Down Beat Bear

Down Beat Bear is a 1956 one reel animated Tom and Jerry cartoon, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. It was released on October 21, 1956 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot
Jerry prances into his home inside the Cabinet radio and hangs up his hat. He pokes himself out of the flap and turns on a loud music tune.

Tom enters, hangs up his hat, sits down and reads a newspaper, but is angered by the music, and turns off the radio. Jerry is inside, irritated that this action removes all the light from the tubes inside the radio, because Tom turned the music off, and turns the radio back on. Tom's head throbs from the loudness. Tom switches of the radio, but Jerry turns the radio back on. Before Tom can quell the radio, an interrupting news announces on loose that there is a dancing bear who has escaped from the carnival, and is a trained bear, but will dance if he hears music, and is harmless. A reward for spotting the bear will have the local police contacted. The music then continues, and Jerry and Tom then proceed to toggle the radio on and off until Tom pulls the plug. Jerry peeps out, and attempts to turn the radio on, but fails when he finds that it is off.

The dancing bear dances down the street, stumbles by Tom and Jerry's house, spots fruit on a nearby table and munches on them. Tom spots the bear and extends his arm stealthily across the room and grabs the phone to call the cops. Jerry, meanwhile, plugs back in the radio. The bear then jumps into the house, grabs Tom before he can begin to call, and starts up a dance. Jerry looks astounded and sees this is a great opportunity to play with the cat. As the bear dances past the radio, Tom turns it off. The bear stares blankly at the cat, then drops him and resumes eating the fruit. Tom again attempts to use the phone, but finds that Jerry is ready to turn the radio back on. Tom grabs the mouse, but fails when the station button is still within reach and soon the cat is dragged across the floor by the bear. Tom then stuffs the bear into a closet, cuts the plug, and chases the mouse.

Jerry escapes the cat and hides in a full automatic record player. Tom cannot see him. Jerry plays a classical-music record. The bear breaks out of the closet when he hears the music, takes the door with him and runs right into the cat. Both cat and bear have their hands poked through a hole in the door and thus the bear can begin a tango dance (La Cumparsita). Tom recovers and knocks on his side of the door. The bear closes the door on him and pushes Tom into a grandfather clock. He wonders where the cat may have gone and then grabs the door. However, Tom takes the place of the pendulum inside while the bear continues the tango alone.

Tom spots the mouse waltzing by himself on top of the record player and breaks the record over Jerry's head. The chase resumes briefly until Jerry jumps on a piano and starts playing The Blue Danube. Tom then flees, but is soon met by the bear. Tom grabs a scraper and hits the mouse off the piano with it as he is passing by. Jerry lands on top of an ukulele and plays a jazz rhythm. Tom then tricks the bear into dancing right through the floor grate, and he breaks the ukulele while Jerry is playing. Jerry turns on a small portable radio and a second bulletin plays announcing a larger reward for the dancing bear.

Tom tries yet again to use the phone, but is interrupted by the music from the small radio. The bear jumps out of the floor grate with his arms open to grab Tom for another dance, but Tom dives through the now-open floor grate to evade the bear's grasp. He jumps up through a floor grate in an adjoining room and runs toward the living room, with the bear chasing him. He eludes him when he traps him in a folding couch. Tom then chases Jerry outside, catches him, and takes the radio. He throws it into the air, but it slides across a branch and clicks on against an offshoot. Tom is shocked in bitterness when he hears that the music will continue for six hours and the bear asks him for a dance. To finish his reasons, he accepts it and lets Jerry escape. Tom dances with the bear in the moonlight. Then, the camera pulls out of the grassland where the two are dancing together on. "THE END" soon fades in near the moon.

Availability
DVD
 * Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 4
 * Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 2, Disc Two