Characters Tom and Jerry (for your baby)
Tom and Jerry
The duo started out as a series of theatrical short cartoon films that were played in movie theaters before the featured film. From 1940 to 1957, 114 of these short films were created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The series was so well received that it received the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) seven times.
While the plot of the Tom and Jerry cartoons remained the same, the appearance of Tom changed over time. He went from a cat with overly detailed facial features and shaggy hair that walked on all fours to a sleeker looking feline, with heavy eyebrows, that walked upright. Jerry stayed pretty much the same over the years with his cute little face and batting eyelashes.
Although the original Tom and Jerry cartoons were award winning, they were criticized in later years for having too much violence. Tom and Jerry routinely tried to hurt each other, and very often succeeded, but being cartoons allowed them to bounce right back as if nothing happened. The series was also labeled as being racially insensitive for having characters that were stereotypes of black people, such as the maid, Mammie Two Shoes.