The Cat Concerto

In a departure from the usual household mayhem, Tom stars as a classical concert pianist. Dressed in a tailcoat and hammering out Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 (which you might recognize as the tune played by Daffy and Donald in Who Framed Roger Rabbit) he is bothered by Jerry, who just happens to live inside the piano.

Cue loads of tricks played on poor Tom, who is desperately managing to stay in tune as Jerry runs amok. This cartoon actually won an Academy Award back in the day and it's easy to see why. The editing and timing are dead on, as is the imagination. A lot of laughs to be had here and one of the best Tom and Jerry shorts.

I remember how disappointed my friends and I were when the cartoon before the feature film was "Tom and Jerry." I still don't find them funny. Every plot was pretty much the same with Jerry eventually coming out on top (cat prejudice). This one is good because it relies on wonderful animation, especially where Tom is playing Liszt's Second "Hungarian Rhapsody." He has every right to be left alone but for that damned mouse. The closeup of Tom's playing are right on. It makes one wonder how it was done. The point/counterpoint of shenanigans is very clever, syncing with the music beautifully. I think that most kids of my generation know what classical music they do from these cartoon efforts. Nice work.

Tom flawlessly performs a Liszt piano concerto despite simultaneously engaging in the usual Tom and Jerry antics.

Lifted above the usual high standard of the Fred Quimby produced series by the flawless melding of action and music

It doesn't matter how many times you see it, it will still bring tears of laughter to the eyes!

A perfect blend of classical music and the chaos that only Jerry Mouse could ever wreak on Tom's efforts as a classical pianist...

The only other cartoon that comes close is Bugs Bunny's "What's Opera, Doc?"

Cat Concerto is simply, the funiest, greatest, best cartoon ever made.

Enjoy!! Over, and over and over again!

Tom, complete with a tuxedo, is a pianist performing a concerto (Hungarian Rhapsody #2) for the audience. Things are going well until Jerry, peacefully asleep inside the piano, is rudely woken up.

The rest of the cartoon slows various ways these two guys torment each other. The amazing thing was that no matter what happened, the concerto kept on going and sounded great. In fact, you could probably turn your head away from the television and just enjoy the concert!

Unlike most of the stories, this one revolved just around one object (a piano) but the sight gags were all good and the more I think about it, extremely clever and I can see how it won an Oscar.