Life with Tom

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Life with Tom
series = Tom and Jerry


caption = The title card of "Life with Tom".
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna (unc.)
Joseph Barbera (unc.)
animator = Kenneth Muse
Irven Spence
Ed Barge
background_artist = Robert Gentle
voice_actor =
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
studio =
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = November 21, 1953
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 minutes 49 seconds
preceded_by = "Two Little Indians"
followed_by = "Puppy Tale"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0045999

"Life with Tom" is the 79th one reel animated "Tom and Jerry" short, created in 1953 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ed Barge with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released to theatres on November 21, 1953 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot

A mailman delivers two packages and whistles out loud. Tom approaches to see that nothing is in his mailbox. He spots a package in Jerry's mailbox though, which appears to be a book, and tears it to reveal the title "Life with Tom." He hides in the bush as Jerry walks towards his mailbox and retrieves a letter. Tom then hears a radio program which announces the publication of a new book by Jerry Mouse. Tom opens the book and flips the page to "Dedicated to Tom.... Without whom, I could do very well." Tom moves on to a page detailing the day where he and Jerry went fishing.

We flashback to 1946's "Cat Fishin'" where Tom uses Jerry as bait. However, Jerry ties Tom's fishing line to Spike, leading to Tom reeling Spike in and bashing him on the head. Spike gives chase. We return to the present day, where the book reads: "To this day, Tom still thinks he caught a new species of dog fish." This makes Tom furious and he overhears some alleycats laughing. He skims to the page to the part where Jerry and Nibbles are dressed as Pilgrims. Flashback to 1948's "The Little Orphan" where Jerry and Nibbles are walking along the dinner table. Tom approaches, dressed as an Indian. Tom prevents Nibbles from walking, until Jerry pops a champagne cork in his face. As Jerry and Nibbles flee, Jerry runs into a knife thrown by Tom, and is knocked out cold. Tom grabs Jerry, but Nibbles catapults a pie into Tom's face, knocking the cat off the table. Nibbles catapults a candle into Tom's tail, burning the cat, such that he appears in blackface. Finally, Nibbles unleashes a champagne bottle like a missile, which hits Tom and shoots him into a cabinet. Tom surrenders, waving the white flag.

Back to the present day, Tom hears Spike and Tyke laughing. He extends his neck out to see what page the dogs are reading and moves to the page where Jerry reveals that while Man's best friend is a dog, Jerry's best friend is a canary. Flashback to 1948's "Kitty Foiled" where the canary is shocked to witness Tom and Jerry's violent exploits. He sees Tom tying Jerry to a toy railway track. Tom hops aboard a toy train, advancing towards Jerry. The concerned canary drops a bowling ball from a bag, just before Tom hits Jerry with the toy train that he is riding. The bowling ball forms a deep hole through the railroad and the ground, in which the train plunges with Tom still aboard.

Back again to the present day, and Tom is so furious, his face becomes a bright shade of red. He marches over to Jerry's hole, tearing off the facade and smashing the book over Jerry. Jerry then shows Tom the letter that he had received that morning. The letter states "Dear Jerry, enclosed find royality checks for $50,000. In accordance with your instructions, half of this is for your friend Tom"." A flattered Tom has a change of heart about the autobiography and now begins to see the funny side of it all.

Censorship

*As with "The Little Orphan", the blackface gag has been cut on some prints, due to racial sensitivies, the final scene with the candle on Tom's tail has been cut to the scene where the champagne bottle launches after the blackface gag has almost reached up to Tom's head.
*Some DVD showings of this cartoon cut out the scene in which the radio program announces the publication.

Trivia

*In Jerry's book, "Life with Tom", Jerry wrote: "On Thanksgiving day, MY LITTLE NEPHEW and I dressed up as pilgrims ... ", so, in this short, Nibbles has become Jerry's nephew. Or at least Jerry considers this little grey mouse to be his nephew. But wait a minute... isn't Nibbles an orphan?
*This cartoon features clips from 1946's Cat Fishin', 1948's The Little Orphan, and 1948's Kitty Foiled.