Fine Feathered Friend

Fine Feathered Friend
File:Fine Feathered Friend poster.jpg Original poster
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Story by	Hanna-Barbera (both unc.)
Produced by	Fred Quimby (unc. on original issue) Co-produced by: William Hanna (unc.)
Starring	Clarence Nash and William Hanna as Tom (Both uncredited)
Music by	Musical direction: Scott Bradley
Animation by	Character animation: Kenneth Muse (credited as "Ken Muse" on the original issue) Pete Burness (credited as "Peter Burness" on the reissue) George Gordon Jack Zander Bill Littlejohn (credited on original issue) Effects animation: Al Grandmain (unc.)
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	MGM Cartoons
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates	October 10, 1942 (1942-10-10) January 1, 1949 (1949-01-01) (New Year's Day) reissue (reissue)
Running time	7:45
Language	English

Fine Feathered Friend is a 1942 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 8th Tom and Jerry short released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse, Jack Zander and George Gordon. The animators of the cartoon were not credited, But William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are credited. The original opening theme was the "Tiger Rag" gag, as heard in the Blitz Wolf MGM short. It was replaced by the later of Tom and Jerry theme on re-issue. Bill Littlejohn was credited on original issue.

Plot

Jerry is trying to retrieve a piece of cheese from a mousetrap in a barn. Tom comes out of his hiding place to watch Jerry and hears the trap go off. He chases after Jerry who has his tail caught in the trap while holding the cheese. Jerry stops and hands Tom the cheese. Jerry then releases his tail, grabs the cheese back, and runs away. Jerry tries to cut Tom's neck with a pair of shears but fails. Tom then chases Jerry near a chicken sitting on her nest. Jerry hides underneath the hen and Tom startles her when he reaches underneath her to grab Jerry. The hen responds by pecking Tom's head, scaring him away. The hen sits back down and Jerry emerges eating his cheese. Jerry leaves the barn but is chased back inside by Tom. He runs underneath the hen again, and the hen wakes up before Tom can even try to reach Jerry and she pecks him away again. Jerry then realizes how warm it is underneath the hen and he has to use one of the hen's feathers as a fan. Meanwhile, Tom has returned and he quietly tries to reach Jerry, but ends up stepping into the hen's food bowl and runs away. He briefly disguises himself as a milkmaid while milking a cow and then tries again. As he reaches underneath the hen, he grabs one of the hen's eggs instead of Jerry, which results in the hen clucking at Tom in a mean way. The hen arranges the eggs with a nearby triangle in the same manner as arranging billiard balls. Later, Tom sets up a mousetrap tied to a string and puts it underneath the hen. Jerry comes out with the trap and he sets the trap with Tom's tail on it. Tom doesn't find out that his tail is in the trap for a while and then screams out in pain.

Later, the cat sneaks into the barn inside a butter churner. He pokes the chicken with a fork and searches the nest for Jerry. As the hen lands, he sneaks back into the churner and pokes the hen again. This continues until the hen sees the fork and removes the churner, grabs the fork and ends up poking Tom with the fork. The hen starts to ride on Tom like a horse, but suddenly stops when she hears chirps from her nest. Her eggs have hatched to release some baby chicks. She picks them up from her nest and sends them off to play. Jerry runs away from the nest with a few feathers and he tries to blend in with the other chicks. But one of the chicks mistakes Jerry's tail for a worm.

The mother hen and her chicks then walk in a line past Tom. Jerry sneaks past Tom who does not realise Jerry is in disguise. He kicks Tom in the inappropriate part and hitches a ride on the hen's backside and waves at Tom who has had enough of Jerry's prank. Tom then stands by an opening in the barn's wall and sees the shadows of the chickens passing by. It is in the next moment that he accidentally grabs a chick, thinking that one of them might be Jerry, and runs away. When he opens his hands the baby chick yells for his mama, who quickly arrives. Tom smiles and hands back the chick. The hen then slams a bucket onto Tom's head.

The chickens cross paths with a family of ducks and Jerry follows the ducks into a pond. He goes underwater and then starts getting chased by Tom again. Jerry again tries to cut Tom's head with the shears but fails; Tom grabs the shears and starts chasing Jerry with them. He runs near the mother hen, who is having a drink of water, and Tom inadvertently cuts off the hen's tail feathers. She responds by grabbing Tom, wrapping a towel around his back and cutting his fur off. Tom is then outside the hen house with bandages on his back. When he looks in, the mother hen has tied a feather duster to herself and Jerry is resting, uses the hen's feathers as a small pillow to lie on.

Production

• Directed by: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
• Story by: Hanna-Barbera
• Character animation: Kenneth Muse, Peter Burness, George Gordon, Jack Zander, Bill Littlejohn
• Effects animation: Al Grandmain
• Musical direction: Scott Bradley
• Produced by: Fred Quimby
• Co-produced by: William Hanna

Availability

DVD

• Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 3
• Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume Two, Disc One
• Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume One, Disc One

External links

• Template:Bcdb title
• Fine Feathered Friend at IMDb