Fraidy Cat (film)
| Fraidy Cat | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
Poster
|
|
| Directed by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby (unc. on original issue) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley (unc.) |
| Animation by |
Jack Zander (unc.) Irven Spence (unc.) George Gordon (unc.) Bill Littlejohn (unc.) Cecil Surry (unc.) |
| Layouts by | Harvey Eisenberg |
| Backgrounds by | Joseph Smith |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:55 |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Night Before Christmas |
| Followed by | Dog Trouble |
Fraidy Cat is a 1942 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 4th Tom and Jerry cartoon produced by Fred Quimby for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It was released in theaters on January 17, 1942 and re-issued in 1952.
The cartoon begins with Tom listening to the radio, and being frightened by the horror story being told. Halfway into the story, the dramatics (hair standing on end, icy chills on spine, heart leaping into throat) begin happening to Tom. At the particularly grim conclusion, Tom runs away and hides in a flowerpot as an evil scream is uttered. Upon hearing the voice say "And that, my dear children, concludes this evening's Witching Hour", (voiced by Martha Wentworth) Tom sighs with relief, and is asked the question, "And you do believe in ghosts...don't you?" Gulping, Tom nods yes.
Jerry has been observing the whole thing and laughing to himself, and proceeds to pull down the curtain and release it. The flapping noise scares the cat, who hides only to discover the curtain, still rolling up; he sighs with relief for it is not a ghost. Jerry tiptoes away, and bursts a radiator water line under the cat, burning the cat's back and launching him into the air making him yelp in pain. Tom runs towards a closet, panting heavily as he holds onto the door. Behind him is a vacuum with a white nightshirt, which Jerry approaches and peeks at the cat from the vantage point. Seeing the cat still recovering from the shock, he activates the vacuum, which appears to be a ghost. Tom hears it, and without looking behind him, knows that this is something very terrifying. He makes panicked gestures towards the vacuum and faints, upon which Jerry turns off the vacuum, pleased. To wake up Tom, he squirts him with a jet of water from a bottle. Tom awakens with a start, spits the water out of his mouth, and shakes it out of his ears. Tom sighs with relief that the noise is gone. Once again, before Tom can recover, Jerry reactivates the vacuum and paces it towards Tom. The rug he is lying on gets sucked up, and Tom's tail is caught in the opening. Tom jumps out of the vacuum, running against the heavy gale as objects are sucked into the vacuum.
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