Tom and Jerry - Rexall Magazine Cover

Just to make up for yesterday's horrible Tom and Jerry post, here's a great picture of Tom and Jerry from the April 1949 issue of Rexall magazine.

Tom and Jerry - Filmation Goodness

Of all the revivals of Tom and Jerry since Hanna and Barbera's original theatricals I have to say that the 1980 "Tom and Jerry Comedy Show" produced by Filmation is hands down the best. You could make the case that the shorts rival HB's MGM classics. The chase scenes look like they could have been animated by Irv Spence himself, they're so good. Enjoy some art from "The Great Mousini" and "Invasion Of The Mouse Snatchers". Fortunately, someone was kind enough to upload the cartoons to youtube.

The Great Mousini

Invasion Of The Mouse Snatchers

Merry Christmas

Here's a little Christmas gift for everyone, Tex Avery's "One Ham's Family". I can't recall the last time I saw this one on TV, even when they actually showed classics, so hopefully it's a nice treat for those who haven't seen it in a long time. Sorry the quality isn't that great. I had a bitch of a time encoding if for some reason. The Tom and Jerry pic is from an old cover of Rexall magazine. Happy Holidays!

One Ham's Family

Uploaded by klangley

Bill Hanna - "Saturday Evening Puss"

This scene below from "Saturday Evening Puss" is one of my favorite musical moments from Tom and Jerry. I think Bill Hanna had a great sense of timing, and not just for musical numbers. Though I do think he was greatly influenced by those he worked with. Early in his career as director the timing of his cartoons is very similar to a Rudy Ising short. When Tex Avery started at MGM Hanna-Barbera's cartoons really started to pick up the pace much like Tex's shorts. Here's a couple of paragraphs from Bill Hanna's biography on timing:

Timing a cartoon is a partly mathematical and partly intuitive process. In studying the markings indicated on the metronome, I was able to determine that when the metronome clicked at a rate of 144 beats per minute, every beat represented ten frames of film. Using the index of twenty-four frames a second in animation movement, I figured that a twelve beat was half of that, so every time it clicked it would be twelve frames. Using that multiple I marked on my metronome for a ten beat, twelve beat, fourteen beat, sixteen beat, and so on to setting the tempo of, for example, a character’s walk by coordinating the action in frames to the beat of the metronome.

Such an axiom was fine for some things. In others, such as timing the facial reaction of a character, a double take, or some other comedic or dramatic bit of action, you just had to rely on your intuitive sense of timing and know how long you wanted to hold that look on their face, or other bit of business the action calls for. Then it becomes something that is felt more than precisely measured. You see it, you feel it, and somehow you just know if it is right or wrong.

Texas Tom Layouts

Here's some layouts from "Texas Tom". I would love to see a book similar to Patrick Brion's "Tex Avery:Les Dessins", that was just loaded with Tom and Jerry layouts and model sheets.

Tom and Jerry - "Tee For Two" Backgrounds

"Tee For Two" is one of my all-time favorite Tom and Jerry shorts. Mostly because I love Irv Spence's animation in this cartoon. I find it to be some of his funniest. One of the other things I love are the backgrounds, I believe these were painted by Robert Gentle. Sorry that the characters are in a couple of the pics. I usually try to use frames that don't have any animation over it. But in this case I liked the backgrounds too much to discard them just because Tom and Jerry are in it.

Zoot Cat

I was going to do a post yesterday about one of my favorite Tom and Jerry cartoons "Zoot Cat" but I was too tired last night to stay up and upload a clip of Irv Spence's dance scene. I went to check out Thad's blog this morning and he beat me to it, even the same model sheet plus some others. This cartoon has some of my favorite animation from Irv Spence. Here's some animation drawings plus a different scene by Irv Spence. Sorry for the copycat post Thad.

Pete Burness

Irv Spence

Pete Burness

Ken Muse

Irv Spence-Zoot Cat

Uploaded by klangley

Little Orphan Storyboard

Updated 9-20
*It's been brought to my attention that these are not the original boards, check Steve's comments for an explanation. But the in-house MGM magazine cover is cool so I'm just going to leave the post up as a testament to my ignorance.*
Here's some scans of the storyboard from Hanna-Barbera's Oscar winning short "The Little Orphan". These are a lot rougher drawings than a couple of the other storyboards I've seen reprinted but the story is all there.

Tom and Jerry - Million Dollar Cat Layouts

Here's some Tom and Jerry layouts from Million Dollar Cat that I saved that used to be on Cartoon Network's site along with screen shots of the finished backgrounds. Why couldn't Cartoon Network have higher resolution pictures? These are amazing drawings, I would kill to have a book of this stuff. You just don't see backgrounds like these in today's shows that's for sure. Though the backgrounds in the Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon are really great, the best ones that have been on television in long time.

The finished paintings of these next two shots are beautiful. I would love to see the originals.