His Mouse Friday (Tom and Jerry)

His Mouse Friday (episode 59)
"Hmmm... "licks lips" barbecued cat!" - Yeah, no thanks...
Directed by: William Hanna Joseph Barbera Release date: July 7, 1951 Franchise: Tom and Jerry (MGM Cartoons) Prequel: "Sleepy-Time Tom (previous short)" Sequel: "Slicked-up Pup (next short)"

His Mouse Friday is the 59th short of the animated series Tom and Jerry. In this short, Tom finds land and is then fooled by Jerry as he plays a cannibal role.

Plot

Tom, floating on a wooden raft, ran out of food and water, and has nothing to eat, but his shoes. After he ate half of his left shoe, he spots to land, then the waves push him to the land. Then he attempts to feast on coconut, but can't open it. He tries to feast on a tortoise, but the shell breaks his teeth. Jerry appears, then plays large drums, causing Tom to be terrified. When Jerry finds a large black cauldron, he covers the soot all over him, making him black with blackface. He forces Tom to get in the black cauldron to cut and cook vegetables. Jerry tries to cook Tom, but when he saw Jerry's skirt fall off, it reveals his fur. Tom gets out of the black cauldron and then mocks Jerry. However, he is found by real cannibals, saying "Mmmm... barbecued cat!" They begin making extremely loud battle cries and chase Tom to kill and eat him. Later, Jerry is found by a child cannibal, saying the same quote, but with the word "mouse" instead of a cat, and then chases Jerry.

Why We Do Not Want a Barbecued Cat

1. Similar to "Baby Puss," it essentially serves as another episode featuring the malevolent torment of Tom.
2. This short had not just its politically-incorrect racist stereotypes (even worse than in any other Tom and Jerry cartoon), but cannibalism, which means that a mammal eats organs of the same family they are in.
3. Jerry is racist for playing an offensive role of a cannibal to treat Tom like a slave.
4. Horrible and Scary ending: Tom gets caught and nearly gets eaten alive by large cannibals, which is extremely disturbing. There was an unnecessary scene when Jerry gets caught by a child cannibal (although it can be seen as fitting comeuppance for his actions in this short, see RQ#4).

Redeeming Qualities

1. Some funny moments, such as the scene when Tom mocks Jerry's native gibberish, and slapstick scenes seen before the cat and mouse run into a cannibal village, such as Tom failing to crack a coconut and breaking his teeth when eating a tortoise whole, and Jerry slamming the frying pan on Tom's face.
   • There is also a creative scene where the ocean waves launch Tom from his raft like a hand launching a slingshot onto a desert island.
2. As mentioned in WIS#4, despite being somewhat unnecessary, Jerry getting caught by a child cannibal at the end can be seen as fitting comeuppance for his actions in this short.
3. Great animation and musical score as usual.

Reception

Because the short had racist stereotypes and cannibalism, "His Mouse Friday" was unofficially banned from broadcast or video distribution by MGM and other rights-holders (such as Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner).

Despite this, it currently has a 7.0 on IMDb.

Trivia

• On the rare times this short has been shown on television (and released on home video), it has been heavily edited, either by muting out the cannibals' dialogue including Jerry's native gibberish (this edit also applies to Tom and Jerry on Parade VHS and The Art of Tom and Jerry Volume 1 LaserDisc) or cropping out the shots featuring the child cannibal in the ending scene (this edit also applies to Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection: Volume 3 NTSC DVD and Tom and Jerry Classic Collection: Volume 5 PAL DVD).
• The scene featuring the child cannibal was restored and left intact on the unreleased remastered print, which was supposed to be released on Tom and Jerry: Golden Collection Volume Two in 2013.

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