Fine Feathered Friend
| Fine Feathered Friend | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
 Re-release title card | |
| Directed by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby (unc. on original issue) |
| Story by |
William Hanna (unc.) Joseph Barbera (unc.) |
| Voices by | Clarence Nash and Willam Hanna as Tom (Both uncredited) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by |
Kenneth Muse Pete Burness George Gordon Jack Zander Bill Littlejohn (credited on original issue) |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) |
 October 10, 1942 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:43 |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Bowling Alley Cat |
| Followed by | Sufferin' Cats! |
Fine Feathered Friend is a 1942 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 8th Tom and Jerry short released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and reissued in 1949. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. The cartoon is set almost entirely in a barnyard, where Tom's efforts to catch Jerry are made all the more problematic by a hen and her nest of soon to be hatched chicks. It was animated by Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse, Jack Zander and George Gordon. Bill Littlejohn was credited in the original release, but his credit was omitted in the 1949 reissue. This is the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to have animation by Kenneth Muse, an ex-Disney animator who would draw the characters in the style that is remembered today. This is also the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to credit the animators. This is also the second to last cartoon featuring Clarence Nash (Known as the voice of Donald Duck) as Tom's Screeches and Meows but was not credited. The original release opened with the "Tiger Rag" opening gag and music still seen on the one-shot cartoons Blitz Wolf and Chips Off the Old Block; this was replaced with a later Tom and Jerry theme for the reissue version.
Plot
This episode starts with Jerry trying to get a piece of cheese from a mousetrap in a barn. Tom comes out of his hiding place to watch Jerry and he hears the trap go off. He chases after Jerry who has his tail caught in the trap while holding onto the cheese. Jerry stops the chase and hands Tom the cheese. Jerry then releases his tail, grabs the cheese back, and runs away. Jerry tries to cut Tom's neck with a pair of shears by a door but fails. Tom then chases Jerry near a chicken sitting on her nest. Jerry hides underneath the hen and Tom startles the hen when he reaches underneath her to grab Jerry. The hen responds by pecking Tom's head scaring him away. The hen sits back down on her nest and Jerry emerges eating his cheese. Jerry leaves the barn but gets chased back into it by Tom. He runs underneath the hen again, and the hen wakes up before Tom can even try to reach underneath and she pecks him away again. Jerry then realizes how warm it is underneath the hen and he has to use one of the hen's feathers as a fan. Meanwhile, Tom has returned and he quietly tries to reach Jerry, but then ends up stepping into the hen's food bowl and runs away. He briefly disguises himself as a milkmaid while milking the cow and then tries again. As he reaches underneath the hen, he grabs one of the hen's eggs instead of Jerry, which results in the hen clucking at Tom in a mean way. The hen arranges the eggs with a nearby triangle in the same manner as arranging billiard balls.
In future,Tom sets up a mousetrap tied to a string and puts it underneath the mother hen. Jerry comes out with the trap and he sets the trap with Tom's tail on it. Tom doesn't find out that his tail is in the trap for a while and then screams out in pain.
Then the cat sneaks into the barn inside a butter churner. He pokes the chicken with a fork and searches the nest for Jerry. As the hen lands, he sneaks back inside the churner and pokes the hen again. After the hen lands again, Tom attempts to poke the hen a third time. But the hen hides behind the churner and lets out a scream. She removes the churner, grabs the fork and ends up beginning poking Tom with the fork. The hen starts to ride on Tom like a person riding a horse, but suddenly stops when she hears some tiny chirps from her nest. Her eggs have hatched to release some baby chicks. She picks them up from her nest and sends them off to play. Jerry runs away from the nest with a few feathers and he tries to blend in with the other chicks. But one of the chicks mistakes Jerry's tail for a worm.
Mother hen and her chicks then walk in a line past Tom. Jerry sneaks past Tom and he doesn't figure out that Jerry is in disguise. So he gives Tom a swift kick and does a ride on the hen's backside. He waves at Tom and Tom realizes his stupidity. Tom then stands by an opening in the barn's wall and sees the shadows of the chickens passing by. It is in the next moment that he accidentally grabs a chick, thinking that one of them might be Jerry, and runs away. When he opens his hands the baby chick yells for his mama, who promptly arrives. Tom smiles and hands back the chick. The mother hen then slams a bucket onto Tom's head.
The chickens later cross paths with a family of ducks and Jerry follows the ducks into a pond.The audience see him go underwater and then starts getting chased by Tom again. Jerry again tries to cut Tom's head with the shears but fails. Tom grabs the shears and starts chasing Jerry with them. He runs after the mouse near the mother hen, who is having a drink of water, and as Tom inadvertently cuts off the hen's tail feathers, he accidentally antagonises the mother hen while she responds by grabbing Tom, wrapping a towel around his backside and cutting his fur off. Tom then is seen pacing outside the henhouse in the conclusion with bandages on his backside. When he looks in, the mother hen has tied a feather duster to herself and Jerry is resting, uses the hen's feathers as a small pillow to lie on it with rest of the baby chicks.
Trivia
- The first Tom and Jerry cartoon with animations by Kenneth Muse. Also, the final Tom and Jerry cartoon with animations by Bill Littlejohn.
External links
- Fine Feathered Friend at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Fine Feathered Friend at the Internet Movie Database