T&J- The Gene Dietch era

Right, I thought I'd post something quite controversial here-

I like watching the Gene Dietch cartoons of Tom and Jerry.

There we go- and I have my reasons, too!

I could trot out the sympathy cards of 'well, the animators didn't know what T&J looked like' and 'They only had $1.06 to make how many cartoons', but I find there were quite a few gags and set-pieces that hadn't been done in the entire of the Hanna-Barbera era of shorts.

OK, I'm not saying I like all of the Dietch shorts- the first five are almost complete write-offs- especially with the latest adult owner of Tom being a bad-tempered, cruel, angry sadist who would get a call from animal inspectors in this day and age. Whereas the previous owners, Mammy-Two-Shoes, George and Lady of the House would punish Tom only at the end of cartoons (and usually with a swift kick out of the house), this angry man dishes out regular abuse with such contempt you feel much more sorry for Tom.

So, forget that High Steaks, Sorry Safari and Down and Outing ever existed. That leaves nine out of the twelve, and we'll drop the unfunny Switchin' Kitten (which contains probably the most strangest 'joke' in the form of Tom being grown into a flower), It's Greek to Me-Ow and Mouse into Space.

OK, we're left with six, and things aren't looking too promising. However, this is where my ax-wielding ends and my praise begins for these remaining half-dozen.

One thing that the Dietch shorts get criticized for is the lack of plot and imagination. Bunkum. How many other T&J shorts have been like The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit ? Or the stylish tones of Dicky Moe?

Sure, many of the other cartoons stole the original basic plot idea from the Hanna-Barbera era, but they added something to it. The Western setting for Tall in the Trap may only add to the several H&B Wild West cartoons, but none had set Jerry as a cheese-rustling (but likeable) villain before.

It was also the first T&J cartoon with a delayed introduction, as it jumps straight into the sheriff vowing to catch Jerry with 'the fastest trap in the west'. A few of Chuck Jones's T&J cartoons also used the delayed introduction technique as well. It's not much of a trick, but I quite liked it, and I'm the one writing this, so there.

There are other ongoing themes- Calypso Cat has Tom finding another girlfriend and Jerry becoming jealous at not being chased (H&B actually used this jealousy plotline twice- although one of these only served to run some old clips of Tom falling in love). Sprintime for Thomas , the H&B short, also introduced a second male cat as grounds for a competition between Tom and the new male.

OK, comparing Calypso Cat to Springtime for Thomas is a little unfair, seeing as the latter stands as one of the absolute classics of all-time, but what I find interesting is that in Calypso Cat, Tom is not actively seeking out to eliminate competition from other male cats. He's clearly extremely reluctant to let his girlfriend be serenaded by this flirtatious steel drummer, but he's polite enough to let her enjoy it, only for Jerry to make it seem like he's not by banging a rock against the steel drum, angering the drummer enough to play rhythms on Tom's head instead.

I'm aware I'm already causing those at the back to nod off at this point, so I'll wrap things up by briefly going through my three remaining favourites. The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit has some excellent set-pieces, such as Jerry dancing to dixie music after having swallowed watermelon seeds, to the judo contest face-off and, best of all, the deadpan yet funny narration. One of the most underrated T&J cartoons ever produced. Buddies Thicker Than Water won't win many prizes for its contrived title, but does contain a (for once deliberately) creepy soundtrack as Jerry attempts to scare Tom witless in a superb revenge attack, which serves Tom right for not repaying Jerry's kind act of letting him in from the cold. The abstract painting of 'Old Tom' Jerry has in his bedroom is a nice touch, too.

Finally, the musical finale Carmen Get It! rounds off the Dietch era in an upbeat fashion. It scores plenty of points for using a score that hasn't been used in 1000 other cartoons and the soundtrack is actually perfectly in time with the animation. A shame it took 12 cartoons to get it right, but better late than never. I liked the 'ants as musical notes' scene as well- don't think anybody else has used that (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

The final (final!) points I'd like to make surround the animation and the sound effects. In a complete contrast to the latter-day HB T&J (and, indeed, HB cartoons c.1961-2), the Dietch cartoons contain fluid, rapid, off-model animation and contain thousands of different facial expressions made by the main characters. The sound effects are a million miles away from the standard HB SFX, some sounding very surreal, some working perfectly. You could even argue that the Dietch cartoons were an antidote to the increasingly sterile output of Hanna-Barbera, if you wanna be bold to say such stuff.

Well, I enjoyed six out of the 12 Dietch cartoons, which makes a perfectly-reasonable hit rate of 50%, a figure that's made more impressive if you see how much better they became towards the end. Doubtless if Dietch had been given more resources and a contract extension at the time, there was potential for a fine canon. As it was, a short, quirky, surreal and now sadly-glossed over period of T&J's history was made.