Tom and Chérie

Tom and Chérie
The title card of Tom and Chérie
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Starring	Francoise Brun-Cottan (as Nibbles, uncredited)
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Irven Spence Kenneth Muse Lewis Marshall Ed Barge
Layouts by	Richard Bickenbach
Backgrounds by	Robert Gentle
Color process	Technicolor CinemaScope
Production company	MGM Cartoons
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	September 9, 1955 (1955-09-09)
Running time	6:46
Language	French English

Tom and Chérie is a 1955 one reel animated Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. It was the third (of four) cartoons in the Mouseketeer series of cartoons to take place in France, the first of which, The Two Mouseketeers (1952) won an Academy Award, and the second, Touché, Pussy Cat! (1954) received an Academy Award nomination. Chérie is not only a word play of Jerry in Tom and Jerry but also means "sweetheart" in French.

The animation was done by Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, and Lewis Marshall, this being Marshall's first Tom and Jerry cartoon for which he received an animation credit (replacing Ray Patterson who had left). The backgrounds were designed by Robert Gentle and the layouts by Richard Bickenbach. The cartoon was produced in CinemaScope, a form of Widescreen, and released to theatres on September 9, 1955 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

Plot

Mousketeer Captain Jerry sits mooning at his portrait of a female French mouse named Lilli, then writes Lilli a love letter and calls his assistant Nibbles, telling him to deliver it. Nibbles goes out and, after briefly mocking Jerry's infatuation, looks at the letter, opens it and goes a deep shade of red after reading it. But as Nibbles is about to go out and deliver the letter, Guardsman Tom appears shouting "En garde!" ("On guard!" or "Fight!") and swipes his sword at Nibbles, scaring him back in. He pokes his sword through the door. Nibbles tries to tell Jerry about the cat (in very fast French, adding in English "And besides that, I'm chicken!"), but Jerry shows the little mouse his book, reminding him that "Un mousketeer est brave" ("a mouseketeer must be brave"). Nibbles then looks in the mirror and asks himself if he is a man or a mouse, but after going out and encountering Tom again he decides he is a mouse. Later, Tom is hiding in wait for Nibbles. Nibbles tries to disguise himself with a knight's helmet. He says hello to Tom, but Tom is not fooled. He immediately jumps in front of Nibbles and fights him. Jerry hears the commotion from outside. Tom then lifts off the helmet and it falls right on top of his head, knocking him down a nearby cellar window.

Nibbles is still swiping his sword until Jerry pokes him on the back. Nibbles tries to call for the cat but to no avail. He tries to persuade Jerry that Tom was here, but Jerry brings him back to Mouseketeer Headquarters and punishes Nibbles by getting him to write "Un mouseketeer est brave" over and over on a blackboard. Then Nibbles goes to the door and holds his hat out. It gets chopped into pieces by Tom. Nibbles then nervously peeks out, but Jerry, annoyed by Nibbles having not delivered his letter to Lilli yet because of his cowardice, pokes him in the back with his sword, sending Nibbles rocketing past Tom to Lilli's house. He knocks on the windowsill. Lilli comes to the window and sees the love letter. She giggles while reading it, then disappears and returns with another letter with perfume on it. Nibbles then goes to deliver it to Jerry, but to see if Tom is around, he puts his hat on his sword and waves it. Tom waves his own hat and then appears and fights Nibbles again.

Then Nibbles hides in a vent and pokes Tom in the bottom, saying, "Touche, pussycat!" The fight continues. Nibbles runs inside Jerry's quarters and gives the letter to Jerry. He kisses it, writes another love letter, gives it to Nibbles and then the little mouse delivers it, encountering Tom every time. And by every fight Nibbles has with Tom, he gets more tattered and torn by the minute. Nevertheless, Jerry receives a letter from Lilli telling him that their love is finished, which Nibbles rejoices. Heartbroken, Jerry tears up her letter and throws away her portrait, but then simply replaces her portrait with that of another rich French mouse, Marie, and begins his correspondence with her.

An exasperated Nibbles is forced to deliver this letter. Tom jumps out once again, yells "En garde!" and is ready for another duel. However, the little mouse just ignores him and walks past. Tom then challenges him two more times but Nibbles keeps ignoring him. After the final attempt, Nibbles looks up at him and says with contempt, "En garde, En garde, En garde! Fooey!". He then goes on with his assignment to deliver the letter, leaving Tom behind still holding his sword and looking puzzled.

Voice Cast

• Francoise Brun-Cottan as Nibbles
• William Hanna as Tom

Production

• Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
• Animation: Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall, Ed Barge
• Layout: Richard Bickenbach
• Backgrounds: Robert Gentle
• Music: Scott Bradley
• Produced by Fred Quimby

Availability

VHS

• Cats & Dogs

DVD

• Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 4
• Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 2, Disc Two

External links

• Tom and Chérie at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Tom and Chérie on IMDb