Embryo Cat, whose eyes are always shining with opportunism, bows and waits for an opportunity to attack.
The little brown mouse always looks at you with teasing eyes, and often plays with this big Embryo Cat inadvertently.
Their names are Tom and Jerry, the most famous cats and mice in the world, and the longest-lived couple-they have lived for 67 years.
William Denby Hanna and Joseph Roland Babela probably didn't think about their contribution when they made this pair of stooges. The natural enemies were destined to bring laughter to the world from the beginning. If you are a generation that gets up at nine o'clock in the morning and waits to watch cartoons, then what you said to me must have a deep sound. If you are not, it doesn't matter, because Tom and Jerry will not fade with time. On the contrary, the longer they soak in the long river of time, the more attractive they are, and the more moved you are.
Early birth-Hannah Babela era (1940- 1958)
WilliamDanbyHanna was born in July of 19 10. He went to college during the Great Depression and studied architecture. But the good times didn't last long, and economic difficulties made him drop out of school early. His talent for animation got him a job in Harman-Ising animation studio at 1930, and he worked for 7 years.
Another producer, JosephRolandBarbera, was born in new york on 19 1 1. Although he has always loved animation, he studied at Bank of America College and started to be an accountant. As tragic as WilliamDanbyHanna, Joseph lost his job during the Great Depression. After working in a magazine's comic column for some time, he joined VanBeurenstudio on 1932, where he began to conceive the story of Tom and Jerry. The story conceived by Joseph in VanBeurenstudio is actually mainly composed of two people, two funny characters like clowns. In the future story of Tom and Jerry, we can still see the shadow of the early conception. 1937, Joseph joined the newly established MGM animation department. His first job was script design. As one of the earliest employees in the animation department, William and another animator, WilliamAllen, created an animated film called CaptainandKids.
It was not until 1938 that William and Joseph began to cooperate for the first time. Their first work was called Gallopings. 1939, they cooperated again. This time, they finally produced the most famous pair of characters in the animation industry, TomThecatandJerrythemouse. At this time, it was 1940 February 10, and Pussgetstheboot, which lasted about 9 minutes 15 seconds, became the first cartoon in Tom and Jerry. Since then, no matter the two creators, or the cat and mouse, they can never be separated.
In the following 18 years, they jointly created more than 200 Tom and Jerry cartoons and won 7 Oscars. 1940, Cat and Mouse danced with GeneKelly in the movies Anchorsaway and Invitationtodance Today, and then danced with EstnerWilliams in Dangerouswhenwet. In fact, if you really pay the cat and mouse, they may be the richest pair of animals. FredQuimby of MGM Animation Department left, and they became two directors of the animation department.
Hard Times-Gene Deitch Times (196 1- 1962)
Just when the two stooges were in full swing, 1957, MGM dissolved the animation department without any prior notice, and Joseph and William lost their jobs. They left MGM with unfinished drafts and regrets. It was probably the darkest period in the history of animation. Few companies are willing to take them in. Just like Tom in the movie, he was kicked out of the house by his master and wandered the streets. "We have nothing to do." A few years later, William recalled, "In fact, we already had quite good movies, but we were pessimistic and thought that these movies might never be wanted again."
At the time of extreme crisis, William and Joseph made a decision that has an impact to this day: making animation for the emerging industry at that time-television.
At that time, the influence of television was far less than it is now. Television is regarded as an incidental industry of movies, almost all resources are concentrated on movies, and television only shares a poor piece of cake. At that time, a five-minute cartoon on a TV station could only cost 3,000 yuan, while the movie cost 45,000-65,000 yuan. We can see that if MGM hadn't fired everyone in the animation department, they would have disdained to join TV. On the other hand, the rapid popularization of television has also made Tom and Jerry go to the world quickly. If you insist on watching movies, maybe Tom and Jerry are still unknown. William and Joseph seem to have caught a lifeline and held it in their hands. However, due to financial difficulties, they have to consider how to reduce expenses and improve the cartoon level of animation. In this case, a limited activity is created. Limited activity means "you can fix the body of the character, but other parts should have independent activities." For example, when a person blinks, the rest of the body should remain fixed. When the arm reaches out to get something, the body is fixed and only the arm is moving. "This concept not only greatly reduces the repetitive work of animation, but also has unexpected effects. In today's animation, we can still see the application of this concept.
1960, the stupid MGM company finally realized: "This pair of cats and mice can make a lot of money!" They began to write letters to Tom and Jerry again, but the producers were not William and Joseph, but Ginadech. GeneDeitch's original animations include Oscar-winning Captain Kangaroo and Munro. Although he is an excellent animator, he and his Czech animation team did not continue the glory of William and Joseph. During 196 1- 1962, their team produced 13 TomandJerry series animation. Although there are some good works, they are generally unsuccessful. Their cat and mouse images are not as eye-catching as before, just two passers-by on the screen. Tom's cleverness and Jerry's cuteness are gone. All we see is cats and mice throwing plates again and again.
Fortunately, they didn't last long. When their one-year contract expired, MGM also kicked them out.
The End of Cats and Mice —— Chuck Jones Age (1963- 1967)
When Warner Bros., another stupid company, closed the animation department, MGM made a smart move at this time, and they successfully accepted ChuckJones, one of the most famous animation masters in the world. ChuckJones has created many immortal images for Warner Bros., such as Bunny and daffy duck! I always thought it was sexy for rabbits to eat radishes. After entering MGM, ChuckJones immediately began to clean up the mess left by his predecessor GeneDeitch. He began to redesign the main images of the two protagonists. For Tom, he gave him a thicker and bigger eyebrow to show his fierce appearance and his big tail, which often caused him trouble. For Jarry, Chuck gave it a Japanese anime image: big eyes! Someone has done statistics and compared the ratio of Jerry's eyes in William and Joseph's era and Chuck Jones's era. Surprisingly, Jerry's eyes increased by 20%. ) and bigger and more upright ears. All this makes Jerry a favorite pet for girls. In fact, Jerry became a Barbie doll.
There is also a change in the title. The original title has been replaced by a new title, and the music should become tinkling music. MGM's iconic opening, The Lion Roar, was adapted into Tom Yale. All this is novel and interesting.
Although all this shows the new style of the new working group, ChuckJones did not bring any miracle to cats and mice. ChuckJones's style is to highlight the posture and personality of the characters, but the story line is not strong. We can often see that the beginning is good, and then the back is getting weaker and weaker. This works well in ChuckJones' other works, but unfortunately it didn't succeed in Tom and Jerry.
After shooting 34 stories about cats and mice, MGM finally made the final decision: close the surviving animation production team. Maybe this is because MGM can't see the potential of the future animated short story market, but I think this decision is because MGM hates cats and mice!
Tom and Jerry were finally sealed in a dusty image library.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King —— Post-cat-and-mouse Era (1975 to present)
After Tom and Jerry was locked up in the library for eight years, their creators William and Joseph finally decided to create the best screen couple again. And their object is SaturdayMorningTelevision (at first we said 9: 00 a.m. on Saturday).
This is not an easy idea. First of all, the head of the TV station is a cat and mouse fan. But he told William and Joseph that parents are different now, and they like to show their children more and more simple and violent animations. The early cat-and-mouse animation was too violent in some places, such as hitting each other on the head with various objects until the big bag stood out. So he proposed to reduce the cat-mouse hostility in animation.
Tom and Jerry may be good friends in private, but this time it is different. They must show their friendship on the screen. So in the post-cat-and-mouse era, we often see scenes where cats and mice explore hand in hand or sit on the beach and chat. In Seldon's fairy tale The Adventures of the Cricket, we can see this cat-and-mouse scene. ...
1989, William and Joseph created another series, Tom & JerryKids, which is also the cat in a hat and the smaller mouse we saw.
On March 23rd, 20001,William died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 90. Scud, shovel and yogi bear were mentioned in the news, but Thomander and Jerry were not mentioned. Maybe Tom and Jerry are really buried in people's memories.
On February 23rd, 2002, Chuck Jones died at the age of 89. Similarly, people mentioned the bunny and Buffy duck he created, but didn't mention TomAndJerry he tried to continue.
Perhaps, two figures, one big and one small, should really be buried in memory. They should be accompanied by music, fairy tales and all the things of the old times. After all, their time is over.