Tuesday 11 June 2019

Concerto in B-Flat(tened Hand)

“Five Academy Awards is a Quimby Record” is what the Motion Picture Herald proclaimed in its March 22, 1947 edition. Number 5 had just been handed out for The Cat Concerto.

Quimby, of course, didn’t lift a pencil. Ed Barge, Ken Muse and Irv Spence animated the cartoon from Joe Barbera’s story and Bill Hanna’s bar sheets.

Tom and Jerry were always very expressive in the 1940s. Here’s a good example after Jerry is woken up by Tom’s piano playing. Jerry is curious, then annoyed, and then slams down the lid on the piano.



Some of Tom’s pain animation. While he opens his mouth, there is no scream on the soundtrack.



Cut to the visual gag.



The cartoon won more than an Oscar. It was honoured as the Best Color Cartoon at the World Film and Fine Arts Festival in Brussels in June 1947. In the meantime, Hanna, Barbera and their animators carried on filling out the MGM release schedule.
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7 comments:

  1. Steve Bailey11 June 2019 at 11:14

    My all-time favorite Tom & Jerry cartoon. I'm surprised you didn't mention the similarly-themed Bugs Bunny cartoon that was up for an Oscar in that same year.

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    1. Pokey11 June 2019 at 14:58

      I like this, not my favorit,e near it..I agree on the Bugs one.

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  2. J Lee11 June 2019 at 12:04

    I prefer the later "Johann Mouse", which to me has both a lighter touch and the Hans Conreid bonus going for it. But you can definitely see the extra detail Hanna-Barbera put into this one.

    Tex Avery did tell Joe Adamson in his book on Avery that Bill & Joe got advanced warning about Freleng's Bugs cartoon thanks to Technicolor sending the wrong footage to MGM. But that does indicate that both cartoons were in production and developed separately, and the Academy did make any slight up to Friz the following year by giving him the Oscar for "Tweetie Pie" (in the cartoon where Tom was also the name of Friz's cat).

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  3. bigguy196011 June 2019 at 19:25

    I think my favorite part of this cartoon is the P.O.V. up through the strings as Jerry strikes them with the felt hammers - absolutely superb animation.

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    1. stinky fitzwizzle12 June 2019 at 08:58

      I agree. Love those angles. Animation by Irv Spence.

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  4. Yowp12 June 2019 at 20:33

    Yeah, bg, that really is masterful work. There is some outstanding perspective animation inside the piano.

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  5. Kharye Perkins13 June 2019 at 16:02

    Don Patterson was did some additional animation. He did the scenes of Jerry playing the piano strings with the miniature sticks.

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