80-04
"NO BONES ABOUT IT"
At the County Museum, police cars arrive at the museum and the policemen go the museum owner about a missing priceless toe bone missing from a priceless Tyrannosaurus Rex. The museum owner calls his cleanup men, Tom and Jerry, loudly. At the crocodile display Tom opens the crocodile mouth and Tom and Jerry yawns; however the museum owner tells them to come down. Jerry take the brush from the crocodile mouth and clean the teeth and he closes the crocodile mouth. The museum owner tells them to he waiting; the bucket of water tumbles on the floor, with Tom
holding a mop and Jerry holding a brush following suit sliding on the floor, and the museum owner tries to run away and they crashes. Tom mops the floor and Jerry uses the brush to clean the museum owner who tells Tom and Jerry come into the office, where he orders them to find that bone unless they wind up in jail for the rest of their
natural lives! Tom and Jerry set out in search of the bone when they spot Spike carrying a bone in his jaws; figuring it's the missing dinosaur bone, they try every method of retrieving the bone from him: coaxing him with a steak, lifting him up with a jack, scaring the dog with a cardboard cutout of a lion, and tunneling underground. They finally seize the bone and race back to the museum with it, only to find out from their boss that he had the original bone cleaned and forgot all about it! Feeling falsely accused, Tom has Jerry yank out a bone from the dinosaur but the owner has tries to stop him, causing the entire skeleton to come crumbling down and T&J to lose their jobs. Nonetheless, the cat and mouse leave victoriously--and are set upon by the vengeful Spike and he chases Tom and Jerry around the city!
TRIVIA & NOTES:
- This cartoon's plotline closely resembles that of the 1938 RKO Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn comedy
Bringing Up Baby.
- Don Messick assumes the reins as the voice of Spike for the first time. He will remain
Spike's voice for the better part of his appearances on New Tom & Jerry.
- Whereas in the debut telecast the first 3 New T&J cartoons were run in reverse production order,
these next three were presented in original production sequence for the second episode.
- In the scene where T&J use the cutout of the lion to frighten Spike, Jerry is seen to roar! This is reminiscent of a climax of
the 1946 MGM T&J short The Milky Waif, which marked the debut of Nibbles/Tuffy.
- Also, the cutout of the lion is an allusion to the beloved mascot of Tom and Jerry's
distributors, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
- Some scenes in this cartoon were animated by the late Kenneth Lee Muse, legendary animator who previously worked on the original MGM Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoons and was known throughout the business for
his drawing speed and prolific output. Other New Tom & Jerry cartoons whose scenes bear Ken Muse's stamp are "Beach Bully", "Mammoth Manhunt" (80-07), "Robin Ho Ho" (80-10), "The Super Bowler" (80-11), "Cosmic Cat And Meteor Mouse" (80-15),
"Grim And Bear It" (80-16), "The Hypochondriac Lion" (80-23), "See Dr. Jackal And Hide!" (80-35), "Hold That Pose" (80-38), "The Bull Fighters" (80-41), "The Campout Cutup" (80-45), and "The Great Motorboat Race" (80-48).