The First Cartoon: Puss Gets the Boot

Lore & Background

In the world of Tom and Jerry, Puss Gets the Boot is the foundational tale that set the stage for decades of animated rivalry. The cat, here called Jasper, is a gray tabby with a white face and paws, while the mouse is a small brown creature who is not given a consistent on-screen name in this short (the name 'Jinx' appears only in early promotional materials, not in the final film). Their dynamic is already fully formed: the mouse outsmarts the cat at every turn, using household objects as weapons and shields. The short's success led to the characters being renamed Tom and Jerry for future installments, but this first cartoon remains a raw, unpolished gem of the series.

In Their Own Story

In a cozy kitchen, a gray cat named Jasper eyes a tiny mouse named Jinx with hunger. The mouse, quick and clever, dodges every swipe and pounce, leading the cat into a series of painful mishaps. A broom, a vase, and a hot stove all become tools of the mouse's defense. When the cat's owner threatens to throw him out if he breaks one more thing, Jasper must choose between catching the mouse and keeping his home. The chase ends with the cat learning a hard lesson about pride and persistence.

Reader's Guide

Puss Gets the Boot is the debut cartoon of the Tom and Jerry series, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Released in 1940 by MGM, it stars a gray cat with white paws (then called Jasper) and a small brown mouse (then called Jinx). The short established the core premise: a cat's attempts to catch a mouse are consistently foiled by the mouse's intelligence and the cat's own clumsiness. Its success also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film. The cat's design here is simpler than later versions, with a more realistic gray coat and white paws, while the mouse is smaller and less anthropomorphic. This first entry set the tone for the entire franchise: fast-paced slapstick, creative violence, and a timeless battle of wits. It remains a beloved classic among fans for its raw energy and historical importance.

Did You Know?

• The cat was originally named Jasper in this first cartoon, while the mouse had no consistent on-screen name (the name 'Jinx' was used only in early promotional materials, not in the final film).
• Puss Gets the Boot was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1941.
• The success of this short led to the characters being renamed Tom and Jerry for future cartoons.
• The claim that the cartoon's plot was inspired by a specific real-life cat and mouse observed by Hanna and Barbera is not supported by credible evidence.

The Genesis of a Rivalry

In the summer of 1937, Joseph Barbera joined the Ising animation unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, then Hollywood's dominant studio. The animation department was struggling—its earlier series based on The Captain and the Kids comic strip had failed to find an audience, and studio head Louis B. Mayer was eager for fresh material. Barbera, recognizing the opportunity, partnered with fellow animator William Hanna to pitch a new concept: two characters of equal standing locked in perpetual conflict. They initially sketched out a fox-and-dog pairing before landing on the more visually dynamic cat-and-mouse dynamic. They brought the idea to Fred Quimby, who headed MGM's short film division. Quimby, admitting he had little enthusiasm for the premise, nonetheless granted them permission to produce a single short. Following standard MGM practice of the era, only producer Rudolf Ising received on-screen credit, despite Hanna and Barbera's creative leadership. The finished product hit theaters on February 10, 1940, and would quietly reshape the studio's animation future.

Two Characters Before Their Names

The short introduces a cat called Jasper and a small, unnamed mouse—later identified as "Pee-Wee" in an official MGM magazine. Jasper is drawn as a scruffy, battle-worn street cat whose temperament is noticeably more vicious and aggressive than the Tom character audiences would eventually come to know. The mouse, while sharing the general silhouette of future Jerry, is rendered slightly thinner and more delicate. Their dynamic is rooted in the ancient Aesop's Fable The Cat and the Mice, giving the chase a timeless, mythic quality beneath the cartoon surface. A third figure, an African American housemaid, serves as the authority figure whose presence keeps the chaos in check. Uncredited voice work came from Harry E. Lang, who provided vocal effects for both animals, and Lillian Randolph, who voiced the maid in the original cut. In a later re-edited version, June Foray and Thea Vidale took over the maid's vocal parts. Neither animal is ever called Tom or Jerry in this film; those names would arrive only after a studio-wide naming contest, making this short a fascinating before-snapshot of two of animation's most iconic figures.

A Formula of Mayhem

The narrative engine of the short is deceptively simple: a cat torments a mouse in an escalating spiral of slapstick violence, a structure that Ted Sennett later described as a frenzy of mayhem. Jasper repeatedly seizes the mouse by the tail, only to have the smaller creature slip free, dive into the cat's open mouth, or trick him with a drawn-on wall hole that backfires spectacularly. The maid's entrance introduces a crucial comedic constraint—her ultimatum that any further broken objects means Jasper is out of the house—turning the mouse's every prank into a calculated act of sabotage. The glass-and-cups sequence showcases the cat's desperate attempts to catch falling dishware while the mouse orchestrates the chaos from a safe distance. A clever twist with dropped pillows briefly neutralizes the mouse's glass-dropping threat, but the cat's overconfidence undoes him. The climax sees the mouse swimming in Jasper's milk bowl, using his tail as a towel, and delivering a final kick that sends a cascade of dishes crashing down, framing the cat for the very destruction the maid had forbidden.

From Rejection to Legacy

Studio executives at MGM were reportedly unimpressed by the finished short, and management advised Hanna and Barbera against producing additional cat-and-mouse entries. The duo pivoted to other projects, including Gallopin' Gals and Officer Pooch. Yet audiences told a different story: the film was a hit in theaters and earned a nomination for an Academy Award, ultimately losing to The Milky Way, a fellow MGM short depicting three kittens who lose their mittens and must go to bed without their milk. The turning point came when Bessa Short, a Texas businesswoman, wrote directly to MGM inquiring whether more cat-and-mouse cartoons would be made. Her letter helped sway management into commissioning a full series. A studio contest was then held to name the two leads; animator John Carr won with "Tom" and "Jerry," a pairing drawn from a popular Christmastime cocktail whose name traced back to characters in an 1821 stage play by William Moncrieff, itself adapted from Pierce Egan's Life in London. Leonard Maltin later called the original short very new and special, a work that fundamentally altered the trajectory of MGM's cartoon output.