase begins.
Jerry runs into his hole and Butch pins him to a wall inside the hole with a corkscrew. With nowhere to go, Jerry touches two electric wires to the corkscrew, causing it to backfire onto Butch.
The next scene shows the two cats attempt to kill the mouse with poison gas. Jerry walks out with a gas mask on, puzzling the cats (who mistake him as someone else); but soon realizes that Jerry has escaped. Both cats chase him one behind the other, but fall victim to Jerry placing an iron in their path.
Jerry hides in another mousehole and the two cats resort to prying up the entire wall. Jerry has a hammer and slams Tom's foot, causing him to lose grip (and howling in pain) and Butch's fingers to be crushed (also screaming in pain) but soon releases them. Butch instructs Tom to keep quiet and hands him a sledgehammer while he sneaks in through a grate and chases Jerry through the walls of the house. Jerry pops out of the hole and Tom swings as instructed, only to find Butch's head.
Butch lights a bomb and the cats hide. Jerry sees it and throws it back. The cats and the mouse play Hot Potato with the bomb; ending with the bomb on top of Butch's head. The bomb then explodes.
Jerry runs into one hole and comes out the other to find Butch on that side, then comes back out the other and finds Tom on that side. The two cats both grope and feel Jerry at the same time and grab for him just as the mouse jumps, leaving the two cats with hands held (though they don't know it). Both cats think they have Jerry and yank the other cat into the wall several times. Tom proceeds to pull Butch through the entire wall, demolishing it, all with the false impression that their hands are latched on to Jerry.
Tom slaps the pile of brick and rock with a board until he sees an opening. He digs through the pile and finds Butch, who is incensed. Tom makes an "oops!" face, but Butch marks out the "MOUSE" in "MOUSE EXTERMINATOR" on his bag and replaces it with "CAT". Butch gets a shotgun and threatens Tom who runs away to the window as Butch runs after him and shoots him.