Old Rockin' Chair Tom

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Old Rockin' Chair Tom Tom and Jerry series
The title card of Old Rockin' Chair Tom
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices by	Lillian Randolph (as Mammy Two Shoes, uncredited)
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Ed Barge Ray Patterson Irven Spence Kenneth Muse
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	September 18, 1948
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 min 39 secs
Preceded by	The Truce Hurts
Followed by	Professor Tom
IMDb profile

Old Rockin' Chair Tom is a 1948 cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Ray Patterson and Irven Spence and was released to theaters on September 18, 1948. This cartoon has the longest Mammy Two Shoes on screen appearance.

[edit] Plot

Tom and Jerry team up to defeat Lightning in "Old Rockin' Chair Tom".

Mammy Two Shoes is holding on to her stool in panic as Jerry rocks it back and forth. She calls for Tom, who lazily wakes up in the other room, and then rejuvenates instantly when he sees the mouse. Tom chases Jerry away from Mammy, but Jerry trips him. Jerry goes back to Mammy and rocks the stool up and down until Tom chases him again. Jerry then opens up a door and the ironing board, followed by the hot iron, fall on Tom's head. Tom catches Jerry trying to cut down the stool, and Jerry gives him the ax and stands right next to one of the spokes. Mammy urges Tom to hit Jerry, but each time Jerry ducks and eventually he chops down the stool. Tom supports Mammy on his head, until he loses his balance. Jerry opens the door of a stairway coming down. Tom goes through the the doorway, with Mammy still on him, and crashes into the stairway, falling into the attic.

Frustrated with Tom's incompetence, Mammy goes on a tirade: "Thomas, if you is a mousecotcher, I is Lana Turner, which I ain't. The trouble with you is, you is gettin' too old to catch mice. So, I has decided to bring in a new and younger cat. Stand up here and meet a real mouseketcher." She then calls in "Lightning", a bright orange cat who lives up to his name as he rushes onto the scene and speedily kicks Jerry out of the house and into the dumpster.

Tom then panics as Lightning speeds past him and flips him over, but Lightning does nothing about it and kisses Mammy's hand. Mammy praises Lightning's etiquette and efficiency, and then Jerry tries to sneak back into the house. Lightning kicks him out again.

Lightning passes by Tom and twists him around, and then proceeds to dress him up with a fake beard as Mammy advises him to "take good care of poor, old, Tom...." while she retires to the bedroom, leaving Lightning in charge. The cat then begins to show his true colors by raiding the icebox, until he drops a bottle of milk. The guilty cat then frames Tom by dumping the icebox's contents at Tom's feet, stuffing leftovers into his hands and cramming Tom inside a watermelon.

Mammy Two Shoes, asking "What in the world is going on in here?!"

Mammy hears the racket and sees Tom, but not Lightning standing next to him. She asks Tom if he's been in the icebox and Lightning nods Tom's head. Lightning offers to throw Tom out of the house, and Tom is kicked into the dumpster, where he sees Jerry. Together, the duo plot to remove Lightning from the house.

In the next scene, Tom and Jerry, armed with a magnet and iron, sneak into the house, and place the iron by a sleeping Lightning's mouth, and the magnet behind his rear. This causes Lightning to swallow the iron, waking him up.

Tom kicks Lightning out of the house, but he breaks his foot as he strikes the iron.

As Lightning chases after Jerry, Tom uses the magnet to attract the iron, and therefore pull Lightning back into his fist. Tom then tosses the magnet to Jerry, but Jerry is too light and is dragged along with Lightning until he runs into the iron and latches onto the magnet. Lightning grabs onto a piano leg and Tom, Jerry and Lightning begin a tug-of-war. The duo wins and Lightning is sent through the piano and into a wall, where a whole set of plates fall on the orange cat.

Mammy hears the chaos and enters the room, but soon Jerry starts to terrorize her again. She calls for Lightning, but Lightning is unable to come to the rescue, as Tom is controlling his movements behind the kitchen wall. Eventually, she calls for Tom, who grabs Jerry and pretends to beat him up. Tom helpfully kicks Lightning out of the house, but he ends up breaking his foot after striking the iron as he kicks him.

Later, Tom, with his broken foot wrapped in bandages, is given a nice pie from Mammy as a token of her gratitude. Tom takes most of the pie, but leaves the remainder by his side for Jerry, who, using the magnet, brings the pie and dish to his hole, and gleefully tucks into his well-earned food.

[edit] Trivia

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