The Dog House (1952 film)

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = The Dog House
series = Tom and Jerry


caption = Title card of "The Dog House".
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna (unc.)
Joseph Barbera (unc.)
animator = Kenneth Muse
Irven Spence
Ray Patterson
Ed Barge
background_artist = John Didrik Johnsen
voice_actor = Daws Butler as Spike (uncredited)
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
studio =
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = November 29, 1952
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 6 minutes 39 seconds
preceded_by = "Cruise Cat"
followed_by = "The Missing Mouse"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0044554

"The Dog House" is the 72nd one reel animated "Tom and Jerry" short, created in 1952 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. It was animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, with backgrounds by John Didrik Johnsen. The cartoon's plot was inspired by, and is very loosely based on the 1948 Cary Grant/Myrna Loy film "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House". It was released on November 29, 1952 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Plot

Spike the bulldog is building the doghouse of his dreams! However, Tom chases Jerry through the chassis of the house and also pulls a board off it to attempt to flatten the mouse with. When Jerry perches on Spike's head, even lying on top of his dream house won't stop it from being smashed. Tom bolts, but Spike stomps on his tail, then dusts himself off and wrenches the cat facing in his direction.

Spike: "Wait a minute, pussycat! Ever since I was a pup, I've wanted a little place of my own. And I still want it. But if one more thing happens to my little dream house, THERE'S GONNA TO BE MURDER!!"

Tom is thrown into a power pole and a mailbox falls on top of him. Tom goes behind a wall and frees himself. He peeks his head around the corner and - there's Jerry. The chase begins again. Both cat and mouse dig under the dream house and Tom takes Spike with him on the chase until he's bopped on the head. Tom runs backwards out of control and dumps Spike on top of the dream house. Spike drums his fingers as Tom escapes.

Spike is ever more vigilant as he paints the next iteration red. Meanwhile Tom is still giving chase through the garden. When Tom is tripped up by a rollerskate from Jerry and knocks the dream house out of the way, Spike doesn't notice and continues painting. When he opens his eyes, he's painted Tom's tail red. Tom proceeds to hang the destruction of Spike's house by ax over his head. When Tom uses his nose as a noisemaker, Spike attempts to stop Tom again. This time, the blade falls off the ax handle. Before he gets beat up, Tom slams Spike on the head with the handle and steals away as he falls on his own dream house.

Tom hides, but comes across Jerry in no time. He spots a roller and attempts to mow Jerry down with it. Spike, sleeping in his completed house, spots them coming right at him. Holding up one hand as if to say "stop", he stands his ground. Tom mows right over him, making an arrow shape. Tom chases Jerry into his mousehole and lights a firework. Jerry promptly throws it into Spike's dog house and goes back inside. Tom tries to remove the firework, but is caught by Spike. Tom stands back and makes a face while Spike starts to look inside. Tom discourages Spike from doing so, but Spike pushes him away and looks inside anyway. The firework explodes, leaving Spike in a blackface flower.

Tom chases Jerry up the power pole seen earlier and chops it down. Spike is repairing his house when he spots the falling behemoth. He frantically moves it to the front yard, but that's exactly where the very end of the pole falls.

Spike, annoyed, builds his next home in a tree. Quite unfortunately for him, Tom has followed Jerry to this tree and chops it down. Spike mutters "Timber".

Spike has finally achieved peace and quiet in his house, and Jerry is sleeping on top of it. Tom spots the mouse from through a hole in the fence and lassoes him. Jerry wakes up as he's being pulled off the house and pulls the rope back, launching Tom into the fence. Extremely miffed, Tom pulls back, but Jerry has hooked the rope to Spike's house and he is pulled all the way into the fence, destroying his house again. Tom tries five more times to get Spike through the fence, jolting the dog each time, and then uses the nearby fire hydrant as a pulley to squeeze Spike through the hole in the fence. The weight of Spike flattens Tom into the fence...and then he realizes it's a dog. Tom tosses Spike over the fence and runs away, but Spike grabs Tom's tail through the hole and pulls back repeatedly just as Tom had done to him.

The final scene shows Spike and Jerry working as partners to finish Spike's house for good, with Tom as his slave, complete with whip. Tom is forced to do every single task at once.