Tom and Jerry, the cartoon series took the world by storm and is truly an unforgettable cartoon of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s kids. We’ve managed to collect few facts about Tom and Jerry which you never heard of.
1. ‘Tom and Jerry’ show was first aired on February 10th 1940. The first episode was titled ‘Puss gets the boot” and it was created by makers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Ever since then, there have been a total of 164 shorts till 2014. The first episode was the longest.
2. The creators of Tom & Jerry, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, formed the studio that gave us Yogi Bear, Top Cat, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, The Flintstones and many, many other cartoons!
We pretty much owe our childhood to these guys.
3. The title of the animation series Tom and Jerry originated from an 1823 book titled the Life in London or The Adventures of Jerry Hawthorne and his elegant friend “Corinthian Tom”.
4. The cartoon was the first work collaboration between Hanna and Barbera who worked for MGM. The studio asked them to discontinue the concept which was too common but when it became a huge success winning an Oscar nomination in 1941, they allowed the creators to continue.
5. Among the thirteen Oscar nominations for the best short subject cartoon, Tom and Jerry have won seven of them. The first Oscar was won by the episode titles, Yankee Doodle Mouse in 1943 and the seventh was won by the episode Yohan Mouse in 1953.
6. There was a studio-wide competition to select the permanent names for the cat and mouse. Animator John Carr came up with the names of Tom and Jerry, which won him the competition and was rewarded $50.
7. In the 1990’s Tom & Jerry were reinvented. The new Tom and Jerry series acted as a sort of a “prequel” series and focused on their early years.
8. Space agency NASA named two satellites chasing each other as Tom and Jerry.
9. Joseph Barbera first began his animation career working on the original Tom and Jerry for Van Bueren studios in 1932. He joined MGM in 1937 where he met colleague William Hanna.
10. In the final episode of Tom and Jerry produced by Hanna Barbara Cartoons, the two come to a very bad end when they both commit suicide on a train track.
