NEW TOM & JERRY SHOW
EPISODE 6

 BROADCAST NUMBER:TJGA-6
ORIGINAL ABC AIRDATE:October 11, 1975

80-14"CASTLE WIZ"

Responding to an ad in the newspaper, Tom & Jerry arrive at Castle Scarealotti, where they must spend the night in an attempt to win the $20 prize money. Count Scarealotti, a wizard, makes things hauntingly hectic for Tom & Jerry by conjuring up a ghost, which hinders T&J throughout the night, chasing them through a suit of armor, a dresser drawer, an upside down room, and in and out of a painting. T&J eventually entrap the ghost in a piano and torture it with Jerry tap-dancing on the keys, producing discordant notes. Morning arrives, the ghost gives up and vanishes, and Scarealotti presents T&J with the $20 for helping him test out his haunted house tourist attraction! Tom & Jerry then strike back with a little ectoplasmic surprise of their own.

TRIVIA & NOTES:

This was most likely inspired by similar creepy capers in 1942's Fraidy Cat.

The scene of Jerry in this cartoon dancing up and down the piano's keys can be seen in this show's opening titles. The syndication opening sequence also boasts a scene of Tom & Jerry being chased by a ghost.

The ghost changes color in "Castle Wiz." He makes his first appearance in green, but shows up throughout the remainder of the cartoon in lavender. The color of the ghost which chases T&J in the syndicated main titles is bone-white.

Some chase sequences use portions of the underscore of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (CBS, 1969-72/1974-76). Interestingly, Scooby voice Don Messick voices the ghost here in "Castle Wiz," and the ghost materializing from the cover of the chair T&J use to hide under (the same one the cat and mouse use to exact revenge at The Count) resembles The Phantom Shadow, the prime antagonist of the January 10, 1970 episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, "A Night Of Fright Is No Delight."

Trivia Footnote: Speaking of Scoob, ABC and Hanna-Barbera, capitalizing on this very Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show, would a year later once again combine forces to resurrect a classic H-B character (like Tom & Jerry), Scooby-Doo, and team him with another new creation, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (created by the late Joe Ruby and Ken Spears), to form the highly-publicized Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour.

Finale music from the underscore of Cattanooga Cats (ABC, 1969-71) is heard at the end.

80-16"GRIM AND BEAR IT"

Tom & Jerry attempt to become full fledged forest rangers, but first must keep a sharp lookout for a mischievous bear cub and be extra careful not to incur the wrath of his mom, Old Bruinhilda. But, try though they do, even as T&J rescue the cub from being stung by bees and pounced upon by a panther, and even stop him from swinging from some hay that a moose is eating, Old Bruinhilda is always there to snatch back her cub and scare the novice rangers off (moms will be moms!). The bears and T&J intrude upon the motor home of a camping couple, George and his wife, and cause such a furor, that the couple are forced to drive home, unwittingly bringing the uninvited guests with them. The wife phones the police as Bruinhilda (cub under her arm) chases T&J around the house.

TRIVIA & NOTES:

This recycles underscore first used in Loopy DeLoop theatricals and most other H-B cartoons made before 1966 (the scene where the mother bear chases the trailer with her cub in it).

The head ranger speaks in a manner (courtesy of Frank Welker) which imitates the late Don Adams of Get Smart (NBC/CBS, 1965-70) fame.

Bruinhilda was originally named Snaggle-Tooth.

"Grim And Bear It" coincidentally aired on the 56th birthday of Jean VanderPyl, who voiced George's wife in the episode.

The name of the wife (Jean VanderPyl) is never fully established; she's only referred to continuously in the form of the term "dear" by her hubby George (John Stephenson).

Number of times George intones "Yeeees, deeear...": 13.

The only things George says other than "Yeeees, deeear..." are "A small piece, dear," and "I said, 'a small piece,' dear".

The one-liner, "I mean, mean! See what I mean?", is repeated in Episode #80-21, "Termites Plus Two."

80-19"THE FLYING SORCERESS"
LOST EPISODE

Freefall Frita Witch is flying on her cauldron and she goes through the cottage and into the chimney. Frita cackles that the witchcraft company will be famous and checks her crystal ball to make sure everything is covered. Frita looks through her crystal ball which showing Tom and Jerry then sends her magic broom to fetch them and flies through the chimney. Frita explains to Tom and Jerry there are no charge for the flight inn and wants them to be part of her crew but the duo rush of the cottage but she zaps the door away. Frita assures Tom and Jerry that they'll love soaring through the sky, lost in the sky and shows them each portait of the Heroes of Flight and soon she'll be next in line as "Freefall Frita". Frita, Tom and Jerry are onboard her cauldron and she shows them the checklist of tests they'll go through druing the job training and tells them to buckle up. Frita begins their takeoff, flies through the chimney and into the air. Frita begins the first training which is stunt flying. Frita does the triple loop dropout resulting Tom and Jerry to fall down. Then Frita dives and saves them then moves onto crop dusting much to their relief.

Tom starts dusting all the crops but goes straight into the barn and the apple tree. Frita approves Tom's apple picking even if it's not on the list. Now, they head to the airport for the passenger service and fly into the check-in. They pass two people, brings out the passenger scoop and picks up a man in a brown suit. Frita tells Tom and Jerry they have to be polite and takes off in the sky. The man turns to the audience and says "Help!" then tells Tom and Jerry to get his ticket so they can see where he is going and head to Washington D.C. Now in D.C., Frita lands the caudlron, ejects the man off his seat and his parachute opens as he yelps "Help!" again. Now Frita, Tom and Jerry get back to the programme. Frita is still in her caudlron, Tom is on a magic broom and Jerry the flying brush. A plane flies through the clouds where the crew does the same thing but as Frita keeps flying, Tom and Jerry are seen in the plane and not the broom and brush anymore. Tom and Jerry wave goodbye to Frita who doesn't even notice they've bailed out on her!

TRIVIA & NOTES:

Not to be confused with the 1956 MGM T&J cartoon of the same name!

Tom riding on a broom towards the end reflects a similar segue from the original Flying Sorceress.

Tom & Jerry encounters a witch here, whereas they tangled with ghosts and a vampire earlier on in "Castle Wiz"! These obviously aired during the Halloween season of 1975.

Free Fall Frieda follows in the footsteps of Dame Gladys Flopover in her Tri-Winged Crumpet, Baroness Von Contact in her Glockenspiel II, and Young Maya Kabuki in her Short-Circuit Transistor.

This isn't the only ocasion in which Tom and Jerry are associated with aviation. In Episode #80-31, "Give 'Em The Air", T&J face off in the wild blue yonder in an air race against Fritz Von Spritz, The Purple Baron, and they also pilot a plane as stunt doubles in #80-29, "Two Stars Are Born."

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