The Cat Concerto is a 1947 American one-reel animated cartoon and the 29th Tom and Jerry short. It was released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer under their cartoon division on April 26, 1947. The short film centers on Tom's attempts to perform Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on the piano as Jerry constantly disrupts the performance, leading to an escalation of slapstick antics. The short film was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley, and animation by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, and Irven Spence.
The Cat Concerto faced a plagiarism dispute with Warner Bros. cartoon Rhapsody Rabbit (1946), as it featured both Tom and Bugs Bunny fighting against a mouse, similar slapstick gags, and the same composition by Liszt, with production timelines coinciding. After Hanna and Barbera saw a near-complete revision of the latter short film, they rushed The Cat Concerto in production and submitted it for Academy consideration by spring 1947.
The short film won Best Animated Short Subject at the 19th Academy Awards, which served as the fourth consecutive Tom and Jerry film to win an Oscar. Its classical approach would influence the subsequent short films The Hollywood Bowl (1950) and Johann Mouse (1953). Retrospectively, The Cat Concerto was ranked at number 42 on The 50 Greatest Cartoons (1994), praising its slapstick violence in connection to the background music. Additionally, the short film influenced Chinese pianist Lang Lang, who considered it to have started his interest in playing the piano.
Plot
At a formal concert, Tom plays Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on the piano. Jerry, who lives inside the piano, disrupts Tom's performance by mock-conducting him. Tom flicks Jerry away and continues playing. Jerry emerges from under the piano keys, and Tom tries unsuccessfully to hit him with the key and smash him. Jerry manipulates the piano's keys from inside, irritating Tom, who hits him with a tuning tool. In retaliation, Jerry slams the keyboard lid on Tom's fingers and tries to cut his finger with scissors. After several failed attempts, Jerry sets a mousetrap, catching Tom's finger.
Tom climbs onto the piano to chase Jerry, playing with his feet. Jerry dances on the felts, briefly changing the tune to "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe". Tom bounces Jerry with a chord, eventually catching him and throwing him onto the piano stool. Jerry manipulates the seat controls, sending Tom crashing into the keys. Tom, fed up, stuffs Jerry into the piano felts and goes wild on the piano. The felts bash Jerry around, but he emerges angry and retaliates by playing the rhapsody's finale with felts as drumsticks, causing Tom to collapse in exhaustion. The audience applauds, and Jerry takes credit for the performance as a spotlight shines on him.
Background and production In 1939, animator William Hanna and writer Joseph Barbera from MGM's cartoon division began working together to create a mouse-and-cat cartoon titled Puss Gets the Boot (1940), which received critical and popular acclaim along with an Academy Award nomination. The short film evolved into Tom and Jerry, which quickly became the most popular cartoon characters from MGM's cartoon division.
The Cat Concerto was directed by Hanna and Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby, and edited by Fred MacAlpin. It additionally features animation from Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, and Irven Spence, set design from Robert Gentle, music from Scott Bradley, piano from Jakob Gimpel, and photography from Jack Stevens. Pianist Calvin Jackson recorded his contributions for the short film on April 8, 1946, though he is considered uncredited. The short film's production number is #165, which was produced after and released before Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse, Salt Water Tabby, A Mouse in the House, and The Invisible Mouse.
For the short film's use of music, Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 is prominently featured. The Cat Concerto is considered to be the first Tom and Jerry short film to feature Tom in a human role, in which is piano playing was primarily animated by Muse. The short film is presented as a parody of the "rituals and pretensions of classical music concerts", combining satire and slapstick humor. During a scene where Jerry takes control over the piano, he plays "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe", which was a hit song from MGM at the time.
Plagiarism dispute In the same year that MGM produced The Cat Concerto, Warner Bros. released a similar Merrie Melodies cartoon titled Rhapsody Rabbit (1946), directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny facing off against an unnamed mouse. Both cartoons shared nearly identical gags and featured the same piece by Franz Liszt. The production for both short films coincided around the same periods, with Jakob Gimpel's piano recording for Rhapsody Rabbit being done first in February 1946, two months before Calvin Jackson recorded for The Cat Concerto.
Tex Avery was a witness when Technicolor crew workers stressed out when they realized they delivered footage of Rhapsody Rabbit to MGM's cartoon division, which was confused as a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Hanna and Barbera were concerned when they saw a near-complete revision of Rhapsody Rabbit, which led them to rush The Cat Concerto in production and placing it for Academy consideration in the spring.
In 1999, Michael Mallory interviewed Barbera about the process of The Cat Concerto, in which he considered the idea of "having the cat play the piano" as fascinating. He revealed that during a screening for the Oscar nominees, The Cat Concerto played first, which received an enthusiastic response from the audience, making Freleng "mad as hell." Rhapsody Rabbit followed, which featured similarities to the previous short film and led viewers to believe Freleng had plagiarized The Cat Concerto.
Release and reception On March 13, 1947, The Cat Concerto was qualified for and won Best Animated Short Subject at the 19th Academy Awards the following year on March 13, presented by Jack Benny. It served as the fourth consecutive Tom and Jerry film to win an Oscar. The short film was officially released on April 26. Following its release, The Cat Concerto was met with critical acclaim and is retrospectively considered one of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons. The day after the short film's Oscar preview, a Deseret News writer described The Cat Concerto as a "performance that has to be seen and heard to be believed." Hanna and Barbera later made the similar short film The Hollywood Bowl (1950), which seemingly inspired Chuck Jones's Baton Bunny (1959), and approached classical music again on Johann Mouse (1953).
In 1994, The Cat Concerto was ranked at number 42 on the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons, authored by Jerry Beck. Will Friedwald reviewed the short film on the book, in which he considered Tom and Jerry's comic violence in background of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, as parodying not only the "hoity-toity manner of the concert virtuoso but the hammers and strings of the piano itself." Sam Scott of Looper included The Cat Concerto as one of "the best Tom and Jerry cartoons to stream right now" in 2021, praising the short film's character animation as it features "Tom's unprovoked spitefulness and Jerry's infectious joy". The short film was subsequently influential to Chinese pianist Lang Lang. He revealed that his first exposure to classical music was The Cat Concerto when he was a toddler. which inspired his passion for piano with the desire to "play as fast as that cat could." In 2017, teenage pianist Yannie Tan performed a rendition of the short film's music, which received over eight million views on YouTube by the following year.
Home video appearances DVD Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases (2000) Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 1, Disc 1 (2004) Tom and Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Collection, Disc 1 (2010) Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume 1, Disc 2 (2011) Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology, Disc 2 (2025)
Blu-ray Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume 1, Disc 2 (2011) Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology, Disc 2 (2025)
References
Works cited
External links
The Cat Concerto, a section of Nicola Watts' "Cartoons and Music" 1997 Multimedia Analysis and Design project at the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII) at the University of Glasgow.
Yannie Tan plays the Cat Concerto - Tom and Jerry - Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 by Franz Liszt. Musical performance recorded at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, June 2017, shown in parallel with the 1947 cartoon.