Tom and Jerry
Introduction
   The first series of Tom and Jerry pictures, directed by Hanna and Barbera for MGM, 1940 -1957, were absolute masterpieces of animation. Beautifully drawn, very fast paced action all the way and lovable, likable characters.
Tom nearly always came off the worst in any encounter with cute little Jerry mouse. The cat would often be gullible enough to accept a lighted stick of dynamite from the rodent, stand there admiring it until it exploded, leaving him nothing but a black smudge with a pair of blinking, disbelieving eyes.
Hilariously impossible things happened in these early T&J shorts, the duo would hit each other with anything they could lay their hands on, push each other of off buildings, shoot each other and commit every conceivable (and inconceivable) act of violence to their opponent. All this with never a drop of blood, or long term harm!
Wonderful supporting characters appeared in the early Tom and Jerry cartoons. Spike the Bulldog was a formidable adversary to Tom, who would often beat up on the cat egged on by the crafty little mouse.
 
 
 
 
 
The black housekeeper, often referred to as "Mammy Two Shoes", ruled the roost in the household. Mammy was only ever shown from the waist down, she gave a raucous cry of "Tomassss" whenever she discovered Tom's wrong doings. In today's world, of course, Mammy Two Shoes is considered to be a racist character and so her voice has been dubbed over and, in some reissue prints, she has incredibly been replaced by a white maid.
Hanna and Barbera said goodbye to MGM in 1957 when they left to open their own studio. There was no more Tom and Jerry cartoons produced by MGM until 1961 when the studio commissioned a short series from Czechoslovakia. Unfortunately, this run of animated shorts lacked the finesse, humor and magic of the original series and was never as popular.
In 1975 a new series of Tom and Jerry was made by the Hanna Barbera Studio, who had been able to buy their cat and mouse characters from MGM. This was a made for television run of cartoons and therefor was produced on a very low budget, and it showed. Far too little action, way too much dialogue and a shortage of 'violence' meant that these 48 TV cartoons bore little resemblance to the early series made for theatrical release.
The original T&J cartoons have been criticized by some for their barbarous content and the effect that they may have had on children. It is doubtful whether many kids got the impression that it was OK to act in the way the characters did in these cat and mouse chase adventures.
中文介绍
《猫和老鼠》（英语：Tom and Jerry，台湾电视公司在70年代播出时曾经译作“妙妙妙”，华纳家庭娱乐在台湾发行的DVD译作“汤姆猫与杰米鼠”，中国大陆各省市电视台80年代播出时曾译作“托姆和小杰瑞”）是由汤姆猫和杰利老鼠搭档出演的一部成功的短篇动画剧集。
该系列动画的编剧和导演分别由威廉·翰纳和约瑟·巴贝拉（后以翰纳-巴贝拉闻名）担任。从1940年到1958年，直到米高梅公司的动画部门被关闭，该系列动画都是由该公司所出品。米高梅于1960年将《猫和老鼠》的制作外包给了东欧的伦布兰特电影公司（由吉恩·代彻所领导），但因内容不受欢迎，因此只播出了13集。1963年，《猫和老鼠》又返回了米高梅，由查克·琼斯的 Sib-Tower 12出品担纲制作；该系列动画一直播放到了1967年。后来《猫和老鼠》又重新回到了屏幕，分别由翰纳-巴贝拉（1975年－1977年，1990年－1993年）和飞美逊工作室（1980年－1982年）制作。到了2004年，华纳兄弟娱乐公司亦做了现代版的猫和老鼠（汤姆杰利小故事），以三个小故事为一集。
创作背景

　　当William Denby Hanna和Joseph Roland Barbera制作出这一对活宝的时候，他们大概没有想到他们的贡献有多大。这一对天生的冤家从诞生开始就注定了他们是给世界带来欢笑的。假如你是早晨九点钟就爬起来等待收看动画片的那一代人，那么你必定对我所说的话产生深深的共鸣。假如你不是，那也没有关系，因为Tom和Jerry是不会随着时间而褪色的。相反，他们在时间长河里浸泡越久，他们也会显得越有魅力，你也越会被感动。比起现在那些所谓有深度有意义的动画来说，Tom And Jerry的10分钟片断与其相比倒显得更具光辉。
　　《猫和老鼠》之父，是好莱坞动画界的“传奇人物”William Hanna（威廉·汉纳：2001年3月22日去世，享年90岁），他曾与Joseph Barbera共同创作了《猫和老鼠》、《摩登原始人》、《猎犬哈克利伯利》、《瑜珈熊》等著名的卡通形象。
　　威廉·汉纳原是华纳动画部门中的上色作家，写过许多歌和笑话。纳瑟芬·芭芭拉从纽约来。1945年，MGM成立了动画部门，威廉·汉纳和芭芭拉出任总裁。1955年，由于制作动画费用上升等因素，MGM公司决定不再办动画。威廉·汉纳和芭芭拉自己创办公司，叫HannaBarbera，他们成为汉纳-芭芭拉工作室（Hanna Barbara Studios）的创始人和领导者。威廉·汉纳的故事好，芭芭拉画得好，画的表情尤其到位。当时创作的《猫和老鼠》中，猫叫Jasper，老鼠叫Jinx。就是今天见到的汤姆和杰瑞。汉纳-芭芭拉工作室在米高梅公司制作的卡通《猫和老鼠》，1940年播出第一集，以后迅速受到欢迎，曾经每周播出11小时，使他们的名气达到顶峰。
 
Characters
 "Tom" Cat

Jerry Mouse.

斯派克（Speike）
一只凶猛的斗牛犬，汤姆总招惹他
（不管是有意拿他寻开心还是捉杰
瑞时不小心的），
因此总是爆打汤姆。他生有一个儿
子名叫Tyke
  布奇（Butch）
一只肮脏的流浪猫，总想捉到杰瑞，因此有时会与汤姆合作。
但更多时侯汤姆为敌（特别是成为情敌）。

 
 Tom and Jerry outside the United states
Tom and Jerry have long been popular in Germany. However, the cartoons are overdubbed with rhyming German language verse that describes what is happening onscreen, sometimes adding or revising information. The different episodes are usually embedded in the episode Jerry's Diary (1949), in which Tom reads about past adventures.
In India, South East Asia, Armenia, the Middle East, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, other Latin American countries, and in eastern European countries (such as Romania), Cartoon Network still airs Tom and Jerry cartoons every day. In Russia, local channels also air the show in their daytime programming slot. Tom and Jerry was one of the few cartoons of western origin broadcast in Czechoslovakia (1988) and Romania (until 1989) before the fall of Communism in 1989.
 
 
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