Cartoon a Day: The Yankee Doodle Mouse

The Yankee Doodle Mouse
1943
Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Available on: Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection

As the title cards says, this Tom and Jerry short won the Academy Award for 1943. As usual, Tom is chasing Jerry, but this short gives the antics a military setting.



Some parts of this short are very familiar, and others not so much. It could be that some sequences from this short were reused in other Tom and Jerry films, which did happen a few times. It's interesting to see some of these gags, which I've seen before, but to see them in light of the fact that this was made while our country was deep in World War II. Jerry flying around in a cardboard box dropping light bulb bombs on Tom suddenly takes on new meaning.

Like most Tom and Jerry cartoons, this short is, at times, cringe-worthy in it's level of violence. I mean, Jerry scrapes Tom's rear end with a cheese grader folks...twice! The humor of this short still holds up after 65 years. I'm sure it was a great spirit booster for folks worn down by the realities of a world at war when it first was screened.