Tops with Pops

Tops with Pops is the 105th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1956, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. It is a shot-for-shot CinemaScope remake of 1949's Love That Pup. The major differences are that the cartoon is in a Widescreen format as opposed to fullscreen, and the ink lines around the characters are thicker and more defined because any imperfection would be noticeable on the screen. Also, the backgrounds are more stylised than detailed, as was the style in the late 1950s. In addition, the kennels of Spike and Tyke have their names written instead of 'Father' and 'Son' as seen in the original cartoon. It was released on February 22, 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and marks the final appearance of Tyke in Tom and Jerry cartoon shorts produced before 1959.

Plot
Spike is sleeping beside his son Tyke when Tyke suddenly wakes up from a bad dream. Spike then comforts his son back to sleep again. No sooner does Tyke doze off then Tom and Jerry enter the scene. Tom runs through a door (literally) and into some spades, rakes and hoes, as Jerry hides among the two dogs. To find Jerry, Tom picks Tyke up to look underneath the puppy, until Spike wakes up and remarks that Tom is holding his son.

Tom holds up his right hand and sees nothing, then holds up his left hand, and drops Tyke in fear. Tom smiles nervously, attempting to run off, until Spike grabs Tom by the whiskers and issues him an ultimatum: the cat had better leave Tyke alone or Spike will make him suffer the consequences. Tom flees blindly, crashing into a tree, fountain, clothesline pole and trash can.

Jerry emerges from Tyke's ear and walks off casually until Tom comes running back. Jerry takes cover by diving apparently into Spike's mouth, but really under his jowls. Seeing the dog smack his lips as if having eaten the mouse, Tom then places his hand carefully in Spike's mouth while the dog is sleeping, and Jerry emerges from his hiding place and slams the bulldog's jaws shut with Tom's hand still in Spike's mouth. Tom yells in pain and leaps a meter back. Spike wakes up as Tom struggles to get his hand out of his mouth, pulling Spike's teeth out in the process. Tom smiles innocently again, and uses Spike's teeth as castanets while doing a Flamenco dance (to the tune of "The Mexican Hat Dance") out of the scene and runs away, leaving the teeth on a nearby bucket.

A few moments later, Tom spies Jerry sleeping next to Tyke, now using the dogs as shields. Hiding behind Tyke's kennel, he reaches out for Jerry. Jerry quietly moves Tyke's tail into Tom's grip, so that Tom ends up grabbing Tyke. After running off with the little pup, Tom realizes his mistake. He turns around to see a sleeping Spike feeling for Tyke. Tom rushes back into Tyke's place, taking on the role of Tyke. To wake up the dog, Jerry then lifts up Tyke's kennel and slams it on Tom's tail. Tom screams in pain, and Spike picks him up and pats him on the back. Just then, Tyke walks back onto the scene and whimpers. Spike looks at Tom suspiciously. Tom duplicates Tyke's whimpering and barking, but accidentally meows when he tries to duplicate his growl. Spike commences to growl at Tom ferociously until Tom clamps his jaws on the dog's nose and runs away, causing Spike to scream. Tom takes a detour to the side, sets up a rake for the dog to run into if he follows him, and then watches as Spike takes the original route. Knowing he's lost his opponent, he runs back through the detour–onto his own rake.

Tom finally realizes that in order to get Jerry, Spike, who is effectively Jerry's shield, must be removed from the picture. He does this by dangling a large piece of steak from a clothesline. A sleeping Spike (who holds a rifle) senses the delectable piece of meat, and sleepwalks after the steak. Jerry, who had tied himself to Tyke as a precautionary measure, sees what Tom is up to. His panicked attempts to wake Spike all fail, and Tom locks Spike in a garden shed. Tom knows that he can now attack Jerry without his overprotective shield.

Tom traps Jerry inside an upturned barrel and hammers a cork into its knothole. However, without Tom noticing, Jerry escapes through the side of the barrel and puts Tyke under the barrel instead. Spike breaks down a wall of the shed and under the impression the cat has been at Tyke again, rushes up to Tom angrily and demands to know where his son is, threatening to skin the cat alive if Tyke is underneath the barrel. Tom confidently starts to lifts up the barrel, until he hears a whistle, and looks to his side to see that Jerry is lying on a nearby fence, waving to him. Tom does a double gulp, realizing he is in serious trouble with Spike. Spike demands that Tom had better lift up the barrel. Shivering, Tom nervously begins to lift the barrel, but Spike impatiently swipes it. Tyke is lying underneath it, wiggling his tail at his father. Tom makes a quick exit, into the tree, fountain, and clothesline, but is stopped by Spike's fist. With a loud roar, Spike attacks the cat and then skins him alive after cornering him. The cat is screaming in excruciating pain because he is being skinned alive.

That night, Tom wears a barrel to cover his total lack of fur, and is assigned by Spike to guard them with a baseball bat and looking through a hole in the wall to see his fur being used as a cozy rug by a sleeping Spike, Tyke and Jerry, who hangs a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on Spike's ear, before snuggling up between Spike and Tyke and falling asleep.

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