Blue Cat Blues

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Blue Cat Blues
series = Tom and Jerry


caption =
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Ed Barge
Irven Spence
Lewis Marshall
Kenneth Muse
layout_artist = Richard Bickenbach
background_artist = Robert Gentle
voice_actor = Paul Frees
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|US November 16, 1956
color_process = Technicolor
CinemaScope
runtime = 6' 48"
preceded_by = "Down Beat Bear"
followed_by = "Barbecue Brawl"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0049020

"Blue Cat Blues" is is the 103rd one reel animated "Tom and Jerry" short, created in 1956, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Lewis Marshall and Kenneth Muse, with layouts by Richard Bickenbach and backgrounds by Robert Gentle.

Unusually for a "Tom and Jerry" short, Jerry speaks (in voiceover) in this cartoon via Paul Frees. This cartoon was released on November 16, 1956 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and marks the final appearance of Butch in "Tom and Jerry" cartoon shorts produced before 1959. [This cartoon is NEITHER the final appearance of Butch NOR the final appearance of Butch during the Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He later appeared in "Scat Cats" and "The KarateGuard"]

Plot

A depressed Tom is sitting on the railroad tracks, pondering suicide. Watching from a bridge crossing the tracks from above, Jerry relives "the story of a cat with a broken heart" in his head.

He relates the events leading up to Tom's depression, beginning with Tom and Jerry as friends, until Tom found himself attracted to a female cat. However, "Tom had a rival, Mr. Butch." Tom tries to win his girlfriend over with presents, such as flowers,perfume, diamond rings, and a car, but Butch's presents are much bigger, more expensive, and outlandish. Having spent all of his savings, Tom overdoses on milk and ends up in the gutter, only to be saved by Jerry. Just when his misery could not get any worse, he learns that the love of his life has now married Butch, seeing the two driving off, with a "Just married" sign on the back of their car.

However, while Tom is suicidal, Jerry is content with his girlfriend and he knows that she loves him back. That is, until he sees her driving off with another mouse (who looks like Tuffy), with a "Just married" sign on the back of their car. Now that he has lost his girlfriend, a suicidal Jerry joins Tom on the tracks. They sit and wait for the train to come.

Notes