Tom and Chérie

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Tom and Chérie
series = Tom and Jerry


caption = The title card of "Tom and Chérie"
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Irven Spence
Kenneth Muse
Lewis Marshall Ed Barge
layout_artist = Richard Bickenbach
background_artist = Robert Gentle
voice_actor = Francoise Brun-Cottan (as Nibbles, uncredited)
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = September 9, 1955
color_process = Technicolor
CinemaScope
runtime = 6 minutes 46 seconds
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0048733
preceded_by = "Designs on Jerry"
followed_by = "Smarty Cat"

"Tom and Chérie" is the 94th one reel animated "Tom and Jerry" short, created in 1955 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. It was the third (of four) cartoons in the "Mouseketeer" series of cartoons, the first of which, "The Two Mouseketeers" (1952) won an Academy Award, and the second, "Touché, Pussy Cat!" (1954) received an Academy Award nomination.

The animation was done by Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, and Lewis Marshall, this being Marshall's first "Tom and Jerry" cartoon for which he received an animation credit (replacing Ray Patterson who had left). The backgrounds were designed by Robert Gentle and the layouts by Richard Bickenbach.The cartoon was produced in CinemaScope, a form of Widescreen, and released to theatres on September 9, 1955 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

Plot

Jerry is infatuated with Lilli. From what we know of her (according to her portrait), she is a beautiful and rich French mouse. Jerry and Lilli are exchanging love letters, and Jerry orders Tuffy, as his messenger, to deliver these letters to and fro. However, each time, the unlucky mouse has to get past Tom, through a number of swashbuckling swordfights, and each time, Tuffy ends up more tattered and torn apart than the last. Tuffy attempts to get out of delivering the letters at first, but is informed that "Un mouseketeer est brave" (A mouseketeer is brave) and is punished several times. Eventually, Jerry receives a letter from Lilli, telling him that their love is finished. Heartbroken, Jerry throws away her portrait and tears up the letter. But all is not lost, as Jerry simply replaces her portrait with that of another beautiful, rich, French mouse (Marie) and begins his correspondence with this one. An exasperated Tuffy is forced to deliver this letter, and when forced into another duel with Tom ("En garde!", the only words Tom speaks numerous times throughout the film) the little mouse refuses to fight and continues delivering the letter.

Trivia

*This cartoon is where it is against Tom and Tuffy instead of against Tom and Jerry.