Pecos Pest
| Pecos Pest | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
| File:Pecostitle.jpg
Title Card
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| Directed by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Story by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Voices by | Shug Fisher |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by | Ed Barge Irven Spence Ray Patterson Kenneth Muse Additional animation: Lewis Marshall(uncredited) |
| Backgrounds by | Robert Gentle |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | November 11, 1955 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6:40 |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Smarty Cat |
| Followed by | That's My Mommy |
Pecos Pest is the 96th one-reel animated Tom and Jerry short, released in 1955 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera scored by Scott Bradley and released in theaters on November 11, 1955 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Pecos Pest was directed by Hanna and Barbera, and was the last Tom and Jerry cartoon released to be produced by Fred Quimby before he went into retirement. The cartoon was also the last Tom and Jerry cartoon produced in Academy format; all subsequent Tom and Jerry cartoons were released in CinemaScope format. It was animated by Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Lewis Marshall and Kenneth Muse with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. Uncle Pecos and his music were performed (uncredited) by Shug Fisher.
Contents
Plot
Jerry receives a telegram from his Texan Uncle Pecos, saying he is on his way to the big city for a guitar solo and will be staying with his nephew for the night; Pecos then arrives shortly after. The mustached mouse (who stutters in a fashion similar to Porky Pig) gives Jerry a performance on his guitar, playing his new song, "Crambone" (his variation of the song "Frog Went A-Courting"), which he gets through most of until he breaks a guitar string toward the end.
Uncle Pecos asks Jerry if he has a guitar string, but Jerry shakes his head negatively. Pecos looks out the mouse hole and claims he sees another string. He walks up to a sleeping Tom and fearlessly plucks a whisker off the cat's face and installs into his guitar, startling Tom awake and out of sleep. A shocked Jerry then comes to the rescue just in the nick of time, and quickly carries his reckless uncle away from Tom to his mousehole, all the while Pecos plays on his guitar with Tom in hot-pursuit. Jerry escapes into his mousehole, but accidentally bangs his uncle's head on the wall just above the mousehole while doing so. Jerry quickly drags Uncle Pecos inside before Tom can get him. Uncle Pecos then thanks the cat for his "service" and Tom is confused. Tom then heads for the bathroom to examine his damaged faced in the mirror when Pecos breaks another string. He comes and plucks a second whisker and is once again rescued by Jerry. As the mice head back to the mouse hole, they fall into a floor grate. Pecos plays more of his song with Tom listening until he breaks another string and claims he needs another whisker. Tom, not wanting to be a cat without whiskers, barricades the grate and flees in panic. He hides next to the basement door which Pecos throws open on top of him. He calls for the cat with Jerry trying to restrain him. The door then breaks into pieces. Tom becomes noticeable when the door broke into pieces. Pecos soon finds him, and tries to reason with the cat that he needs one of his whiskers to fix his guitar and also asking him to stay still, but Tom is intransigent in protecting his whiskers and tries to keep Jerry's uncle at bay. Pecos grabs a third whisker from Tom Cat despite Tom's best efforts of self-defence, but it snaps after only a few notes. Tom frantically looks for somewhere to hide as Pecos searches for him, and Pecos soon plucks off Tom's fourth whisker. Tom dashes in panic into a nearby closet and slams the door shut. Pecos then invites Jerry out to listen to his encore. Tom then steps outside of the closet and enjoys the music Pecos generates until the snap of a string is heard. Tom shrieks and retreats back inside the closet again, but Pecos attacks the door with an axe and saying that Tom knows that Pecos cannot perform without a guitar string, Tom finally surrenders with a white flag and then plucks his fifth whisker for Pecos as a sacrifice to keep him away.
Fortunately, Pecos has left for his performance. On the next day, Tom and Jerry watch his performance in their living room on TV. Pecos starts his performance, but while he is playing the guitar, the guitar's string snaps again. A laughing Tom ended up aghast as he comically reaches out of the television screen, and pulls out Tom's last whisker as Pecos gets to finale of his performance.
Availability
DVD
- Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 3
- Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1, Disc Two
