It is a Shout-Out to Golden Age Hollywood actor Jimmy Durante.
Why is Jerry only taking care of Nibbles part of the time? I've always wondered that.
This is a Wild Mass Guess, but I think some orphanages and foster homes have programs where a child will stay with a volunteer surrogate dad for a weekend or something, I always figured Jerry was kind enough to volunteer to care for the child that was left on his doorstep part-time, but was prevented from adopting him full-time by the dangers posed by Tom. And Jerry is his Honorary Uncle, not his biological one.
This is supported by "The Little Orphan", actually, where Nibbles is an orphan from the "Bide a Wee Mouse Home" that Jerry agreed to have over for Thanksgiving dinner.
The shorts dont have any canon, each of them are self contained, with only certain aspects transfering from one to another. Thats why Nibbler is an orphan in some shorts, or Jerrys nephew in others.
More than likely faulty time stream hypothothis stands true even as far back here. What you see was true of their timeline at the moment, but not guaranteed to carry over to the next episode. It's practically the Bible for anything Hanna and Barbera ever touched.
How racist is Mammy Two-Shoes, really? I mean I'll admit her name (which is never really spoken in the shorts) is in somewhat poor taste, but because she's often the only human in the shorts it's not like we ever see her taking orders from any white person or anything like that. As far as we know she owns the house, pretty progressive for its time I'd say. And since she's The Faceless we aren't treated to any offensive exaggerations of her facial features either.
Apparently the name was taken off reused Disney model sheets used for ones of the Tom & Jerry cartoons. I guess the name just stuck.
Actually Mammy Two-Shoes face is seen in one scene from an an episode I can't remember. "Mammy Two-Shoes"◊
That would be the uncensored version of Saturday Evening Puss.
It's probably her stereotypical voice and those light-skinned palms, which is still pretty racist by today's standards.
Her original voice may be offensive to some, but it's not as though they aren't people in reality who speak as she does.
But the skin on the palms of our hands and soles of our feet is supposed to be lighter in color than the average skin color of our bodies, regardless of skin color, race, and ethnic group. Lighter colored palms and soles is a general characteristic of the human species.
She was in fact portrayed as a house maid in some early shorts. Her original voice over was also dubbed over in many modern airings due to her broken speech pattern which is indeed considered offensive to many these days. Admittedly those exposed to only the dubbed versions of the later shorts may be oblivious to her being anything more than a comically obese Sassy Black Woman which is standard in even modern cartoons.
It is important here to separate the mature vs immature side of the conversation. Of course there are real people that act like the "stereotype" that is how any stereotype came to be exaggerated upon. But the real issue here is that for a while this was the ONLY representation some of these people had. Regardless of how many people are clearly not the stereotype. The mature vs immature side comes between the "I don't like this type of character and i'd like to see more variety but respect it existed" versus the "I don't like this type of character it shouldn't exist" crowds. Most of the world are more than likely the former, but the vocal minority of the latter could be easier to spot on the internet.
While we're on the subject, when were the episodes with her overdubbed shown? I only remember ever seeing the original versions.
In light of the above point, does Mammy Two-Shoes own the house herself in any of the shorts? I remember one episode where she was trying to sleep, the plot being Tom had to make sure her sleep wasn't disturbed or he'd be thrown out of the house. She's then shown wearing pyjamas and heading to the master bedroom to sleep: an act that would be unlikely tolerated by the homeowners unless she was the homeowner.
She also made decisions for the household that go beyond any duties for "the maid". For example, purchasing "Mechano", which in its day (if such a robot could exist back then) would have been quite expensive, more evidence for the "she owns the house" camp. So if we take all that into account, that she is a successful, single, middle-class, middle-aged, black woman in the New York suburbs with an active social life in the 1940s, I'd say that's more than Fair for Its Day!
Why does Tom put up with his jackass owners?
They provide him with a place to sleep, food and security. To Tom it might not be a high price to pay to get chewed out every once in a while. He's a domesticated house cat, so he might not be too knowledgeable on how to manage as a stray and/or doesn't want to live like that.
Another question on Mammy. Why did she cease to appear in the shorts after 1952? Were people starting to vocally take issue with how stereotypical she was, or was it merely decided that new characters needed to be introduced?
I think by the early 50's, while segregation was obviously still a ways off from being abolished everywhere in the US, many people had realised that stereotypical black characters were distasteful and Hanna-Barbera decided it was best to retire the character. Even though the only questionable thing about her was that she was a "Mammy", otherwise there really wasn't anything offensive about her and, as mentioned above, she was quite a progressive character for the time.
So is it Nibbles, or Tuffy? Does that little gray mouse have two different names, or are they two different mice altogether?
In "Two Little Indians" there actually are two little gray mice, so it's not impossible for both to exist. I've noticed that Tuffy speaks more, while Nibbles usually prefers to eat.
Reused character design
In the Ugly Duckling short, why didn't Jerry point out to Quackers that the "duckling" in the story was an infant swan, not a duck? It would have saved both of them a lot of grief.
He actually did point out the ending to the story via the book they were reading, but Quacker, being Quacker, refuses to listen and continues moping.
But then why does the bird in the book illustration look like Quacker in the first place? Cygnets (baby swans) have grey feathers, not yellow.
You're expecting realism from a slapstick cartoon with biped talking animals?
In "Blue Cat Blues" final scene, wouldn't Jerry have actually survived to his suicide attempt along with Tom? Since he's not tall enough to be hit by the train's axles.
In the episode "Flirty birdy" at the end of the episode Tom is in his bird disguise and is sitting on a nest with eggs, how can they be his? The fact Tom is a male and isn't a bird makes the ending a mystery.
At no point do we see Tom actually laying the eggs (that would be weird even for cartoon standards). Maybe the bird had a wife or girlfriend and the eggs were their children. The bird was dumb, maybe he mistook Tom for his girlfriend, or the mother of the eggs is dead or missing or had left them, so he used Tom as a replacement. It's also possible that those eggs were "adopted" by Tom and the bird.
Where is Tyke's mother? Is it possible that she's owned by a separate family and her and Spike's respective owners had them breed together, with Spike's owners having Tyke when he was old enough to leave his mother?
With the exception of characters like Spike, Butch, Meathead, Lightning, etc., why is almost every character in the franchise, especially in modern media like Tom and Jerry Tales and The Tom and Jerry Show (2014), drawn with cheeks that stick out prominently? That's one thing about the franchise that kind of bothers me.
The end of Blue Cat Blues shows Tom and Jerry sitting on train tracks waiting for the train to hit them. Considering just how much Tom and Jerry have endured over the years, wouldn't they survive the train anyway?
Just because they can endure a lot doesn't mean they're invincible (remember, Tom got decapitated at the end of Two Mousketeers). Also, unlike previous shorts, here they intend to die. They're making themselves as vulnerable as possible, both physically and mentally, to make absolutely sure it happens.
In "the Million Dollar Cat", Tom's inheritance will be revoked if he harms any living thing including mice (like Jerry). How exactly is that enforced? There was no sign of any human owner or handler keeping an eye on Tom at that luxury apartment in the short. So how would anyone know that Tom maimed, crippled or even killed Jerry?
Maybe Jerry himself could inform the authorities if Tom (tried to) hurt him.
note Tom gets visibly nauseated or suffocating from it.
