Solid Serenade

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Solid Serenade is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Tom and Jerry series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on March 31 1946 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley, and animation by Ed Barge, Michael Lah and Kenneth Muse.

Plot

The cartoon, one of the most popular in the Tom & Jerry series, revolves around Tom's attempts to serenade a female cat, which are thwarted both by Jerry (whose sleep is disturbed by Tom's singing) and by "Killer" (later "Spike") the bulldog. The cat brings along his bass fiddle and ties up the bulldog. As Jerry is woken up, the mouse gets his revenge by hurling several pies into Tom's face. So begins the chase. Tom ends up diving into a sink full of crockery, and manages to get his neck trapped in a window. Jerry unties the bulldog, but Tom eventually manages to knock the bulldog out cold. By the cartoon's end, Tom is lured into the dog house and throttled, beaten and bruised, ending up tied to the bass cello by the whiskers and being strummed by the dog and plucked by Jerry.

Trivia

Excerpts of this cartoon are also seen in 1949's Jerry's Diary, 1952's Smitten Kitten, and 1954's Smarty Cat, all three of which are "wrap-around" cartoons, featuring flashbacks from older cartoons as part of the plot.

The song that Tom sings to his ladyfriend (Toodles) is Louis Jordan's 1944 hit "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby." The version of "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" used here is an up-tempo version of Louis Jordan's hit, with cello accompaniment. It is likely that this was recorded by another jazz artist of the time, and the sound clip from the recording was used in the cartoon.

External link

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