Whistling Doesn't Always Work

“If you need me, just whistle,” says a bulldog (Billy Bletcher) to Jerry after the mouse springs him from a dog catcher’s van. After Tom gets pummelled (and turned into an end table) by the bulldog when Jerry whistles for protection, the cat gets an idea. He puts paste on a gumball so when Jerry munches on it, he can’t whistle.

Jerry finally gets an idea after fruitlessly trying to communicate with the bulldog. A bubble. His face turns red, then purple.



Tom gets ready. Then the take.



Huge bubble, huge trapped whistle unleashed. Tom sees the end now, digging his own grave and indulging in some cliché gags.



But something is amiss.



In a Joe Barbera plot twist, the dog can’t help Jerry because he’s been recaptured.



The cartoon ends with Jerry whistling and chasing after the van, with Tom following as they head into the distance and the iris closes to end the cartoon.



Ken Muse, Ray Patterson, Irv Spence and Pete Burness are the credited animators. The cartoon is The Bodyguard from 1944. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera reused some of the ideas in this short in Pixie and Dixie cartoons at their own studio.