Love That Pup

Love That Pup
Tom and Jerry series
Title Card
Directed by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Produced by Fred Quimby
Story by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Voices by Daws Butler
Music by Scott Bradley
Animation by Ed Barge
Ray Patterson
Irven Spence
Kenneth Muse
Studio MGM Cartoons
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)
  • October 1, 1949 (1949-10-01) (U.S.)
Color process Technicolor
Running time 7:55
Language English
Preceded by The Cat and the Mermouse
Followed by Jerry's Diary

Love That Pup is a 1949 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 44th Tom and Jerry short released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby, music scored by Scott Bradley, and animated by Ed Barge, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, and Kenneth Muse. (This is the first time that Daws Butler voiced Spike the Bulldog in the late 1940s, because he took Billy Bletcher's place as an actor.) This is also the first episode which uses the improvised opening theme song which becomes much more prominent within the 50's and 60's episodes.

Plot

Spike is sleeping beside his son Tyke when Tyke suddenly wakes up after a nightmare. Then Spike gives his son milk and comforts him back to sleep again. No sooner has Tyke dozed off again than Tom and Jerry enter the scene. Tom runs through a door (literally) and into some spades, rakes and hoes, as Jerry hides among the two dogs. To find Jerry, Tom picks Tyke up to look underneath the puppy. Spike yells out "Hey, you!, That's my boy you got in your hand!"

Tom holds up his right hand and sees nothing, then holds up his left hand, and drops Tyke in fear. Tom smiles nervously and attempts to run off, but Spike grabs Tom's whiskers and issues an ultimatum: "Listen pussycat. If I catch you bothering my boy again, I'll tear you apart! Now beat it!" Spike then releases him and Tom flees, crashing into (in turn) a tree, a fountain, a clothesline hanger and then into a trash can.

Jerry emerges from Tyke's ear and walks off casually until Tom comes running back. Jerry takes cover by diving into what appears to be Spike's jaw, but he really ducked under the dog's chin. Seeing the dog smack his lips as if having eaten the mouse, Tom then places his hand carefully in Spike's mouth while the dog is sleeping, and Jerry emerges from his hiding place and slams the bulldog's jaws shut with Tom's hand still inside Spike's mouth. Tom yells in pain and leaps a meter back. Spike wakes up as Tom struggles to get his hand out of his mouth, pulling Spike's teeth out in the process. Tom smiles innocently again, and uses Spike's teeth as castanets while doing a Flamenco dance (while clicking to the tune of "The Mexican Hat Dance") out of the scene and runs away, dropping the teeth on the bucket.

A few moments later, Tom spies Jerry sleeping next to Tyke, now using the dogs as canine shields. Hiding behind Tyke's kennel, he reaches out for Jerry. Jerry quietly moves Tyke's tail into Tom's grip, so that Tom ends up grabbing Tyke. After running off with the little pup, Tom realizes his mistake. He turns around to see a sleeping Spike feeling for Tyke. Tom rushes back into Tyke's place, taking on the role of Tyke. To wake up the dog, Jerry then lifts up Tyke's kennel and slams it on Tom's tail, causing Tom to scream in pain. Spike, mistaking Tom as Tyke, picks him up and pats him on the back as he says "There, there son, Ain't no cat gonna hurt you...no sir", thinking that he is holding Tom's tail until he sees Tyke. Just then, Tyke walks back onto the scene and whimpers. Spike looks at Tom suspiciously. Tom duplicates Tyke's whimpering and barking, but accidentally meows when he tries to duplicate his growl. Spike scowls angrily and ferociously at Tom until he clamps his jaws on the dog's nose and runs away, causing the dog to scream in pain. Tom takes a detour to the side, sets up a rake for the dog to run into if he follows him, and then watches as Spike takes the original route. Knowing he has lost his opponent, he runs back through the detour, but forgets about the rake which ends up slamming him in the face.

Tom finally realizes that in order to get Jerry, Spike, who is effectively Jerry's shield, has to be removed from the picture. He does this by dangling a large piece of T-bone steak from a clothesline. A sleeping Spike, holding a shotgun in his arms, senses the delectable piece of meat, and sleepwalks after the steak. Jerry, who had tied himself to Tyke as a precautionary measure, is privy to what Tom is trying to accomplish. All of Jerry's efforts to wake up the mesmerized dog fail, and he ends up getting literally flattened. Tom successfully locks Spike in a garden shed. An evil Tom smiles at Jerry. The horrified Jerry runs, Tom knows he could now attack Jerry without his overprotective shield.

Tom catches Jerry, trapping him inside an upturned barrel and hammering a cork in its knothole. However, without Tom noticing, Jerry escapes through the side of the barrel as a free trap area and puts Tyke under the barrel instead. Spike busts himself out of the shed by ripping off the whole front facade and under the impression the cat has been at Tyke again, he rushes up to Tom angrily and demands to know where is his son is ("Where's my boy!? If he's under that barrel, I'll skin ya alive!"), threatening to skin the cat alive if he sees Tyke underneath the barrel by Tom's trick. Tom's confidently starts to lifts up the barrel, thinking that it's Jerry under the barrel until he hears Jerry's whistle, and looks to his side to see Jerry's lying on top of a nearby fence, waving to him. Tom gulps twice in fear, realizing that he is in serious trouble. Spike warns the cat to lift the barrel up. Shivering, Tom nervously attempts to lift the barrel, but just as he does Spike impatiently snatches it up and sees Tyke lying underneath it, wiggling his tail at his father. Without talking, Tom makes a quick flee into the tree, birdbath, and clothes line, but instead of the trash can he is stopped by the bulldog's fist-punch. Tom runs away from him, but Spike corners him and attacks him off-screen. The cat emits loud screams of pain when Spike is attacking him.

Later at night, Tom has been literally skinned alive by Spike and is about to revenge by wearing an armor-plated barrel to cover the disappearance of his fur. While standing outside the gate, having been assigned by Spike to guard them with a baseball bat, he looks through the hole in the wall to see if his fur is being used as a cozy rug by the sleeping Spike, Tyke and Jerry, who hangs a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on Spike's ear before falling asleep.

Voice cast

Availability

DVD

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