Puss Gets the Boot

Puss Gets the Boot is a 1940 American animated short film and the first short in what would become the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, though neither are yet referred to by these names. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Rudolf Ising. It is based on the Aesop's Fable The Cat and the Mice. As was the practice of MGM shorts at the time, only Rudolf Ising is credited. It was released to theaters on February 10, 1940, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In this short, the cat is named Jasper, and appears to be a scruffy, battle-hardened street cat, more malicious than the character that Tom would develop into over time. The unnamed mouse (referred to as Pee-Wee in an official MGM magazine), is similar to who would become the Jerry character, albeit slightly thinner. The basic premise is one that would become familiar to audiences; in The Art of Hanna-Barbera, Ted Sennett sums it up as "cat stalks and chases mouse in a frenzy of mayhem and slapstick violence". Though the studio executives were unimpressed, audiences loved the film and it was nominated for an Academy Award. This short ultimately lost to The Milky Way, another MGM short about three kittens who lost their mittens and were forced to go to bed without their dinner of milk.