Jerry and the Goldfish

Jerry and the Goldfish is a 1951 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 56th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by Irven Spence, Ray Patterson, Ed Barge and Kenneth Muse, with music by Scott Bradley and backgrounds by Robert Gentle.

Summary
Jerry approaches a sleeping goldfish, and makes his way to give him a cracker. When the goldfish wakes up, it becomes really happy to see Jerry and joyfully eats the cracker until they formed a fast friendship. Tom, on the other hand, listens to a French chef, Chef Françoise, on the radio about a delicious fish dish that made him interested. After hearing all the ingredients, as well as the most important one, "one, small fresh fish," he remembers where he can find "one, small fresh fish." Tom sneakily takes the goldfish in his bowl, into the kitchen and puts it on the stove. He turns it on and chops up some of the directed vegetables: carrots and scallions. Tom tastes the water, then salts the fish and puts it back in the bowl.

Jerry is strolling into the kitchen and is aghast when he sees Tom trying to cook his friend. Jerry opens the oven door and Tom falls into the oven. Jerry swipes the goldfish bowl and scrams. Tom hangs back and takes it off Jerry's hands as he runs past. Jerry sees he no longer has the bowl and trips up Tom with a baseball bat, then catches the goldfish and some water in a water glass. Jerry runs to his hole and stands aside as Tom slams into the wall, then skips through Tom's ears into the hole, safe. Tom won't give up and prepares a trap for the fish. Jerry spots a full fishbowl on the table and moves the fish to within jumping range. He jumps for his bowl, but Tom is behind the curtain and catches the goldfish in a frying pan, having abandoned the fish soup idea. Tom breads the fish in flour, and tosses it into his mouth after a brief sizzle smiling gleefully. Jerry hits Tom in the face with the pan and pulls one of Tom's whiskers to open his mouth, allowing the goldfish to escape. He jumps into a cup of water with Jerry, and he runs from Tom, who runs through a heater and squeezes through Jerry's mousehole in order to reach the fish. Jerry stops and holds out an iron, which stops Tom's charge. He seizes a pistol, shoots the cup and steals the fish. Jerry doesn't notice until safe in his mousehole.

Tom is now trying to roast the fish alive over a fire. Jerry upends a clay bucket onto Tom's head and whacks it with a fireplace tool, causing the bucket to vibrate. Jerry steals the fish back, but Tom snaps the carpet and sends the fish careening into the toaster. Tom prepares a fish sandwich, but Jerry sticks his tail in the clothes roller. Tom screams in pain, but grabbing onto the toaster doesn't keep him from being flattened. Tom then holds a saucepan just above Jerry's hole, such that when he runs into the hole, the fish is captured. Tom moves a cabinet in front of the hole, so that Jerry doesn't get out, and goes off to steam the fish.

Jerry takes an alternative route that happens to lead to where Tom is attempting to cook the fish. Tom, going back to his fish soup idea, puts the fish underneath his foot and chops up a potato while Jerry substitutes dynamite for a carrot and Tom's tail for the fish. Tom suspects nothing and waits happily on the cooking until he notices his tail is turning red and the covered saucepan starts steaming and shaking. Tom screams, run outside, slams the door on his tail and braces for the explosion. When it has passed, Tom pulls on his tail and sees the best he could hope for: Only part of his tail is gone. That is, until he opens the door and sees himself speeding away from Earth (appearing as if it were falling). Jerry puts on a diving suit (at the end) and joins the goldfish in the fishbowl as they watch Tom blown into the vacuum of outer space. The two of them shake hands and fin happily.

Voice cast

 * Daws Butler as The Chef on the radio (uncredited)

Availability
DVD
 * Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 2
 * Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1, Disc Two