Pet Peeve (1954 film)

Pet Peeve is the 88th one-reel animated Tom and Jerry short, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse Ed Barge and Irven Spence, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released on November 20, 1954 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

This was the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to be released in CinemaScope and the second to be produced in the format (the first was Touché, Pussy Cat!, released a month later), which widened the cinema screen to a more expansive aspect ratio to compete against the growing popularity of television. The CinemaScope process required thicker and more defined ink lines around the characters, giving them a slightly more "modern" and less detailed appearance.

The cartoon is also the first to feature an owner of the house that is not Mammy Two Shoes, the African-American maid voiced by Lillian Randolph from the first cartoon Puss Gets the Boot (1940) up to and including 1952's Push-Button Kitty. Instead, Mammy was replaced with a white married couple.

Plot
Tom and Spike, living together as friends, happily, Spike is eating a club sandwich while Tom makes a sandwich with a cat food. Tom drops a piece of bread and Jerry tries to steal it. Tom steps on his tail and pops him back into his hole. They overhear an argument taking place between the owners of the house named Joan and George. Joan and George decide that the food costs are far too high and that the dog and cat eat too much. George reads all of the costs saying Dog food and Cat food. The argument is now saying that they get rid of Tom or Spike. The ensuing argument ends with the conclusion that only one pet can stay in the house. When both Tom and Spike prove to be as helpful as each other in cleaning the house and providing good company, George and Joan make a deal: the first to catch Jerry stays in the house. The race begins.

Tom grabs Jerry and Spike is standing and punches him. Then, Spike is going to a shortcut and his hands were stuck and Tom grabs Jerry. Spike gets a door closed on him. Spike then erects a sign that says "DETOUR" and turns Tom into the closet with him. Tom gets walloped with a golf club. Spike is pulled into the floor grate and flattened into the likeness of a nail. Tom presents Jerry to George's chair, but instead of George, Spike leaps out and grabs Jerry.

Tom shakes Spike's hand in a gesture of surrender, packs up his possessions and sets out for the door. Spike follows him to comfort the cat, and Tom slyly gives "his" possessions to Spike and ushers him out the door. Spike falls for it until he's about to leave the yard. He then realizes he has been tricked, and his head turns into a Jackass. Enraged, he runs back towards the house. Tom laughs at his victory until Spike busts through the door and flattens him. Spike starts chasing Jerry as Tom frees himself. He is compressed into a cylinder. Spike grabs Jerry and is flipped judo-style by Tom. Tom and Spike then duel with swords, destroying a lot of the house. They see Jerry run across a carpet, and they roll it up and cut it up until Tom slices off George's slippers.

When they cut his slippers, George gets angry and demands that they both leave, and decides that Jerry, who apparently doesn't "eat" much (they don't know Jerry also eats too much, presumably his hole has lots of food), will be their pet. George then tells them to take their belongings and leave. With him saying this, Tom and Spike attempt to sneak out of the house with the fridge, but are spotted by George. Panicking, they flee with the fridge and runs away in the sunset.

Alternate versions
Like a number of early widescreen animated films (several other MGM cartoons and Disney's Lady and the Tramp, for example), Pet Peeve was produced in both the Academy and CinemaScope aspect ratios. The same animation cels were used, but the camera shots were reframed and different backgrounds were used. For some television broadcasts, however, a pan and scan copy was prepared from the CinemaScope version (which is reframed from the Academy version, and missing information present at the top and bottom of the frame in many shots from the Academy version). Contrary to the CinemaScope version, the Academy version is missing information present at left and right side of the frame in many shots from the CinemaScope version.