The Midnight Snack (1941)

The Midnight Snack was the second Tom and Jerry cartoon, and the first where they were called Tom and Jerry. Joseph Barbera later wrote that he and William Hanna invited people working at the studio to write down names for the characters. These names were put into a hat, and whichever one was pulled out would be the characters' names. Naturally Tom and Jerry were pulled out. These names were written by an MGM animator named John Carr. He got fifty dollars for these names.

Producer Fred Quimby was not a big fan of the first Tom and Jerry cartoon, and didn't want it to become a series originally. Because of this William Hanna and Joseph Barbera made various cartoons with one shot characters after Puss Gets the Boot (the first cat and mouse cartoon). However after that first cartoon was released it became a huge hit, and even spent larger than normal amounts of time in one theater (it is important to remember that these cartoons were short films shown before feature films in theaters) and nominated for an Oscar, Quimby asked for more cat and mouse cartoons.

The animators on this film had all worked on Puss Gets the Boot. These animators were Pete Burness, Carl Urbano, Jack Zander and George Gordon. The only animator from the first cartoon that didn't work on this film was Tony Pabian.

Unlike Puss Gets the Boot, Bill and Joe along with Fred Quimby would receive credit here. However the animators, Composer Scott Bradley and Mammy Two Shoes' voice Lillian Randolph would remain uncredited.

The story is once again very simple. Jerry tries to get a midnight snack and Tom tries to stop him and fails.

This cartoon is a definite improvement over the first film. The designs look much more like the ones we know and love and the jokes are funnier. However the pace is still too slow and therefore it lacks the punch of later Tom and Jerry films. However this cartoon is still quite good.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Tom and Jerry: The Definitive Guide to Their Animated Adventures by Patrick Brion
Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin
My Life in Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Less Than a Century by Joseph Barbera