- Busy Buddies
Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Busy Buddies
series = "Tom and Jerry "
caption =
director =William Hanna Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator =Irven Spence Lewis Marshall Kenneth Muse Ed Barge
layout_artist =Richard Bickenbach
background_artist =Robert Gentle
voice_actor =Janet Waldo
musician =Scott Bradley
producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
studio =
distributor =Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|USMay 4 ,1956
color_process =Technicolor CinemaScope
runtime = 6' 15"
preceded_by = "The Egg and Jerry "
followed_by = "Muscle Beach Tom "
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0049039"Busy Buddies" is a one
reel animated "Tom and Jerry " short, created in 1956, directed and produced byWilliam Hanna andJoseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Irven Spence, Lewis Marshall, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. "Busy Buddies" was the 100th cartoon of the 114 that Hanna and Barbera directed during their tenure at MGM. It was released onMay 4 ,1956 byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer and also the first cartoon to feature Jeannie the babysitter and a mischievous baby that kept crawling off, both of whom would return in the 114th and final cartoon, "Tot Watchers ".Plot
Jeannie the babysitter, is meant to be looking after an unnamed baby while Joan and George are out. However, she is more interested in talking on the telephone. At first Tom and Jerry take the opportunity to help themselves to some food, but they soon discover the baby crawling away while Jeannie continues to talk on the phone, unaware. Tom and Jerry rescue the baby from increasingly dangerous hazards, such as the cupboards, the sink, a curtain rod, the heating ducts, a flagpole, and a mailbox down the street (which leads to them being chased by the police). Jeannie is unaware through all of this, and at one point even chases Tom away for "bothering the baby" when he returns the baby to the crib. At the end, Joan and George return and ask Jeannie how things went. She explains that she had a little trouble with Tom, but the baby was "no trouble at all". The camera then cuts to the baby in the crib, and the baby winks at the audience.
Notes
*This is one of a handful of "Tom and Jerry" cartoons where there is no conflict between the two, and the first where they appear to be friends for the entire duration of the cartoon.
*The baby is never referred to by any name, and is simply called "the baby" for most of the cartoon. The only time any gender is indicated comes in the very last line, when the babysitter says "he was no trouble at all."
*In "Tot Watchers ", only the baby's mother is present while leaving the house. Conversely, in "Busy Buddies", both parents are present.
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