Barbecue Brawl

Barbecue Brawl is a 1956 one reel animated Tom and Jerry short directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. It was animated by Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Lewis Marshall and Kenneth Muse, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. It was released on December 14, 1956 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

This was the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to contain a new Tom and Jerry opening and ending card featuring Tom standing in a pink square at the left and Jerry in a green square at the right.

Plot
Spike and Tyke walk into the backyard to have a barbecue. The first attempt fails because the charcoal blows up. On the second attempt, Spike puts on too much charcoal on the barbecue, the result which lets of a cloud of dark smoke when Spike blows into the charcoal to get the fire going (which results in the smoke literally making Spike's eyes red and watery). He however claims this to his son that a bit of Hickory smoke always keeps in good barbecue flavour. On the third attempt, Spike causes the steak to instantly be burnt to a crisp. Spike retrieves another steak, but by this time Tom and Jerry have appeared on the scene with Tom chasing Jerry as usual. Jerry repeatedly hides in items involved in the barbecue: the bag of charcoal, Spike's hat, the salad, the shakers, and the bread. This means that every time Tom pursues Jerry, he is interfering with the barbecue. Each time this happens, Spike furiously chases Tom off, which means that Tom should end up in the swimming pool. Spike finally manages to prepare the meal, and he and Tyke sit down to eat, except that Tom and Jerry are no longer seen from this point. However, at this point a group of ants called the Ant Army spots the food and approaches the picnic table. Spike grabs the food, putting it wrapped up like a bag and he also grabbed Tyke and flees to the diving board. The diving board Spike and Tyke are standing on gets shakier as the Ant Army gets closer. Then they push them into the pool while the food goes back to the ground where the Ant Army takes them off. Spike returns to the ground and grabs the steak from the ants before they get it back. But before he can retrieve it, however, the lead ant blows his trumpet as the Ant Army does retrieve it.

Availability
DVD
 * Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3, Disc Two