Quiet Please!

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Quiet Please!
series = Tom and Jerry

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caption =
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Kenneth Muse Ray Patterson Irven Spence Ed Barge
voice_actor = Billy Bletcher
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|US December 22, 1945
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7' 43"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0038011
preceded_by = "Flirty Birdy"
followed_by = "Springtime for Thomas"

"Quiet Please!" is a 1945 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 22nd "Tom and Jerry" short, which won the 1945 . It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, and Ed Barge.

The cartoon is notable for featuring a speaking Tom, a decided rarity throughout the original series. In this film, Tom says to Jerry: "One custard pie?! Let me have it!"

Plot

Tom's nemesis, Spike, is trying to take a nap. However, he is woken by Tom chasing Jerry with a frying pan, and he gets hit three times in the process. Annoyed, Spike tries to go back to sleep, but is awoken again by the cat's use of a rifle. Tom eventually discounts the gun, which ends up falling onto Spike's head. The canine buries his head in his pillow, but is woken a third time by several blows to the head via an axe. Fuming, Spike grabs Tom and says "I'm trying to take a nap. A little beauty rest, see? And you're driving me nuts! Please, chum. Lay off the noise, huh?" Spike threatens to skin Tom alive, and throws the feline across the room onto a sofa.

The cat sees the dog settle down to sleep and sighs with relief until he hears Jerry whisper at him and unveils a drawing of the cat with the word "STINKY" underneath, provoking the chase.

This ends abruptly when Jerry threatens to create noise by bashing a spoon and frying pan together by Spike's ears. Seeing another chance to play around, Jerry pokes and whacks the cat with the spoon, and Tom goes to attack him until Jerry renews the threat. Therefore, Tom walks away, turns the corner, and grabs the utensils from Jerry. The mouse, seeing his threat has dissipated, escapes and grabs a lamp cord for Tom to trip on. The cat chases the mouse and just as soon trips on the cord, headed for a table of breakable wine glasses. Luckily, in midair, he manages to push the table out of the way and replace it with a pillow.

Relief is ephermal as Tom spots Jerry, getting ready to fire a large rifle, which would make enough noise to wake the dog up, but Tom sticks his fingers in the gun barrels before Jerry can fire. As he examines his throbbing fingers, Jerry tries to push a grandfather clock to the floor. Tom can do nothing but stick his fingers in Spike's ears and hope the dog does not hear the loud crashing, which he doesn't.

After this, Jerry begins to drop lightbulbs off the mantelpiece. Tom amazingly manages to catch them all with all four limbs and his mouth, but Jerry plugs his tail into the light socket, lighting the cat up as if he were a set of Christmas decorations. Jerry then pushes a roller skate under Tom's foot, and sends him straight into Spike. The impact wakes the dog up, as do the subsequent explosions of all the bulbs.

Tom manages to send the dog back to sleep by rocking him and singing him "Rock-a-bye Baby" and, after putting him down, a twisted version of "Brahms' Lullaby" ("…close your big bloodshot eyes...you're a dope, and you're a lug, and I hope you don't wake up…") while pouring an entire bottle of "Knock-Out Drops" into Spike's mouth (and nose). As Tom finishes the song, he lifts Spike's eyelid to reveal "OUT COLD". At this point, Jerry noisily bangs a drum, with no effect, even at close range to the dog. To demonstrate the power of the Knock-Out Drops, Tom repeatedly imitates numerous percussion instruments on the KO'ed Spike, plops himself on top of the dog, and shows the mouse the bottle of Knock-Out Drops. This causes Jerry's mouth to drop and himself to instantly become "depressed". Jerry, in the kitchen writes his last will: "My last will - to Tom, my favourite cat I leave my sole earthly possession - ONE CUSTARD PIE. Signed: Jerry." Tom reads it and answers: "One custard pie? Let me have it!", and he does get it...in the face.

The chase resumes in full force until Tom stops in horror, as the dog is snarling. However, after a few seconds alive, the cat pulls up Spike's chin to reveal it is Jerry making the noise and moving the dog's chin. When the mouse realizes he is licked, he continues to imitate a dog and bites Tom's nose.

Tom takes a short break to watch Jerry attempt to wake Spike up. He yells "Yo!" in his ear, nudges his chin, and stabs him in the rear with a pin. However, nothing works, as the eyelid reveals that Spike is "STILL OUT COLD". No sooner does he see this than Tom swings a hammer at him and the mouse has to flee. He stops the cat next to a chair and pulls a larger hammer from underneath it. Gracious, Tom hands the mouse the smaller hammer and prepares to flatten Jerry with the big one, but gets his foot smashed by Jerry.

Tom gasps when he sees Jerry placing a huge stick of dynamite underneath Spike. As Tom attempts to pull it out from underneath Spike, the dog awakens and growls at him. Tom smiles, slides the explosive device back under Spike, and runs off. Before Spike can react, the dynamite explodes. A battered Spike reveals his anchor tattoo on his arm and chases after Tom. Bruised and bandaged, Tom ends up having to rock Spike to sleep in a cradle. Jerry is also sleeping in the cradle and hangs a "Do Not Disturb" sign from it.