Who created Tom and Jerry?

Welcome to History's Not Boring! Mira and Finn are here to talk about cartoons! Did you know that Tom and Jerry didn't just pop onto your screen? Two super-smart guys, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, dreamed them up back in 1940! That's way before your parents were born! These two partners were incredible—they created the silliest, best cat-and-mouse cartoons EVER and won seven HUGE Academy Awards! That's like winning the biggest gold stars for their cartoons! But wait, there’s more! After Tom and Jerry, they went on to invent Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, AND The Jetsons! Imagine inventing all those shows! We’re celebrating one of these cartoon geniuses today and learning how their amazing partnership changed how cartoons are made forever! Get ready for the history of the greatest cartoon team-up!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidoffaly.com. I'm Mira! And I'm Finn. Finn! Today is super special because it's a little bit sad, but mostly exciting. It's the 25th anniversary of when a super important animator named William Hanna passed away back in 2001. And that means we get to talk about the greatest cartoon partnership ever! A partnership like Batman and Robin. Even better for cartoon fans. We're talking about the guys who brought us Tom and Jerry. Tom and Jerry! Get ready for the story of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the duo who changed animation forever with slapstick, chasers, and nearly seven whole Academy Awards.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Wait, wait, seven Oscars for a cat and mouse? That's like winning the World Series seven times. Where do we even start?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

We start right at the beginning, Finn. Today we're travelling back to 1940, right when the world was buzzing with big changes, and a tiny chaotic cartoon was about to drop. Okay, picture this. It's 1940, World War II is happening, and in Hollywood, California, the big movie studios are making cartoons that play before the main feature film. We're talking about the big time. NGM Studios was one of the biggest, employing hundreds of people, and that's where our two main characters meet, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Wait, wait, what were they like? Were they best friends right away?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Not exactly. William Hanna was a quiet engineer who loved making things work perfectly. Almost like building a complex machine. Joseph Barbera was the wild, zany storyteller, the one full of crazy ideas. They were opposites. In 1937, they first teamed up at MGM, but they needed the idea.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

So what was the idea? Was it Tom First?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

It was a cat and mouse, but not our cat and mouse yet. Hannah was working on a short film called Puss Gets the Boot in 1940. The cat was called Jasper and the mouse was Jinx. The final budget for that seven-minute cartoon was only about$10,000.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

$10,000? That sounds like a lot, but for a whole cartoon?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Right? It seems small now, but for that time it was a full production. When Puss Gets the Boot premiered in November 1940, people went wild. The studio boss, Fred Quimby, saw the fan mail pouring in, demanding more Jasper and Jinx.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

So they got famous just from the letters.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Exactly. So Hannah and Barbera got the green light to keep making them, but they had to change the names. Jasper became Tom, Jinx became Jerry, and the whole series was renamed Tom and Jerry. The first official one was released on February 10, 1941. That's when the real legendary chase began.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Wait, wait, what made the chases so special? Was it how fast they ran?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

It was the scale of the cake. They didn't just run around. They used real physics, but dialed up to a million. For example, in the Yankee Doodle Mouse, the first cartoon to win an Oscar, Tom is sometimes shown running so fast, his body stretches across the whole screen. Maybe 50 feet long.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

50 feet? That's longer than three big cars parked bumper to bumper. Did they actually use real physics diagrams?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

They absolutely did. Hannah, the engineer, insisted on keeping the action grounded, even when it was totally unrealistic. This attention to detail made the cartoons incredibly expensive to make. Each of their early theatrical shorts, which were only about seven minutes long, could cost over$40,000 to produce.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

$40,000 for seven minutes? That's like paying a builder almost$6,000 every single minute. It's huge.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

But it paid off because they won their first Academy Award for Best Short Subject Cartoon for Yankee Doodle Mouse in 1943. They won six more in a row after that. That's seven total wins for Tom and Jerry Shorts.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Seven Oscars? Wow! Did they ever get tired of making the same cat and mouse fight?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

That's the drama. They fought about story ideas constantly. Barbara wanted to use more dialogue and jokes, but Hannah preferred the silent physical comedy. They had huge creative battles, but they respected each other's skills, so they compromised. They decided the best Tom and Jerry cartoons had almost no talking, just pure chase and reaction.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

So they were arguing while making award-winning stuff. That's like arguing over the secret ingredient in the world's best cookie recipe.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Exactly! And the studio was making so many of these shorts. Between 1940 and 1958, when the original MGM run ended, Hannah and Barbera made 114 original Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

114? That's more than two every year. That's insane dedication.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

It was! But then, in 1957, MGM decided it was cheaper to make cartoons in Eastern Europe, like Czechoslovakia, using cheaper studios. The cost of those original American-made shorts, sometimes reaching$50,000, was just too high for the studio bosses.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Wait, wait, they stopped the original ones? Did Tom and Jerry just disappear?

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Not at all. Hannah and Barbera were out of a job at MGM in 1957, but they didn't stop. They immediately founded their own small company, Hannah Barbera Productions.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

This was the huge turning point in history. So they made their own studio. Were they still making Tom and Jerry?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

No, they had to start fresh. They spent the next few years making commercials and short test films. Then, in the early 1960s, television exploded. Studios wanted cartoons for TV, but they needed them cheap and fast. Not the super detailed seven-minute movie style of Tom and Jerry. Exactly, so they had to completely change how they worked. They created a new, simpler style. Fewer moving parts, reusing backgrounds, and more reliance on the funny voice work. This new, cheaper style let them create Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and then BAM, the Flintstones.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

The Flintstones, they made that too! I love Fred. How big was that show?

SPEAKER_00 7:07

The pilot episode cost about$100,000, which was huge for TV at the time, but still way cheaper than a movie short. And it was a massive hit. They followed that up with the Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You, and Wacky Races. They basically built the entire Saturday morning cartoon lineup we know.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

That's like building an entire kingdom after your first castle got too expensive.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

It's the ultimate comeback story. By the time they sold their studio to Warner Bros. in 1967, Hanna Barbera had produced over 300 animated TV episodes. They completely invented the formula for TV animation, which is still used today. Wait, did they ever make Tom and Jerry again? They did. They actually returned to Tom and Jerry in the 1970s for a new series, even though it wasn't the same legendary quality. But the greatest cartoon partnership lasted until 1990, when Joseph Barbera retired. It is! Okay, fun fact time. Did you know that although Tom and Jerry won seven Oscars, the studio only made about 13 official cartoon shorts that actually won. That means nearly one out of every 10 shorts they made won an Academy Award. That's a 10% win rate.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

A 10% win rate? That's better than most superstar athletes. Wait, one more fun fact. Shoot! The first time Tom and Jerry spoke a word was in the 1992 movie Tom and Jerry the Movie. Tom actually says, for the last time, I'm not going to eat the mouse. But before that, they were silent stars for over 40 years.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

That's incredible! They proved that the best communication doesn't need words at all. What a legacy from two guys who started by making a small,$10,000 short film. Alright, Finn, time for the quiz. Are you ready to test your knowledge on the partnership that created Cartoon History?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Okay, I'm ready. I'm not going to miss these.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

First question. In what year did the first official Tom and Jerry cartoon with the famous names come out? Next one. How many total Academy Awards did the original Tom and Jerry Theatrical Shorts win? Question 3. What was the name of the massive popular TV show Hanna Barbera created that was about a family living in the Stone Age? Here's number 4. What was the name of the cat in the very first 1940 cartoon before he was renamed Tom? Last question. After leaving MGM, what was the name of the brand new animation studio William Hannah and Joseph Barbera founded together? Great job! Let's see how you did with the answers. The first answer is that the first official Tom and Jerry was released in 1941. For question two, they won a massive seven Academy Awards. Number three, the Stone Age show was the Flintstones. Question four's answer is Jasper. And the final answer is they founded Hanna Barbera Productions.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Phew, I think I got most of those right. I can't believe they made Scooby-Doo and the Jetsons.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

They really did. It just goes to show that when you have a great partner, even if you argue, you can build a legacy that lasts for over 80 years. From seven Oscars to launching TV animation, Hannah and Barbera were history makers.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

I hope everyone at home enjoyed learning about the greatest cartoon duo ever.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

And if you loved hearing about Tom and Jerry's amazing story, please help our show grow. If you have a device that lets you leave a rating, could you please give us five stars? It's like giving a giant thumbs up to the cartoon creators. Just scroll down and tap the stars.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Yeah, and if you want to see fun colouring sheets or extra facts about Tom and Jerry's seven Oscar wins, head over to our site kidopoly.com. We have tons of awesome learning stuff there.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

And if you have feedback or want a shout out on a future show, send us an email. That address is hello at kidopoly.com. Bye everyone, see you next time. See you next time on Histories Not Boring!