The Framed Cat

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = The Framed Cat
series = Tom and Jerry


caption = The title card of "The Framed Cat"
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna (unc.)
Joseph Barbera (unc.)
animator = Ed Barge
Kenneth Muse
Irven Spence
Ray Patterson
voice_actor = Lillian Randolph (as Mammy Two Shoes, unc.) Daws Butler (as Spike, unc.)
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = October 21, 1950
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 minutes 11 seconds
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0042476
preceded_by = Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl
followed_by = Cue Ball Cat

"The Framed Cat" is a 1950 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 53rd "Tom and Jerry" short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ray Patterson.

Plot

When Tom knocks over some crockery while secretly tucking into some chicken, he plants the evidence on Jerry, effectively framing the mouse. He then proceeds to dispose of Jerry in front of Mammy Two Shoes. Jerry, realizing that he has been framed, gets his revenge by getting Tom in trouble with Spike the bulldog by planting his bone on the unsuspecting cat. Spike, realizing his bone is gone, comes across Tom lying under a tree with his bone lying across Tom's chest. Spike wakes up a clueless Tom, asking him, "Hey, you! whatcha doin' with my bone?" Tom (gesturing):"Who, me?" Spike:"Yeah, you! Listen, pussy cat! If I catch you takin' my bone again (whacks Tom with bone), there's gonna be trouble! Understand!?"

Tom is thrown back into the tree as Spike storms off. Tom sticks out his tongue and gets whacked again, biting his tongue. He then spots Jerry laughing himself silly. Jerry stops in front of Spike and spins his bone into the air. Tom can't think of anything to do but catch it (which is the wrong thing to do!) Tom tricks Spike into standing up and puts Spike's bone on top of his nose. Spike is incensed at being made to look like a "jackass", but can only go down to sleep, as the cat is nowhere to be seen. Spike drops his bone into a hole that he just dug, but Jerry steals it while Spike isn't looking. Satisfied that Tom won't get to the bone, Spike goes to sleep. Jerry sneaks behind Tom, who is keeping watch behind an automated trash can, ties the bone to Tom's tail, and slams the lid into Tom's face. Jerry makes sure to take the chase past Spike, who is astounded that someone got to his bone. While Tom keeps up the chase, Spike bites on the bone attached to Tom's tail, but gets tangled up in a tree with the cat. Tom ends up in possession of the bone, and when Spike growls, Tom puts it in Spike's mouth, but then winds it up and blows Spike away as if he were a model airplane. Spike decides to go to sleep by his house.

Meanwhile, Jerry screws a piece of magnetic iron into Spike's bone, then places a magnet in a sleeping Tom's mouth, causing the bone to end up being attracted to Tom, no matter how many times or how hard Spike tries to retain his grip on the bone and Tom tries to rid himself of it. Tom throws the bone out into the street where Spike chases it, only to miss it twice, in midair then off the fence, which he bites through. He finally does get a hold of it, only to lose it running into the fork of a tree, managing to grab it once more with his tongue before losing it once more. Tom winds up running off down the street pursued by Spike, with the magnetic bone remaining close to Tom. Jerry, watching from a tin can winds up part of the chase since the tin can is also sensitive to the pull of the magnet.