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Tennis Chumps is a 1949 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 46th Tom and Jerry short released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby. The cartoon's music was scored by Scott Bradley, and the footage was animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Ed Barge and Kenneth Muse. It is the last cartoon to be produced in the 1940s. It was re-released in February 1, 1957. The cartoon opens with Tom emerging from a locker room at a tennis court. His entrance is interrupted by a black cat named Butch. Butch slams the door into Tom, causing him to look like an Egyptian hierogylphic. Jerry then comes out from the locker room, but he comes back with Tom's tennis equipment. Tom then launches Jerry against a locker room wall and into a drinking fountain, much to Jerry's annoyance. A match between Tom and Butch then begins. Tom dismisses Jerry by hitting him into the locker room wall and he ends up landing in a drinking fountain. Tom serves the ball Butch and returns it to him. Butch hits the ball so hard that it causes Tom's racket to burst into flames. Tom grabs another racket and serves three balls to Butch. Butch then splits his racket into three and returns all three balls back to Tom. Tom ends up swallowing all these balls and they settle into his tail. Tom's next serves resembles a badminton serve and he pulls the net to force a drop shot. Butch then hits the ball hard into the ground and Tom scrambles to return it after the ball comes out of the ground. Tom stretches his arm all the way to the end of the court to make the return. Butch is then shown making many returns at the net, but the ball is actually bouncing off of Tom's face. The ball bounces back toward the end of Butch's court and Butch hits it with a lot of backspin, causing it to buzz in the air. Tom tries to chase after ball, but ends up running into the post of the net and wrapping himself in the net. Jerry then tries to help out by handing Tom a small white bomb which looks like a tennis ball. Jerry winks at Tom and Tom winks back. Tom lights the bomb and serves it to Butch. Butch is about to return the bomb, but it explodes just before he makes contact with it. Jerry then removes a round, white piece of a gate that resembles a tennis ball. It is heavy and Jerry winks at Butch. Butch winks back and serves the heavy ball to Tom. Tom gets hit in the head and breaks into pieces. Jerry starts to laugh at this and then he ducks out of the way as Tom is trying to hit him with tennis balls. Jerry ends up swallowing one of the tennis balls and he gets uses as a human tennis ball between the two cats. After a small rally, Jerry lands up walking on the net like a tightrope and Tom goes to hit Jerry with his tennis racket. He ends up hitting Butch instead. Butch is about to hit Tom, but he sees Jerry running away on the other side of the court and he hits a tennis ball towards Jerry. Jerry grabs a tennis racket and starts rallying with Butch. Tom gets involved in the rally when a ball gets stuck in his mouth, Butch runs through a chain link fence to return a shot by Jerry, and Jerry ends up moving the sideline after a ball hits the net and drops over. Tom tries to get involved again, but Butch stops him. The rally continues and Butch runs back and forth on his side of the court with Tom next to him. Jerry then hits a really high ball and both cats run towards each other with an attempt to hit the ball. But they crash into each other and become a pair of conjoined cats. They separate and realize that they need to work together. They run towards Jerry and he runs towards an automatic tennis machine, activating it at its highest speed, firing tennis balls at both the cats. The huge force of the tennis balls hits the cats before they can dodge them, pushing both of them into the net, then through it all the way out into the tree thousands of feet away, where they get tangled in the net. Jerry is then shown putting on a fancy jacket and he writes his name on a tennis trophy cup. He then stands and waves to a crowd of people and accepts his championship cup.

Plot

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The cartoon starts with Tom emerging from a locker room at a tennis court. His entrance is interrupted by a black cat named Butch, who slams the door into Tom, causing him to look like a figure in an Egyptian hieroglyphic's. Jerry then comes out from the locker room, buy Tom orders him to pick up his tennis equipment. Jerry hands Tom his racquet and a tennis ball, and a match between Tom and Butch begins. With no further need for the mouse, Tom dismisses Jerry by hitting him into the locker room wall and he ends up landing in the drinking fountain. Jerry's mad while standing in the fountain.

Tom serves the ball and Butch returns it with such speed that it causes Tom's racket to burst into flames when it grazes the handle. Tom grabs another racket and serves three balls to Butch. Butch then splits his racket into three and returns all three balls back into Tom's mouth, and they settle into his tail.

Tom's next serve resembles a badminton serve and he pulls the net to force a drop shot. Butch then hits the ball hard into the ground and Tom has to stretch his arm all the way to the end of the court to make the return. Butch is then shown making many returns at the net, but the ball is actually bouncing off Tom's face. The ball eventually bounces back towards the end of Butch's court and Butch hits it with a lot of backspin, causing it to buzz in the air. Tom tries to chase after the ball, but ends up running into the post of the net and wrapping himself in the net.

Jerry now gets in the fun by playing the cats against each other. He hands Tom a small white bomb which looks like a tennis ball, so as to blow up Butch. Jerry winks at Tom and Tom winks back. Tom lights the bomb and serves it to Butch. Butch is about to return the bomb, but it explodes just before he makes contact with it, making him look like a blackfaced ballet dancer. Jerry then removes a round, white piece of a gate that resembles a tennis ball. It is heavy enough to cause Butch to be pulled into the ground when he grabs it. Jerry winks at Butch, who winks back and swings the racket, allowing the force of the net to serve the heavy ball to Tom. The overconfident Tom gets hit in the head and breaks into pieces.

Jerry starts to laugh at this and then he ducks out of the way as Tom is trying to hit him with the tennis balls. Jerry ends up swallowing one of the tennis balls and he gets used as a rodent tennis ball in between the two cats. After a small rally, Jerry lands up walking on the net like a tightrope and then wobbles onto Butch's head. Tom swings, hitting Butch instead and then throwing him onto the ground behind Tom. Butch is about to hit Tom, but he sees Jerry running away on the other side of the court and he hits a tennis ball towards Jerry.

Jerry grabs a tennis racket and starts rallying with Butch. Tom gets involved in the rally when a ball gets stuck in his mouth, which Butch simply hits out of it. Butch runs through a chain link fence to return the next shot by Jerry, and Jerry has to move the sideline after a ball hits the net and drops over.

Tom tries to get involved again, but Butch stops him. The rally continues and Butch runs back and forth on his side of the court with Tom next to him. Jerry then hits a really high ball and both cats run towards each other with an attempt to hit the ball, but they crash into each other and become a pair of conjoined cats. They separate and realize that they need to work together. They run towards Jerry and he runs towards an automatic tennis ball server, activating it at its highest speed. The huge force of the tennis balls hits the cats before they can dodge them, pushing them into the net, then through it all the way into a tree thousands of feet away, where they get tangled in the net, acting like marionettes.

Jerry is then shown putting a fancy jacket on and in use of a marker pen, he writes his name on a tennis trophy cup. He stands and after that, waved to a crowd of people, with him accepting the championship cup.

Notes/Trivia

• This is the fourth cartoon to involve a sport.

• This cartoon was featured in the Tom and Jerry: Festival of Fun on VHS.

• Final Tom and Jerry cartoon of the 1940s.

• This is one of the nine cartoons where Tom losses with another cat. The other cartoons are Sufferin' Cats!, Smarty Cat, Casanova Cat, Jerry's Cousin, Saturday Evening Puss, Cat and Dupli-cat, Catty Cornered, and A Mouse in the House.

• This cartoon is no longer being broadcast on the Boomerang channel in the United Kingdom, due to a complaint about smoking in certain Tom and Jerry cartoons. In this cartoon, Butch is briefly smoking a cigar.

Censorship

• The UK satellite channel Boomerang cuts the scene in which Butch smokes a cigar. Also, the tennis ball (which is a bomb) exploding on Butch, causing him to be in blackface is censored, but not the American version (nor is it edited on the American Cartoon Network).

• It is unknown whether the scene in which Butch appears in will ever be cut anywhere else.

• Cartoon Network has playlists for Tom and Jerry episodes. In 2009, they were criticized for showing a rare playlist that has only contained episodes with Mammy Two Shoes and other stereotypical episodes. So, they have took out His Mouse Friday and replaced it with this episode.

References

1. "Smoke's no joke for Tom and Jerry". BBC News Online. BBC. 21 August 2006. Retrieved 24 December 2009.

Availability

DVD Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3, Disc One

External links

• Template:Bcdb title
• Tennis Chumps at IMDb

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• v
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• 1949 animated films
• Tom and Jerry short films
• English-language films
• Films directed by Joseph Barbera
• Films directed by William Hanna
• 1940s American animated films
• American films
• 1940s comedy films
• Tennis films
• Tennis animation
• Film scores by Scott Bradley
• Animated film stubs