Tom and Jerry is an American cartoon that was created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for MGM. Tom and Jerry came out in 1940 and it ended in 1967. When they were released on television, some episodes were edited.
Their shorts had won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film.
Walt Disney Productions had tied the series with their Silly Symphonies for winning the most awards in the category.
Censorship
In general
- Many shorts featuring Mammy Two Shoes are redubbed to remove her stereotypical dialect.
- Some early shorts produced during World War II ended with a notion to buy war bonds in support of the army. Reissues replace these with standard ending cards.
Puss Gets The Boot (1940)
- In the redubbed version, Mammy Two Shoes spells out "Out" as "O-U-T", changing the original's "O-W-T!" and "O-U-W-T!". The original interpretation was considered stereotypical racist.
Fraidy Cat (1942)
- Every scene with Mammy Two Shoes was cut on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
Dog Trouble (1942)
- Certain stations remove the scene of Mammy tossing Spike out of the house.
Puss 'N Toots (1942)
- On Cartoon Network and Boomerang, the scene where a record lands on Tom's head and he, and Jerry, act like Chinese caricatures was cut.
- Certain stations remove Mammy placing Toots on the couch.
The Lonesome Mouse (1943)
- Many stations remove Jerry using black paint to put a Hitler styled moustache on a portrait of Tom's face. It is rarely shown on Cartoon Network and Boomerang for this reason.
The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943)
- Between 1992-2001, Cartoon Network airings removed the aftermath of the "firecracker in the teapot" scene with a quick fade-out, since Tom is depicted in blackface from it (with the remains of the teapot stuck to his head like a sunflower). Strangely, ever since 2002, the scene was reinstated.
- In the original release, there was a scene in which Jerry forced Tom to lick defense stamps and paste them in a savings book, but that part was taken out of the negative for reissue. An original layout drawing of a background for that scene was posted on the Cartoon Network Department of Cartoons website years ago.
Mouse Trouble (1944)
- Some stations remove the whole sequence of Tom hiding in a package addressed to Jerry, only for the mouse to start shoving pins into it as well as sawing it in half.
The Mouse Comes To Dinner (1945)
- The beginning of this cartoon was removed from Cartoon Network/Boomerang airings, either because of Mammy's presence or Jerry pretending to be an Indian chief while sneaking across the table. It now begins with Tom appearing from the potted plant.
Mouse In Manhattan (1945)
- Cartoon Network/Boomerang airings remove a small scene of Jerry in blackface after being dabbed into a bottle of shoe polish.
Flirty Birdy (1945)
- On Cartoon Network/Boomerang, the eagle throwing Tom into a clothesline, making Tom resemble an Indian chief, was cut.
- Some TV versions of this short are missing the eagle's two lines of dialogue "Going down?" (after the eagle catches Tom yodeling at him) and "She loves me!" (after getting hit on the head with a brick by Tom in drag), presumably due to an audio error.
The Milky Waif (1946)
- Almost every television broadcast has removed the whole scene of Jerry and Nibbles disguising themselves as a black mother and child to escape Tom.
Trap Happy (1946)
- Some stations remove Butch accidentally chopping off Tom's tail with an ax.
Part Time Pal (1947)
- Not only is Mammy Two Shoes' voice redubbed, but her line, "Well, slap my face, if this ain't a mess!" was changed to "Well, I'll be darned, if this ain't a mess."
- Tom's drunken speech when he prepares to splash Mammy with water was muted.
- When Mammy is being splashed, she shrieks "Thomas! Why- why you, crazy cat!" instead of her original scream.
A Mouse In The House (1947)
- Tom and Butch in blackface because of an explosion in the oven was removed from Cartoon Network/Boomerang.
Kitty Foiled (1948)
- The scene where Jerry and the canary disguise themselves as Native Americans to evade Tom was cut from Cartoon Network/Boomerang.
The Truce Hurts (1948)
- Tom, Jerry, and Spike in blackface due to mud being splashed on them was cut from television showings and the iTunes release.
Old Rockin' Chair Tom (1948)
- The redubbed version alters Mammy's line "Take care of poor ol' Uncle Tom." to remove "Uncle".
Mouse Cleaning (1948)
- The ending where Tom appears in blackface from the coal spill and attempts to impersonate a black man to escape Mammy's wrath is cut down on television so that it goes from the coal spill to Tom running away. Because of this scene, the short has been banned from DVD releases.
- During the 1960s, an alternate edit was done. Tom getting out of the coal spill was reanimated so that he would say nothing as well as tiptoeing away instead of shuffling slowly.
The Little Orphan (1949)
- In the ending battle, there is a scene of Nibbles shooting a lit candlestick onto Tom's tail, where it quickly burns him up into a blackface caricature. He still appears this way as he's shot into the glass cabinet. Most television showings go like this: the candle lands on Tom; it then cuts to the champagne bottle being launched; then it cuts to Jerry and Nibbles watching Tom.
- When this aired on CBS, Chuck Jones' team reanimated scenes in this cartoon to replace the knife with a fork and re-edited Tom's blackface by having Tom retain his Indian headdress after getting burned by the candle instead of having it burn away into pickaninny braids as in the original version.
Jerry's Diary (1949)
- On Cartoon Network/Boomerang, the flashback to "The Yankee Doodle Mouse" was edited to remove Tom in blackface from the teapot explosion.
Tennis Chumps (1949)
- Some stations remove Butch becoming a blackfaced ballet dancer after a tennis ball with a small bomb in it flies at him. Oddly, airings on Cartoon Network/Boomerang have left it alone.
Saturday Evening Puss (1950)
- Some early television showings feature Mammy reanimated as an unnamed white girl with a different voice. This is the version that airs on Cartoon Network/Boomerang, too.
- In the same version, Jerry's near-unintelligible rant to Tom about the music was muted for unknown reasons.
Safety Second (1950)
- The very end with Jerry in blackface from a firecracker stuffed in a noisemaker was removed on Cartoon Network/Boomerang airings. The cartoon fades out shortly after the blast.
Casanova Cat (1951)
- The whole sequence of Tom blowing cigar smoke in Jerry's face, making the mouse appear in blackface, and forcing him to tap dance to "Old Folks At Home" was cut from many television broadcasts. It has also been banned from DVD releases for this scene.
His Mouse Friday (1951)
- This short has been banned from television due to prominent black stereotyping throughout.
- Two versions were released on VHS that feature edits: one by MGM/UA that simply mutes out all the dialogue from Jerry and the natives, and another by Warner Home Video that retains the dialogue, but edits the part where Jerry meets a real black savage by using pan and zoom to crop out the real black savage's appearance.
The Two Mouseketeers (1952)
- Many stations were known to remove Tom's off-screen decapitation.
Little Runaway (1952)
- Tom appearing as a Chinese caricature after the seal tosses him into a birdbath was cut from Cartoon Network/Boomerang airings.
Two Little Indians (1953)
- This short has currently been banned from television due to heavy Native American stereotyping.
Life With Tom (1953)
- On Cartoon Network/Boomerang airings, the flashback to "The Little Orphan" removes Tom in blackface from the candle. It quickly fades out as the candle begins to burn his body.
Feedin' The Kiddie (1957)
- Much like the original "The Little Orphan", this remake also has its blackface scene cut on television.