Fine Feathered Friend

Fine Feathered Friend is a 1942 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 8th Tom and Jerry short released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and reissued in 1949. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. The cartoon is set almost entirely in a barnyard, where Tom's efforts to catch Jerry are made all the more problematic by a hen and her nest of soon to be hatched chicks. It was animated by Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse, Jack Zander and George Gordon. Bill Littlejohn was credited in the original release, but his credit was omitted in the 1949 reissue. This is the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to have animation by Kenneth Muse, an ex-Disney animator who would draw the characters in the style that is remembered today. This is also the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to credit the animators. This is also the second to last cartoon featuring Clarence Nash (Known as the voice of Donald Duck) as Tom's Screeches and Meows but was not credited. The original release opened with the "Tiger Rag" opening gag and music still seen on the one-shot cartoons Blitz Wolf and Chips Off the Old Block; this was replaced with a later Tom and Jerry theme for the reissue version.

Plot
This episode starts with Jerry trying to get 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 gets chased back into it 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 the 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 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 doesn't figure out that Jerry is in disguise. He gives Tom a swift kick and hitches a ride on the hen's backside. He waves at Tom who realizes his stupidity. 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
 * Animation: Kenneth Muse, Peter Burness. George Gordon, Jack Zander, Bill Littlejohn, Irven Spence, Graham Place. Abner Kneitel
 * Story by: Carl Meyer
 * Sequence Director: Dan Gordon
 * Music: Scott Bradley
 * Produced by: Fred Quimby

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