Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl

6 year olds, 85 year olds, geography teachers, members of the Royal Family, tramps, beggars, millionaires, everyone. Everyone knows Tom and Jerry. Everyone. It is a rare phenomenon. Wonderfully drawn, fantastic music effects, side-splittingly funny. Something so popular, there were attempts to ban it, at one point. How did they make it so good?

I'm going to put a lot of the credit at Fred Quimby's door, and give kudos to Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera as well. Every good Tom and Jerry cartoon had 'Produced by Fred Quimby' somewhere in the credits. The brief bit of trivia on him says that he was despised by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, and he constantly got into arguments with them. All I can say is, whatever he did, however he got those cartoons produced, he did it perfectly, because every single one of them is well above average, and has more than a fair share of laughs.

After Quimby, the cartoons that were both produced and directed by Hanna Barbera were also of an excellent standard, although subsequent producers, particularly Chuck Jones, did the name of Tom and Jerry no good at all. When you think of Tom and Jerry, Fred Quimby's name on it is the seal of approval.

As far as the animation goes, the expressions in particular were just exquisite, and frequently were they the source of the many laughs that each and every episode contained. The way they could suddenly change. When Tom is conducting, watch for the part when Jerry keeps tugging at his tuxedo, and pleading with him. The urge was fortunately resisted to give Tom and Jerry proper, full-time speaking voices throughout Quimby's days in charge, instead just letting either character speak when it suited the part.

Up to a few weeks ago, I'd known Tom and Jerry as something to watch if it came on, because it was reasonably funny. But when I visited America recently, and watched Tom and Jerry for a full hour on the Cartoon Network every day, I realised just how good it was. The two best Tom and Jerry cartoons are 'Hollywood Bowl', and 'Cat Concerto'. They are the best cartoons in the Tom and Jerry range and considering all of Quimby's were excellent, that really is saying something.

How exactly it is that a cat and mouse who hate each other, and spend most of their lives trying to kill each other, stayed so successful, and NEVER lost ANY of the humour under Quimby, I will never fully know, and I think MGM may have pondered on it themselves (look for the episode 'Life with Tom'). The facts are: Tom and Jerry was started over 60 years ago, and Quimby's last was made in 1955. There were attempts to ban it, thanks to a woman named Mary Whitehouse, but she is dead, and Tom and Jerry lives on, as well known as it ever was. All that remains is for me to say good riddance to Whitehouse, and long live Tom and Jerry!

This cartoon is well made and excellently orchestrated. Music and gags go well hand in hand. This being said, I found the cartoon extremely boring. It is short on good gags and laughs.

As for me, this Tom and Jerry short is a bit of a letdown. While it is beautifully animated and exudes quality, I really don't like musical cartoons. This goes not only for the Tom and Jerry ones where they are performing on stage, but those of Bugs Bunny as well. Some people LOVE toons like the RABBIT OF SEVILLE or TOM AND JERRY IN THE Hollywood BOWL but they just don't appeal to me and I doubt they'll appeal to most people--particularly kids. Classical music performances and cartoons just don't appeal to everyone. Plus the Tom and Jerry formula is tampered with--it just doesn't look or feel right having them in this situation. However, despite all my complaining, it's still an excellent cartoon.

"Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl" is my favorite Tom & Jerry cartoon. This is a very good one. Definitely Oscar material. How it didn't win any Oscars is beyond me. If 'The Cat Concerto' won, how come this one didn't? This one was actually more deserving of that honor.

I believe this cartoon was inspired by 'The Cat Concerto'. After all, in both of them Tom plays classical music, Jerry is excited to participate but Tom doesn't let him and, of course, both have the traditional fights between them and Tom at the end trying desperately to compete with Jerry. This one, however, is more restrained on the infamous violent gags which Tom & Jerry's cartoons are known for. While this one still has some sadistic stuff, it doesn't overdo it, being very far from being one of the worst of Tom & Jerry on this aspect.

This time Tom conducts an orchestra (the Hollywood Bowl, famous amphitheatre in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California) of cats at the sound of the beautiful music "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss II. That is a very soft and relaxing music to hear.

It's a quite clever cartoon. There are lots of intelligent gags, such as when Jerry pleads and begs Tom to let him conduct the orchestra but Tom uses Jerry's baton as a toothpick and throws it away and then an angry Jerry snaps Tom's baton in half and throws it away, only for Tom to take off a spare baton from his pocket and stick his tongue out at him. Other funny gags include with Tom using his baton as a snooker cue to throw Jerry off the podium, among other schemes of one against the other one.

Conclusion: Definitely Tom & Jerry's finest. Timeless and classic. I almost can't find any faults on this because it really is "THE" Tom & Jerry classic for excellency and the only one which is as close to perfection as a Tom & Jerry cartoon can be. The artwork is also very nice. The use of classical music, as well as the classical music itself, for some reason makes me think of '2001: A Space Odyssey'. Perhaps some of its "film-making" also does, even though '2001' was yet far from existing at the time this was made and the music is not the same as in '2001'.

In this one, Tom is conducting at the famous Hollywood Bowl. Jerry is nearby with his mouse-hole shaped just like the Bowl. He, too, comes out in tails and wants to conduct. Why doesn't this mouse ever mind his own business and leave Tom alone? He starts a lot of the trouble and yet he's supposed to be the "good guy?"

You could call this "Cat Concerto: Part Two" since it is the same theme as the 1946 T&J short in which the cat and the mouse both get highly involved in a symphony orchestra presentation.

Anyway, every move - deliberate or not - makes the orchestra continue to play the concert without skipping a beat. Much of it is very clever. There is much more to this than the Oscar-winning first film but it doesn't have the overall class and charm the first one had. However, strictly for gags, this one offers much more. Take your choice.