Synopsis
Puss Gets the Boot (1940) is a short cartoon you can watch online on iFILM. It runs barely nine minutes, yet it opens one of animation's longest-running rivalries: this is the very first Tom and Jerry short. Back then the cat answered to Jasper, and the mouse had no name at all.
The setup is almost absurdly simple. The housekeeper warns the cat that breaking one more thing means the street, and the mouse instantly grasps his gift — he starts nudging every fragile object in the house toward his enemy. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera directed it as a one-off, with no idea they'd just lit the fuse on a legend, and the short went on to land an Academy Award nomination. It's pure, nearly wordless chase comedy and the natural place to start with Tom and Jerry. Stream Puss Gets the Boot (1940) online on iFILM.
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