Baby Butch

This surprised me because with the title, I thought this was about our favorite bulldog, Butch, sometimes known as Spike, but it wasn't. Instead, "Butch" was a stray cat. (I have seen him once before in a T&J cartoon, but he didn't have a name.)

Here, a homeless black cat, desperate for food, pretends he's a baby, knocks on the door and leaves the note on top of himself (while he's in a crib). The note says: "I am a poor hungry waif - feed me!" Now there's a word you didn't hear much: waif, but it was used a lot in the "old days."

Anyway, this was entertaining and different from the normal Tom-chases-Jerry episode. Until the last minute, dumb Tom doesn't realize this cat isn't whom he seems (even though the cat is same size as him!.) Meanwhile, Jerry takes his lumps with the stranger in a continuing battle of a big hunk of ham.

Early on, the black cat's eyes bulge way out and turn into miniature refrigerators. Have you ever noticed in how many cartoons, someone's eyes go flying out of their sockets? It's almost always funny and it's amazing how many different gags they can do with that one "special effect."