That's My Mommy

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = That's My Mommy
series = Tom and Jerry


caption =
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Kenneth Muse
Ed Barge
Irven Spence
Lewis Marshall
layout_artist = Richard Bickenbach
background_artist = Robert Gentle
voice_actor = Red Coffee
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|US November 19, 1955
color_process = Technicolor
CinemaScope
runtime = 6' 3"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0048713
preceded_by = "Pecos Pest"
followed_by = "The Flying Sorceress"

"That's My Mommy" is the 97th one reel animated "Tom and Jerry" short, created in 1955, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley.

"That's My Mommy" was the first "Tom and Jerry" cartoon in which the production was undertaken by Hanna and Barbera due to Fred Quimby's retirement. "That's My Mommy" was produced in CinemaScope, a form of Widescreen, and released to theatres on November 19, 1955 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach.

Plot

In a barnyard, we see a mother duck going to sleep, in a nest full of eggs. As we zoom in to the nest, a stray egg rolls from it, and duck wings and feet pop out of it. The egg blindly walks to find its mother's nest.

We cut to Tom, sleeping outside. The egg stops directly next to him. Just as the egg thinks it found its mother, it jumps and ducks underneath Tom. Tom wakes up, feeling disturbed, but he accidentally sits on the egg, causing Quacker to hatch from it. The naive duckling immediately jumps to the conclusion that Tom is his mother and hugs him. Tom raises and lowers his eyebrows, as if to say, "I've hatched an ingenious plan."

While the little duckling says compliments about his "mommy"," Tom gathers two tree branches and some firewood, and using a match, lights it on fire. He grabs a stick and ties Quacker to it. He puts the stick above the fire, to "warm the duckling up." However, Jerry walks into the scene, and is shocked when he sees this.

When Tom is not looking, Jerry grabs the stick and puts his tail on the two branches. Tom adds salt and pepper to his own tail without realising it. When his tail goes on fire, he jumps and screams in pain. Jerry runs to the side of the barnyard and unties Quacker from the stick. However, the duckling runs and shouts for help. By now, Tom is blowing the fire off his tail. Quacker runs to him and hugs his face, saying "My nice mommy will save me, won't you, mommy?!" Tom raises and lowers his eyes, as if to say, "Yes."

In the kitchen, he is seen making a bed for Quacker, which, for the duckling, "is just the right size." He takes Quacker to his new "bedroom:" the oven. He opens the oven door and puts the comfortable duckling into it. Just as he is about to close the oven door, Quacker says goodnight and he waves back. Tom finally closes the oven door, licking his mouth as if to say that the duckling will be tasty when he wakes up.

Jerry, using a broom, smacks Tom on the head and slams him unconscious with the oven door. He grabs the bed, with Quacker in it, and runs to his mousehole. However, the duckling jumps out of the bed, just in time, and runs to his unconscious "mother"." He revives Tom using a jug of water. A now conscious Tom grabs Quacker and is about to chastisise him when the duckling kisses his mouth.

Wipe to a cooking book, which says:

"Stuffed Roast Duckling"

"1 cup oysters"

"1 cup flour"

"1/2 tablespoon butter"

"Soak bread and seasoning - chop in celery fine - sprinkle salt and pepper -"

We pan to see that Tom has prepared a pudding for Quacker. The naive duckling asks Tom if he has to eat all of it, and Tom nods. He shoves a few spoonfuls into Quacker's mouth, while the duckling gulps every spoonful he is fed.

Several minutes later, Tom carries the overweight, stuffed duckling into a tray full of potatoes and carrots and puts small broccoli pieces on to his feet. He puts a lid on the tray and places it in the oven. To ensure that no one will harm the duckling, he locks the oven door, however, Jerry, using a knife, cuts open part of the oven door. Quacker promptly throws carrots and potatoes at the little mouse, and just when he is carried, hits him with a leftover carrot.

Jerry carries the crazy duckling into his mousehole and throws the carrot away and shows him a book. On the page seen on the left is a grey duck and a Quacker lookalike. On the right page is a grey kitten and a lookalike of Tom. The duckling looks at both pages and hugs the right page, thinking it is a lookalike of his "mommy"." Jerry angrily walks over and points at the left page. Quacker promptly shouts "That's not my mommy!" and slams the book, running off-screen.

Tom, appearing to have figured out what happened, sees Quacker run into the house, and seeing Jerry, traps him in a can, putting it in several bigger cans and throwing it down a nearby well.

We now see Tom stirring some food in a pan and Quacker reading a cooking book. Thinking that his "mother" is cooking dinner, Quacker helps him sit down and grabs the spoon. He reads part of the page shown, which says "PLACE YOUNG DUCK IN POT OF BOILING WATER..." Briefly fascinated, Quacker asks, "Say, Mommy, where do we get a yellow duck? We don't have a... A, a-a-a-a... Duck?!" a thought bubble appears, showing the book that Jerry showed earlier. Quacker looks at it and then gulps. "He" is the yellow duck. Apparently, Tom wanted to cook and eat him all along, but his consience gets the better of him now. Quacker puts the spoon near the pan and walks towards the pan to commit suicide. Tom runs to the duckling as he says good-bye and that "I still love you, momma."

Tom puts a stop to this immeadiately by grabbing him and hugs the little duckling with a river of tears flowing down his cheeks. Jerry climbs the well and goes back into the house. He reads the cooking book and runs to the pan to see that Quacker is not there.

Meanwhile, Tom has adopted the duckling as his own child and playfully leads Quacker across the nearby duck pond, with "mother" and son quacking away at each other. The happy duckling exclaims to the viewer "That's my mommy!"