Busy Buddies

For some reason, my 6 DVDs of Tom and Jerry cartoons neglected to include Busy Buddies, but thanks to the marvels of the internet, it was easy to catch up with. This episode introduces us to Jeannie the babysitter, who was so irresponsible in Hanna-Barbera/MGM's final effort Tot Watchers. While Jeannie is on the telephone gassing to her friend, the baby is out of its cot and it is up to Tom and Jerry to ensure that he comes to no harm.

A fun cartoon that sees cat and mouse working together for a change, Busy Buddies is full of silly escapades for the tiny tot, whose crawling is accompanied by a delightfully whimsical score. The animation might not be the best from Hanna-Barbera, with the simpler backgrounds that typified their later T&J 'toons, but it's a darn sight better than what was to come a little down the line with the Gene Deitch era. As I mentioned in my review for Tot Watchers, the baby seems to have been the influence for Baby Herman's character in the Roger Rabbit shorts.

Boy, you know you are in the mid 1950s just watching the first 20 seconds of this cartoon. First, you see the artwork, then the Cinemascope widescreen, then the clothes on the parents and teenage baby-sitter and then - wham - the baby-sitter rushes to the phone and lies upside with her feet propped up on a chair yakking away.

While the teen girl does what she does best - talk on the telephone (has anything changed, except it's now a cellphone?), Tom and Jerry use the opportunity to raid the kitchen and gulp down all the food they can. Some of those scenes are good, such as Jerry's method of eating two cookies at once, and Tom's watermelon-eating typewriter-like system.

Meanwhile, who's watching the constantly crawling baby? Well.....mostly Tom and Jerry.

This cartoon reminded me of the John Hughes 1994 film "Baby's Day Out" in which a baby crawls all over New York City, pursued by a couple of inept crooks. In this cartoon, it's the same except it's all inside a house. The baby even crawls through stove pipes. At least Tom and Jerry were on the same page in this one, which was unusual.

'Busy Buddies' is a nice animated short where Tom and Jerry have to work together. The babysitter does nothing but talking on the phone to one of her friends while the baby keeps crawling away. Tom and Jerry have to make sure nothing happens to the baby. It's a nice and pretty funny short. It is fun to see the cat and the mouse work together for a change.

'Busy Buddies (1956)' sees Tom and Jerry teaming up to look after a mischievous baby. Even if the pair's tumultuous team-ups are often less successful than their rivalries, this piece is an endearing and enjoyable experience. It has a simplified, fur-less design, even when compared to shorts starring the duo released in the same year, but it still maintains the energetic, sight-gag-stuffed animation you expect from such a cartoon. Its generally '50s' aesthetic is actually rather pleasing to look at and it does some interesting things with lighting, too. The film's narrative is incredibly simple; it has about as much depth as the series' iconic cat-and-mouse chases, except the cat and mouse are chasing a kid this time. It's just incredibly charming, though. Its occasional strokes of fantasy and its bouncy score add up to really fun time. It's also really funny. It does feel really short, though, despite being around the same length as most other 'Tom and Jerry' toons. 8/10

I like 1956's Busy Buddies cartoon twice as much than the Tot Watchers cartoon, for Tom and Jerry are not enemies at all, in this cartoon. The baby boy was rescued numerous times by Tom and Jerry, as they remained a team of friends, while Genie, the so-called babysitter was on the telephone and chattering continuously. And the baby was in his crib, winking an eye, as this cartoon concludes.

In 1958's Tot Watchers cartoon, Tom and Jerry are friends, not enemies and rescue the baby a few more times, once again, as in the Busy Buddies cartoon. But the conclusion is different. The baby is walking down the street, as Tot Watchers concludes. Tot Watchers would have been funnier had Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera had the writer have the words, The End, on the baby's diaper as Tot Watchers concludes.