Mouse Trouble

Mouse Trouble
1951 theatrical reissue poster.
Production company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributor	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	November 23, 1944
Run time	7:28
Starring	William Hanna Sara Berner
Producer(s)	Fred Quimby
Music composed by	Scott Bradley
Screenplay by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Director(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
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Title card
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Mouse Trouble is the seventeenth animated theatrical short of the Tom and Jerry series. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on November 23, 1944. It was produced by Fred Quimby, and written and directed by series creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

Tom receives a how-to book on catching mice and attempts to follow its instructions on Jerry.

Memorable quotes

Tom: Don't you believe it!

Girl mouse toy: Come up and see me sometime.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Mailman	N/A
Tom Cat	William Hanna Harry E. Lang
Jerry Mouse	William Hanna

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Mammy Two Shoes's residence

Objects

• How to Catch a Mouse
• Mouse trap
• Cheese
• Stethoscope
• Double-barreled shotgun
• Bear trap
• Mallet
• Gift box disguise
• First aid kit
• Girl mouse toy (Sara Berner)
• Block Buster

Music

The music was composed by Scott Bradley.

Crew credits

• Animation: Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Pete Burness

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: November 23, 1944; December 15, 1951 (reissue)

Behind the scenes

• The score uses "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm", a jazz standard composed for the Marx Brothers' 1937 film A Day at the Races, as one of its background melodies.
• How to Catch a Mouse is "A Random Mouse Book", a parody of Random House books.
• Tom's phrase, "Don't you believe it!", is a reference to the tagline for Don't You Believe It!, a radio program from the late 1930s to early 1940s that focused on unique facts and debunking myths.
• Tom's girl mouse toy is inspired by actress Mae West and her line, "Come up and see me sometime," is taken from in the 1933 film She Done Him Wrong.
  • The real line was, "Why don't you come up some time and see me?", and was actually said by Carry Grant's character.
• This short is the first one in the Tom and Jerry series to have a main character die on-screen, which in this case is Tom.

Errors

• When Tom winds the girl mouse toy, he has multiple bandages covering him from his previous injuries. But when he accidentally eats the toy, all his bandages are gone.

Legacy

• Tom reads about this short in Jerry's diary (with accompanying flashbacks) in the aptly named short Jerry's Diary. He marked it May 12, Thursday.
• Tom would say the "Don't you believe it!" line again at the end of The Missing Mouse.
• In the live-action film Tom & Jerry, Jerry redoes the gag where he tricks Tom into thinking he's hiding something in his hands so he can punch Tom in the eye.

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient	Result
Academy Award	March 15, 1945	Best Short Subject: Cartoons	Fred Quimby	Won

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • October 19, 2004: Warner Home Video releases Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection on DVD.
  • February 12, 2008: Warner Home Video releases Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection on DVD.
  • October 25, 2011: Warner Home Video releases Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 1 on DVD.
  • October 25, 2011: Warner Home Video releases Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 1 on Blu-ray Disc.
  • September 24, 2024: Warner Archive Collection releases Bathing Beauty on Blu-ray Disc.
• In France:
  • November 23, 2011: Warner Home Video releases Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume Un on DVD.