One of the smarter things that William Hanna and Joseph Barbera did with the Tom and Jerry cartoons was to switch the winner of the outcome of the battles that the cat and mouse had with each other. There were times where Jerry won and times when Tom won (though it be said that Jerry won more that Tom). Doing this kept the series interesting and fun. By not doing this - always having the same character as the winner - would have given the T and J cartoons a lopsided and frustrated feel. And "Mouse For Sale" proves this point of being balanced... it's one of the times that Jerry Mouse deserved his butt-whooping by Tom Cat.
As I wrote for my review for "Buddies ...Thicker Than Water" I've always liked Tom more than Jerry and most of my favorite shorts of the series had Tom as the winner (but not always - "Tennis Chumps" was one of the shorts where Jerry clearly was the winner and a cartoon I've always enjoyed, Mice Follies is another). Why? I guess it's because I've always associated myself far more with Tom's snide personality than with Jerry's self-congratulating persona. To me Jerry was always an obnoxious little smart-ass who always got a thrill out of getting the best of the cat and somehow or other got rewarded for it with a victory at the end of the cartoon... and sometimes it was a victory that the mouse clearly didn't deserve. But not this time! Mouse For Sale is one of top times where Hanna and Barbera gave us a reason why we should sneer at Jerry and Tom became the winner.
The cartoon starts out with Tom seeing an ad in a paper for a pet store who needs white mice. So Tom grabs Jerry, slaps on a coat of white paint, and then swaps him at the store for big bucks. Tom's owner then finds the money (after Tom hides it underneath a rug), goes out with the dough, buys and brings back home a "cute little white mouse"... all of this to Tom's horror. When Tom tries to take care of Jerry, our feline gets smacked upside the head with a broom by his owner. Of course Jerry takes full advantage of this situation to get Tom clobbered over and again. But fear not... Tom outwits the rodent and Jerry gets a good comeuppance at the cartoons end (I'm just not saying how Tom does it).
Mouse For Sale stands out as one of the funniest of the T and J shorts because of the generous amount of sight gags. Example... when the owner brings Jerry home and Tom sees him for the first time Tom's face comes off his head for a moment as though it's a mask he is wearing, Jerry's fan dance with a couple of feathers to fool the owner into thinking he is still a white mouse when some of the white comes off, Tom's reaction when Jerry jumps out of the broom closet (one of the best gags), and so on. Also Hanna and Barbera really go into the personalities of the characters. Tom is still snide, but you like him here (whereas you disliked him before in some other T and J cartoons) thanks to Jerry's irritating teasing. And this cartoon is included on the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 3 DVD set.
So rejoice Tom Cat lovers... Mouse For Sale is indeed one of Tom's best wins!
As I wrote for my review for "Buddies ...Thicker Than Water" I've always liked Tom more than Jerry and most of my favorite shorts of the series had Tom as the winner (but not always - "Tennis Chumps" was one of the shorts where Jerry clearly was the winner and a cartoon I've always enjoyed, Mice Follies is another). Why? I guess it's because I've always associated myself far more with Tom's snide personality than with Jerry's self-congratulating persona. To me Jerry was always an obnoxious little smart-ass who always got a thrill out of getting the best of the cat and somehow or other got rewarded for it with a victory at the end of the cartoon... and sometimes it was a victory that the mouse clearly didn't deserve. But not this time! Mouse For Sale is one of top times where Hanna and Barbera gave us a reason why we should sneer at Jerry and Tom became the winner.
The cartoon starts out with Tom seeing an ad in a paper for a pet store who needs white mice. So Tom grabs Jerry, slaps on a coat of white paint, and then swaps him at the store for big bucks. Tom's owner then finds the money (after Tom hides it underneath a rug), goes out with the dough, buys and brings back home a "cute little white mouse"... all of this to Tom's horror. When Tom tries to take care of Jerry, our feline gets smacked upside the head with a broom by his owner. Of course Jerry takes full advantage of this situation to get Tom clobbered over and again. But fear not... Tom outwits the rodent and Jerry gets a good comeuppance at the cartoons end (I'm just not saying how Tom does it).
Mouse For Sale stands out as one of the funniest of the T and J shorts because of the generous amount of sight gags. Example... when the owner brings Jerry home and Tom sees him for the first time Tom's face comes off his head for a moment as though it's a mask he is wearing, Jerry's fan dance with a couple of feathers to fool the owner into thinking he is still a white mouse when some of the white comes off, Tom's reaction when Jerry jumps out of the broom closet (one of the best gags), and so on. Also Hanna and Barbera really go into the personalities of the characters. Tom is still snide, but you like him here (whereas you disliked him before in some other T and J cartoons) thanks to Jerry's irritating teasing. And this cartoon is included on the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 3 DVD set.
So rejoice Tom Cat lovers... Mouse For Sale is indeed one of Tom's best wins!