Down and Outing
Down and Outing is a Tom and Jerry animated short film, released on October 26, 1961.[1] It was the second of the thirteen cartoons in the series to be directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder in Czechoslovakia. It updates its copyright to the current year 1961 as opposed to the 1960 copyright of 'Switchin' Kitten'.
| Down and Outing | |
|---|---|
 The title card of "Down and Outing". | |
| Directed by | Gene Deitch Supervising animator: Václav Bedřich (uncredited) |
| Produced by | William L. Snyder |
| Story by | Larz Bourne |
| Starring | Allen Swift |
| Music by | Steven Konichek |
| Animation by | Jindra Barta Antonín Bures Mirek Kacena Milan Klikar Vera Kudrnová Vera Maresová Olga Sisková Zdenka Skrípková Zdenek Smetana (all uncredited) Checking: Ludmila Kopecná (uncredited) |
| Backgrounds by | Background paint: Bohumil Siska with a little help from Miluse Hluchanicová (both uncredited) |
| Color process | Metrocolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | October 26, 1961 |
Running time | 7:00 |
| Country | United States Czechoslovakia |
| Language | English |
Plot
Tom goes with his owner on a fishing trip while Jerry joins to tag along, but accidentally throws his fishing gear at Tom, provoking him to knock Jerry out of the car. However, Jerry manages to sneak in by going under the car when it stops in a driveway, coming in from an opening in the floor of a trunk then kicks Tom out of the car, causing Tom's head to skid along the road. Jerry taunts Tom as he chases down the car, but it stops at the red traffic light and Tom bends in his neck on the open trunk door. As the light turns green again, the car drives away, and after running towards it, Tom manages to hop back into the car to capture Jerry.
Jerry manages to escape from Tom's clutches. Tom grabs a frying pan to hit Jerry but misses when Jerry jumps out of the way, causing Tom to whack his owner on the back of his head. Tom's owner, his face instantly turning red, turns to Tom to take the frying pan away from him and repeatedly hit him on the head with it. However, the owner only gets into trouble when he takes his eyes off the road to punish Tom and goes from red with anger to white with fear as he struggles to avoid the other drivers as he angrily says "The same to you, Mac!" and worries. Jerry sneaks under the owner's seat and pushes down on the gas pedal at its hardest, causing the car to speed up so fast that the speedometer breaks. Tom's owner looks down and sees Tom's hand, now believing that he is a culprit and angrily stomps on it, causing Tom to yell in pain and swelling his hand red in the process, while his owner only scowls furiously at him before turning his attention back to driving. Jerry offers Tom the first aid kit. Tom, enraged at Jerry for making him get blamed for speeding, attempts to hit him with his swollen hand, but misses again and causes his swollen hand to hurt more, leaving him yowling in agony.
Tom chases Jerry outside of the car and onto the roof, but he falls off onto the front of the car when he blocks his owner's view. The mad owner stops the car by slamming on the brakes, causing Tom to fly off and skid his bottom on the road. Tom sees his butt on fire from the skidding and jumps into a nearby lake to put out the fire, evaporating the water in the process. Tom runs back into the car, but his owner, having had enough of Tom's antics, grabs Tom by his neck and straps him on the passenger seat very tightly with a seat belt to keep him out of trouble.
Tom manages to escape his confinement through the seat and searches around for Jerry. Meanwhile, Jerry, wanting to get Tom into more trouble, uses the first aid kit to disguise one of the owner's shoes as a mouse. When the car finally makes it to the fishing grounds, Tom grabs an oar to whack Jerry with when he sees him. As the owner exits the car, Tom sees the disguised "mouse" shoe, believing it to be Jerry as he angrily whacks his owner on the foot with the oar, causing him to scream and jump up in pain as he hit his head on the car roof, creating a large dent into it. A frightened Tom tries to flee, but the extremely mad owner catches Tom with his automatic fishing rod and then gives him quite long off-screen thrashing.
Tom is forced to carry the heavy load of equipment to the boat as a punishment, not knowing that Jerry is hiding in the picnic basket. As Tom loads the boat, the owner's sour frown gradually becomes a smile, and the cat is back in his owner's good graces. While on the boat, Tom spots Jerry in the basket and uses an air pump to suck him out into the water. In retaliation, Jerry swims under the boat and ties Tom's fishing hook to the owner's foot before he tugs Tom's line. Tom, thinking he has caught a fish, reels in his catch, and after making the owner go into the water, Tom's joy turns into horror when he sees his owner extremely mad at his sight when he tries to wipe him dry, losing any good graces he got back earlier when loading the boat, and he once again gets thrashed as Jerry looks on (off-screen).
Finally, Jerry and Tom's owner are seen happily fishing in true peace and successfully catching fish. Tom reappears, tied up very tightly onto the wall of the catch bucket to keep him out of trouble. All their catches are thrown into the bucket and inadvertently slap into Tom's face. Tom sobs at his predicament after a few fish-slaps and the camera closes in on his face, ending the cartoon.
References
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 150–151. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.