Puttin' on the Dog
| Puttin' on the Dog | |
|---|---|
| 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 Joseph Barbera |
| Voices by | Billy Bletcher as Killer (Spike) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by |
Pete Burness Ray Patterson Irven Spence Ken Muse (as Kenneth Muse on the reissue) Assistant animation: Barney Posner (uncredited) Additional animation: Bill Littlejohn (uncredited) |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) |
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| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:02 |
| Language | Not language specific |
| Preceded by | The Bodyguard |
| Followed by | Mouse Trouble |
Puttin' on the Dog is a 1944 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 16th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was released in theatres on October 28, 1944, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cartoon was animated by Pete Burness, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence and Kenneth Muse, and the music was composed by Scott Bradley (who in this cartoon was the first composer to use Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique in any film score). The cartoon revolves around with Tom's attempts to disguise himself as a dog in order to get his hands on Jerry, who's hiding from him in a dog pound.
Plot
Tom chases Jerry into a dog pound and the dogs expel Tom. Jerry, sitting on Spike's back, taunts Tom. Tom notices a dog statue and steals the head. He walks like a dog and sneaks into the dog pound, but loses the head. He attempts to pull it out when Spike notices him. Tom puts himself back under the head and barks. Spike turns and walks away.
Tom frees the head and Jerry sneaks up behind him and imitates barking. Tom is startled and almost claws through the wall before he sees the mouse and chases Jerry, spotting him in a bone-hat. Tom bolts after him, and Jerry hides. Convinced that the end of the dog bone nearby is Jerry in disguise, Tom grabs it and is met by an angry Spike. As Spike chomps down, Tom causes Spike to swallow his bone and hides underneath a huge St. Bernard, which goes to sleep and Tom pops out from under it without the dog head. Tom wakes the dog and is hanging from the collar. Tom attaches the head to his rear and pops out again, waking the dog again. The dog sees Tom's head, but Tom switches ends and leaves. Tom hides in a barrel and notices Jerry is doing the same. He breaks open the barrel and chases Jerry until Jerry hides in another dog's fur. Jerry swims in the fur and gets Tom to dive in. This wakes up the dog and he scratches both cat and mouse out of his fur. Jerry stops, trips Tom, and gains the dog head for himself. Spike comes around the corner and briefly sees Tom's real head, but Tom quickly hides it. Jerry leaves and Spike (now looking quite frightened) looks at Tom's apparently headless body, which cheerfully waves at him then waddles off after its 'head'. This proves to be the last straw for poor Spike, who emits a terrified, womanlike scream heard in Fraidy Cat.
Tom waddles after his "head", but fails to spot the pole in his way and bumps into it, returning to normal. Seeing dog ears like the ones on the dog head in a nearby barrel, Tom grabs them and is met with an angry yellow dog. Tom ties up his mouth with his own collar and runs away. Tom sees Jerry follow the path close to him and prepares to seize him; unfortunately, Spike is also coming around the corner. Tom grabs Spike and tries to fit him over his head. When he can't move after a few steps, Tom realizes something is up and sees the dog chomping at him. Tom hides behind a wall and spots Jerry/head. In his path, though, is a long dog akin to a train stop. The dog apparently has two heads, until Jerry reveals himself and sticks his tongue out at Tom, only to run into the dog's house. Jerry dashes off and Tom traps him, but soon realizes that's his means of disguise and sticks it over his head just as Spike arrives. Jerry raises the head and turns the head in an effort to expose Tom until Spike lifts the head himself, whereupon Tom covers all of himself (except his feet) with the head and waddles off.
Tom lifts the head and whacks himself in an effort to flatten Jerry, but causes a bump on his head. Tom can no longer hide himself when Spike comes around, and finally sees through Tom's disguise, with Jerry clearing it up by holding up a sign with the words "Yes, stupid, its a cat!" and the jig is up. When Spike see through the truth, he lets out a roar like a buffalo roar and leaps into the air for the sake of revenge. Tom panics and tunnels into the ground in an attempt to escape, but Spike digs him up with his large jaws. The chase wakes up all the other dogs, who join the chase. Tom is chased to the top of a pole and Jerry with dog head starts barking at Tom. The others stop barking as they now hear Jerry. He loses the head, but retrieves it, and continues barking at Tom.
Availability
DVD
- Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 3
- Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 2, Disc One
- Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume One, Disc One