| Tom And Jerry: The Tom And Jerry Cartoon Kit (1962) The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit is a Tom and Jerry cartoon produced and released in 1962. It was directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder. Despite mixed reception, it is mainly known as the most critically acclaimed of the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry shorts among members of the Tom and Jerry fanbase. The cartoon is a seven-minute "commercial" for the Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit, with which "anyone can now enter the lucrative field of animated cartoons." The items in the kit include the following: - Tom (described as "one mean, stupid cat") - Jerry ("one sweet, lovable mouse") - a hammer, knife, and stick of dynamite (collectively referred to as "assorted deadly weapons") - coffee and cigarettes (removed from kit and described as being "for the cartoonists") - a slice of watermelon The narrator points out, "The result may not make sense, but it will last long enough for you to be comfortably seated before the feature begins." This statement refers to the original theatrical exhibition of the cartoon, in which it ran ahead of a feature film. At first, the kit is set up by having Jerry eat the watermelon. He spits the seeds out, hitting (and thus waking) Tom. From this point the two torment each other in typical Tom and Jerry fashion by using the remaining items in the kit (not counting the coffee and cigarettes, or the dynamite stick which gets broken in half). During the course of the cartoon, some other items <b>...</b> |
