The Vanishing Duck

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = The Vanishing Duck
series = Tom and Jerry


caption =
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Lewis Marshall
Kenneth Muse
Carlo Vinci
James Escalante
layout_artist = Richard Bickenbach
background_artist = Robert Gentle
voice_actor = Red Coffee
Daws Butler
June Foray
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = May 2, 1958
color_process = Technicolor
CinemaScope
Perspecta Stereo
runtime = 7' 4"
preceded_by = "Royal Cat Nap"
followed_by = "Robin Hoodwinked"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0052347

"The Vanishing Duck" is the 112th one reel animated "Tom and Jerry" short, created in 1957, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Lewis Marshall, Kenneth Muse, Carlo Vinci and James Escalante, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. It was released on May 2, 1958 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and marks the final appearance of Quacker, who appeared in seven previous "Tom and Jerry" shorts. As such, "The Vanishing Duck" is the "Tom and Jerry" short of the Hanna and Barbera era.

Plot

In a plot reminiscent of 1947's "The Invisible Mouse", Quacker is a singing duck who has been purchased by George, for Joan. After nearly being swallowed alive by Tom when George and Joan are out at dinner, Quacker escapes to Jerry's mouse hole, where the two become friends. When Tom catches Quacker, Jerry trips Tom up with some extension cord, causing Tom to lose his grip on Quacker, sending him straight into a tub of vanishing cream. An invisible Quacker is able to come to Jerry's rescue, where he shows him the secret of the vanishing cream. Thus invisible, the two gleefully torment and bamboozle poor Tom by eating his watermelon, vanishing his tail, and kicking him out of the house, until he overhears their secret and renders himself invisible, enough to give Jerry and Quacker their comeuppance.

Trivia

This is one of the rare cartoons where Tom triumphs. (Yes he does triumph because in the end he turns invisible and then gets revenge on Jerry and Quacker)