Fine Feathered Friend

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Fine Feathered Friend
series = Tom and Jerry


caption =
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Kenneth Muse
Pete Burness
George Gordon
Jack Zander
Bill Littlejohn
voice_actor =
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|US October 10, 1942
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7' 43"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0034731
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, 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. 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.

Plot

The cartoon opens 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 mother hen 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 Tom ends up getting pecked again by the hen. 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 slowly tries to reach Jerry. But he ends up stepping into the hen's food bowl and runs away. He briefly disguises himself as a milkmaid 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.

Tom then 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 realize his tail is in the trap for a while and then screams out in pain!

Tom then sneaks into the barn inside a butter churner. He sticks the hen with a fork and searches the nest for Jerry. As the hen lands, he sneaks back inside the churner and sticks the hen again. After the hen lands again, Tom tries to stick the hen a third time. But the hen hides behind the churner and lets out a scream. She moves the churner, grabs the fork and ends up sticking Tom. The hen starts to ride Tom like a horse but she stops when she hears tiny chirps from her nest. Her eggs have hatched. 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 hitches 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. He grabs a chick, thinking that it's 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 chicken then cross paths with a family of ducks and Jerry follows the ducks into a pond. He goes underwater and then starts getting chased by Tom again. Jerry again tries to cut Tom's head with the shears but fails. Tom then grabs the shears and starts chasing Jerry with them. Tom chases Jerry near the mother hen who is having a drink of water and Tom cuts off her tail feathers. The hen responds by grabbing Tom, wrapping a towel around his backside and cuts off his fur. Tom is then shown pacing outside the henhouse with bandages on his backside. As he looks in, the mother hen has tied a feather duster to herself and Jerry is resting, using the hen's feathers as a pillow with the rest of the baby chicks.