September 9, 2025 • 27 mins
Warner Archive announces the release of all 114 Tom and Jerry animated shorts produced by Hanna-Barbera at MGM between 1940-1958, completely uncut and uncensored in a definitive collection coming December 9th.
• Comprehensive six-disc Blu-ray collection from Warner Archive features the entire Hanna-Barbera Tom and Jerry library in chronological order
• Special features include two new documentaries: "Animal Hijinx: The Friends and Foes of Tom" and "Lady of the House: The Story of Mammy Two Shoes"
• The set includes 20 audio commentaries, HD excerpts from "Anchors Aweigh" and "Dangerous When Wet," and a 28-page booklet
• DVD version will be available at select retailers while the deluxe Blu-ray set will be available from online retailers carrying Warner Archive products
• George Feltenstein and Jerry Beck discuss the importance of presenting these cartoons uncensored as they were originally created for theatrical release
• This release corrects issues from previous attempts, including the canceled Golden Collection Volume 2 from 2013
• The cartoons have been restored using the best available elements despite the original negatives being lost in a 1978 fire
Pre-orders are not available yet.
The Extras Facebook page
The Extras Twitter
Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group
As an Amazon Affiliate, The Extras may receive a commission for purchases through our purchase links. There is no additional cost to you, and every little bit helps us in the production of the podcast. Thanks in advance.
Otaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. tim@theextras.tv
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me are animation
historian Jerry Beck and GeorgeFeltenstein from the Warner
Archive.
Hi guys.
Hello, gentlemen.
Well, it's always great to haveyou guys together because that
means it's fun animationdiscussions.
You guys together, because thatmeans it's fun animation
discussions.
And today is a very excitingday because you have some great
(00:29):
news to share with animationfans out there.
So I'm going to turn this overto you, george.
Well, for fans of Cat and Mouseby the name of Tom and Jerry,
(00:49):
we're very happy to announcethat all 114 Tom and Jerry
animated short subjects producedand directed by William Hanna
and Joseph Barbera at the MGMAnimation Department between
1940 and the last release was1958, all of them are coming out
in an uncut, uncensored.
All of them are coming out inan uncut, uncensored.
114 cartoon collection on DVDfrom Warner Brothers Discovery
(01:11):
Home Entertainment and onBlu-ray.
A six-disc set with five discsof the cartoons on BD50s and a
bonus disc making a total of six, are coming from the Warner
Archive Collection tocommemorate everybody's favorite
cat and mouse on their 85thbirthday, their 85th anniversary
(01:35):
, and there will be, as I said,the Blu-ray set from the Warner
Archive Collection has a bonusdisc with two new documentaries,
which we're really excitedabout, some vintage clips and
some other goodies that we thinkthe fans will really enjoy.
And the best part of it is that, as I mentioned before a little
(01:59):
bit, the cartoons arecompletely uncut, uncensored,
all 114 of them presentedchronologically, looking and
sounding fantastic.
This has been a labor of lovefor many people here within the
company.
This would not have happenedwithout the collaboration of
(02:22):
many colleagues here.
I don't want to mention anyonespecifically by name, because
then they'll get bombarded withemails and phone calls and God
knows what else.
There are some people thatreally went to the mat for this
so that we could do this theright way, which we've never
been able to do before.
30 years ago, jerry and I puttogether the Art of Tom and
(02:46):
Jerry Laserdisc box sets, andeven those releases were
compromised in quality andsometimes we weren't able to
provide complete versions ofcertain cartoons because the
masters that Turner would sendto us at MGMUA were censored.
These are all completelyuncensored as they were shown in
(03:08):
theaters, and that is amonumental achievement, and I
can't name names, but just knowthat a lot of people in a lot of
different divisions within thiscorporation all saw the wisdom
of paying homage to Hannah andBarbara and their wonderful cat
and mouse that kept peoplearound the world because Tom and
(03:32):
Jerry is universally beloved inso many countries, especially
because they don't talk, theyshouldn't talk.
We won't talk about that 1992feature.
This is a moment of celebrationfor the true animation fans who
have been begging, clamoring andpleading for this, those who
(03:53):
were so disappointed in 2013because the Tom and Jerry Golden
Collection Volume 2 was goingto be missing Casanova Cat and
missing mouse cleaning and thatannouncement and people's nasty
comments all over the internetended up canceling the release,
(04:13):
ruining it for everyone.
Well, now all those past painscan be put in the past, because
it's only celebration.
These cartoons are going tolook and sound magnificent.
They're all going to bepresented uncut chronologically
with, on the Blu-ray version, awhole bonus disc and there will
(04:34):
be 20 commentaries includedamongst the 114 animated short
subjects in these collections.
The DVD set will be availableat certain retailers that still
carry physical product.
The Blu-ray version from theWarner Archive will have a
deluxe booklet and really niftypackaging and will be available
(05:00):
from your favorite onlineretailer, whoever that may be,
but anybody who carries WarnerArchive products will certainly
be touting this.
The release date is December9th and I think it's going to be
under the Christmas tree of alot of people, I know.
(05:21):
Well, one of the people, ofcourse, that has been involved
with Tom and Jerry, not workingat Warner Brothers but obviously
I'm talking about you.
Jerry is here with us, so whydon't you tell us, jerry, a
little bit about what this meansto you and what's so special
about this release?
Jerry Beck (05:36):
Well, this is definitely a special release.
This is one of those must haveuh items.
Uh, if you're collecting at all, this does uh supersede a lot
of older sets that were done wayback when.
Um, because a they're, theseare restored, um, it's the whole
(05:58):
thing all in one package.
Like George said, we did thisway back when.
We did this like 30 years ago Idon't even know the date, but
it was in the 90s and uh, uh,this is one of those things we
wanted to make good forever.
We hoped to do it.
What was it 10 years ago?
Uh, with the, with the goldencollections.
(06:18):
That didn't happen.
The great news is that we livein a different era, mainly
because of the technology, thefact that we've dug deeper into
the archives, the scanning, thehigh def all of that has
improved.
No matter what you've hadbefore, this is definitely an
improvement.
(06:39):
This is really the ultimate setas far as this series is
concerned, and there's bonusmaterials, as george will tell
you, and uh, great bonus docs.
I hope george talks tells youuh reveals what they are.
Uh and uh, uh.
You know it's the.
I don't want to say it's thefinal word, but I think it is.
(07:01):
It's.
It's really the final word ontom and jerry.
No, it doesn't have the chuckjones cartoons or the gene dyche
cartoons or the filmationcartoons, but it's it's got the
ones we all want and I'm notputting anything else down.
We it's got what we want.
Here it is.
And I actually know I was goingto ask, george, this is the
(07:23):
beginning.
As much as we've been doingthis for 30 years, as much as
we've been doing great stuff onBlu-ray for the last more than
10, this is really the beginning, right, george?
Yeah, I mean, we're starting anew slate here and it's going to
be good stages that bode wellfor 2026 and beyond, hopefully,
(07:45):
that we're excited about becausethis, this opens a lot of new
doors, yeah and uh.
I also want to speak to thefact that some of the cartoons
that were on, like the goldencollection, volume one, which
was a nice collection, but someof the cartoons didn't look good
and also, uh, not the bestelements we have were used right
(08:08):
.
So people were seeing 1960sreissue titles with the black
mgm lion on the back of them andlike it was like no, no one was
paying attention.
Jerry and I were not involvedwith that, um, but we're now
correcting for that.
(08:28):
We are correcting a lot ofmistakes that were made in the
past.
It's also funny, jerry, youmentioned those laser disc sets
that we did, yeah, leave.
They were 125 dollars a pieceretail price uh because it would
cost you, you know, somewherebetween 250 and 300 dollars to
(08:52):
get all this.
And we look at the quality onthose now and, uh yeah, it's
hard to believe that.
We once thought they wereamazing but compared to what we
grew up with on television theywere.
But I also want to talk aboutsome new material that is on our
bonus disc, again exclusive tothe Warner Archive Blu-ray set.
(09:15):
We have a new documentarycalled Animal Hijinx, the
Friends and Foes of Tom, andthen a really, really exciting
documentary that has been manyyears in the making it was
actually started for GoldenCollection Volume 2 and never
finished because that releasegot squashed, got squashed and
(09:41):
thankfully the elements werestill there and the filmmaker,
constantine Nazar, who has beenour partner in making
documentaries and all sorts ofthings for so many of our
releases, but specifically forall the animation collections,
yes, constantine was able tofulfill his dream.
(10:02):
After 13 years he has made adocumentary called Lady of the
House, the story of Mammy TwoShoes, and this is a
retrospective on that character,which really never got that
name.
Jerry, isn't that correct?
That's not an official name.
That's not the character's nameat all, but it has been pegged
(10:26):
that way for decades.
Well, I've seen this documentary.
Jerry's in this documentary.
I'm younger with more hair.
But I am not.
But there are some wonderfulanimators, animation historians,
film historians, animationhistorians, film historians, and
(10:48):
there's some great archivalfootage with your late friend
June Foray.
There's just great, greatmaterial in the way this is put
together to give you context ofthis character that really was
so integral to a lot of the bestTom and Jerry cartoons.
And then, in addition to thedocumentaries, we have the
(11:08):
excerpt from anchors away withJerry the mouse and Gene Kelly.
We have the excerpt fromdangerous when wet with Tom and
Jerry and Esther Williams.
Both of those, of course, areon HD.
The bonus disc is highdefinition and I may have
mentioned this already.
If I am, I'm repeating myself.
But uh, both of those, ofcourse, are on HD.
The bonus disc is highdefinition and I may have
(11:29):
mentioned this already.
If I am I'm repeating myself.
But we have 20 of the cartoons,have audio commentaries from
beloved animation historians andthere's a 28-page booklet in
the Blu-ray collection,exclusive to the Blu-ray
collection it's not in the DVDset that has original artwork,
sketches and essays.
So this is really a first forthe Warner Archive.
(11:52):
We've never had such a deluxeoffering with a bonus disc and a
booklet and fancy packaging.
But I think we're moving up inthe world.
Tim Millard (12:10):
You've had a lot of great firsts this year, George.
George Feltenstein (12:11):
And this is just another one of them for the
Warner Archive.
And, as Bugs Bunny would say,and the year ain't over yet, doc
.
Tim Millard (12:16):
And I think you mentioned that this is coming
out in December, so it's goingto be perfect for a holiday gift
date December 2nd is the streetdate.
Well, this is a great gift foranimation fans.
I mean, this is the 85thanniversary of Tom and Jerry and
I know there's been a lot goingon from the studio for consumer
products and other things, butto do this for the physical
(12:36):
media fan is a wonderful,wonderful gift for the holiday.
And to go back a little bitabout some of the more sensitive
cartoons that are included inhere, that's going to be a huge,
huge thing for the fans, isn'tthat Jerry?
Jerry Beck (12:52):
Well, yeah, I mean, there's a whole bunch of
cartoons on here that won't betelevised by your streaming
services or the broadcastchannels because they don't want
the kids to see some of thesefilms.
These films, of course, werenever made for kids.
I say that every time I come on, but that's true, it's made for
(13:13):
the whole audience.
They were products of theirtime.
Again, this is really one of thepinnacles, the highlights of
the history of animation is theHanna-Barbera series of Tom and
Jerry in the forties and fifties, and for it to finally, once
and for all, be presentedcomplete, you know, never,
(13:35):
looking like they've never hadbefore.
I mean, I don't even know whatelse I can say other than take
my money.
You know I want this now and,uh, you know, I'm just so
excited that, uh, we could do itthe way we believe it could be
done.
We're living in a great periodwhere people like george are at
warner's and george and talks tome occasionally and no, and we
(14:00):
can guide the company to do theright thing on some of these
releases, all of these releases.
That's why I wanted to make noteof the fact that people can see
the films in the way they weremeant to be seen.
(14:28):
And, jerry's point, this hasbeen our ethos for god knows how
many years.
These were films made to beshown to adults in theaters.
That were okay if the kids werein the audience.
Yeah, you know it wasn'tpornographic or anything like
that, but suddenly there becamethis oh my God, you can't
possibly show this and you can'tpossibly show that.
(14:51):
Well, this is a collection forthe adult collector and it's up
to the parent whether they wantto share this with their child
or not.
But adult collectors grew upwith these cartoons and a lot of
them got to see them uncutuntil somebody got in there with
a very heavy pair of scissors.
(15:12):
Some of that is dealt with alittle bit in the documentary
about the Lady of the House,about how that character, mammy
TwoShoes, which is really nother name she was reanimated to
be an Irish washerwoman in the1960s and revoiced by June Foray
, and then there was anotherattempt to change it again and
(15:37):
the way it originally was wasintentionally funny and
respected by the people whoprovided those voices.
And that is what the contextualdocumentaries really provide is
another light to look at wherethese fall in, not only the
(15:59):
history of animation but thehistory of film, because another
thing that Jerry and I haveboth been very insistent about
is and I'm quoting Jerry now islike you wouldn't do that to
Singing in the Rain, youwouldn't do that to An American
in Paris.
These films need to be treatedthe same way.
And I think, am I quoting youright, jerry?
(16:19):
Yes, that's been his watch cry.
And we all owe a tremendousdebt to Jerry, because even
before I got into the home videobusiness, jerry was behind in
October of 1980.
The very first group of Tom andJerry cartoons that were among
the very first group of MGM homevideo releases in October of
(16:44):
1980.
Yep, and that was long before Igot to MGM UA home video, and
it wasn't even MGM UA home video.
Then it was MGM CBS home video.
That's right, but I still havemy Betamax tape that I bought as
a kid, oh yeah.
George Feltenstein (17:01):
I still have all my VHSs of that period.
I thought this would be a oneand gone forever thing.
I thought it was never going tohappen again.
Jerry Beck (17:10):
Well, some people have tried to make it that way
but got to tell you folks,physical media it rules.
Tim Millard (17:16):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (17:18):
And these cartoons, the way they're going
to look in this new collectionis going to surprise a lot of
people, because some of themhaven't looked very can do it.
You know we have streamingservices.
(17:45):
They have them come in thecartoons listed, you know, in
order or whatever, and you getto pick the one you want to
watch and this, and that youhave the broadcast channels that
run whatever they want to runat that time.
This gives you complete freedomto pick what you want to see
when you want to see it.
You can see the chronology andthe uh progression of the
(18:08):
characters and animation as itgoes through through time.
Um, I mean it's, you know,that's what's great about home.
You know media and that'swhat's great about being able to
own these.
If a streaming service pullsthe tom and jerry cartoons, you
will still have them, you know,and that's really, really it,
(18:29):
that's it.
I I fear the day that we don'thave physical media.
I hope that never happens, but,um, because that's the way it
was, george and I lived throughthis.
That was the way it was in ourchildhoods, our teenage years,
right, our early twenties.
That's how old we are.
That that we, you couldn't goand buy Casablanca.
You couldn't go and get the.
You couldn't buy these things.
(18:54):
They were either on TV at acertain date and you had to make
sure you were there to watch it, or maybe played in a repertory
theater If you were lucky, or amuseum, if you were lucky.
But to be able to own, to like,a book you know, to be able to
have it on your shelf, pull itoff and watch it any time.
This is definitely.
I know it is for George.
It's a dream.
Come you to build a librarythat will entertain you and
(19:17):
those in your life for years andyears to come and it's
(19:40):
something you can share withother people.
And if somebody is talking aboutsomething, you're also getting
it with the very best quality.
Yeah, yes, there arealternative ways of seeing.
Jerry mentioned that, uh, butyou're not getting the curation
and you're not getting thecontext, because what we have
(20:03):
here are we have thesedocumentaries, we have these
essays, we've got the booklet,we also have 20 commentaries
among the 114 cartoons, all inone release, and that is
basically unprecedented, and Ihope and Ierry, just as they
were the first mgm cartoons tomake it on beta and vhs and I
(20:49):
think they were on a ced and alaserdisc too.
Yeah, um, you know, before wedid our laserdisc box set you
know, um, you know, back back inour day, um, I'm gonna, I'll do
some confession, confession andreveal a little bit about
myself.
But I don't think I could havegotten through high school if I
didn't see Tom and Jerry andBugs Bunny when I got home and
(21:13):
they really inspired me to go onand they really mean a lot to
me and that's why I got involvedwith documenting the history of
animation, because at that timethere were no DVDs, tapes,
there weren't even books.
So I got involved with how manycartoons were there?
Who did them?
You know that kind of thing.
(21:34):
I got involved.
I just started researching itand that's how I got involved.
Back in our day, remember, wewould buy things.
If you're a movie buff, uh, youwould buy these books which I
still have, uh, from citadelpublishing, like the films of
john wayne, you know what I mean.
Uh, you know the films of everybig movie star, the films of
gene kelly, and I would buythose books a to relive those
(21:55):
great films.
They'd have stills, the credits.
We didn't have imdb, we didn'thave a computer, we didn't have
youtube, and we'd buy thosebooks.
And I was comforted knowing Ihad the record of these films
Leonard Maltin's, our Gang,right and Magic to document.
(22:22):
You know, these the cartoons, webought those things because we
wanted them as soon as this ideaof home video came to be, the
idea that you got to have acomplete set.
You know which we sort ofpioneered way back when I slept
better at night, you know,knowing that I could watch
Acrobatic Bunny whenever I it,because you know those cartoons
(22:42):
really mean something to me.
They're deeper than just afunny little seven minutes.
They got me through school,like I said.
So this is the payback, this iswhat we're doing to.
You know, make sure thesethings live forever.
Make sure these things liveforever.
Now I think it's somewhatwell-known, sadly, that the
(23:05):
original negatives for all theTom and Jerry cartoons burnt in
a tragic fire in 1978, they hadbeen copied for preservation
onto safety film those that wereon nitrate film, but it was all
the cartoons from 1940 to about1952.
So we've always been at adisadvantage.
(23:26):
We thought that a handful ofthem didn't burn up and that
information was incorrect.
It wasn't original negatives atall.
They were safety separationsand not nitrate original
negatives at all.
They were safety separationsand not nitrate original
negatives.
But because they were thesuccessive exposure, people
(23:48):
thought that it was nitrate andit wasn't and it was at a
different facility.
But the point is is that everyeffort has been made to use the
earliest generation sourcematerial of the best quality and
mistakes that were plentiful onprior releases have been
(24:09):
hopefully eradicated or made thebest that they can be dealing
with what we can deal with, andeverybody here is very, very
proud.
This has been such a wonderfulcongregation of different people
in different departments hereat Warner Brothers, all working
(24:33):
together to have somethingwonderful to do for Tom and
Jerry's 85th birthday.
And there was a time in thiscompany where you couldn't say
how old a cartoon was, youcouldn't say that a character
had an anniversary or birthday,because somebody thought that
was going to jeopardize onething or another.
(24:55):
And this is when there alreadywas IMDb, where you could look
and see whenever anything wasreleased or made.
Not that IMDb doesn't haveerrors in it it does but overall
it's pretty good.
But the point is now I thinkeverybody's put their best foot
forward and my hope is that ourloyal customers who have been
(25:17):
asking, pleading, crying forthis I hope it will make a lot
of people really happy.
I know that I'm grateful to mycolleagues and, of course, to
both of you and to everybody whogathers together to support our
efforts here, and it's reallywonderful to think how this is
(25:39):
arriving just in time forChristmas.
And you know, let Santa comedown your chimney with Tom and
Jerry.
It doesn't get better than that.
Tim Millard (25:49):
Well, I know I'm looking forward to seeing these.
Gee, some of these have notbeen seen for so long, and to
just have it all together in onecollection is going to be
amazing.
I'm going to want to watch themchronological just because
there's no way I've ever seenthem that way before.
So it's going to be a brand newexperience in HD.
(26:12):
Beautiful sound, beautifulpicture.
It's going to be fantastic.
George, jerry, this is excitingnews, as always.
Thank you for coming on andsharing this with the fans.
Well, thank you, tim.
As always, we are so gratefulfor the opportunity to share
what's happening with the peopleout there who support our work,
(26:33):
and I thank you and I thankthem and just to let everybody
know we'll we'll get backtogether once we get the discs
and we'll be talking about theseas well, so they can look
forward to that down the road.
George Feltenstein (26:44):
But we're going to have to do 114
different podcasts.
Tim Millard (26:48):
It'll be sometime in June next year by the time I
finish.
No, but that'll be a lot of fun.
George Feltenstein (26:54):
Just one of them will be all about the
cartoons that have mouse in thetitle, exactly.
Tim Millard (26:59):
All right, thanks.
Exactly All right.
Thanks, guys.
Thank you.
Well.
This is just so exciting foranimation fans and for fans of
Tom and Jerry and those of uswho grew up with all of these
fantastic classic cartoons.
And for those of you who'd liketo get your pre-order in right
away, it is available already onAmazon, so I have a link in the
(27:22):
podcast show notes.
Get your pre-orders in and thatway you'll get it sent to you
as soon as possible in December.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Millard, stay
slightly obsessed aboutanimation.
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me are animation
historian Jerry Beck and GeorgeFeltenstein from the Warner
Archive.
Hi guys.
Hello, gentlemen.
Well, it's always great to haveyou guys together because that
means it's fun animationdiscussions.
You guys together, because thatmeans it's fun animation
discussions.
And today is a very excitingday because you have some great
(00:29):
news to share with animationfans out there.
So I'm going to turn this overto you, george.
Well, for fans of Cat and Mouseby the name of Tom and Jerry,
(00:49):
we're very happy to announcethat all 114 Tom and Jerry
animated short subjects producedand directed by William Hanna
and Joseph Barbera at the MGMAnimation Department between
1940 and the last release was1958, all of them are coming out
in an uncut, uncensored.
All of them are coming out inan uncut, uncensored.
114 cartoon collection on DVDfrom Warner Brothers Discovery
(01:11):
Home Entertainment and onBlu-ray.
A six-disc set with five discsof the cartoons on BD50s and a
bonus disc making a total of six, are coming from the Warner
Archive Collection tocommemorate everybody's favorite
cat and mouse on their 85thbirthday, their 85th anniversary
(01:35):
, and there will be, as I said,the Blu-ray set from the Warner
Archive Collection has a bonusdisc with two new documentaries,
which we're really excitedabout, some vintage clips and
some other goodies that we thinkthe fans will really enjoy.
And the best part of it is that, as I mentioned before a little
(01:59):
bit, the cartoons arecompletely uncut, uncensored,
all 114 of them presentedchronologically, looking and
sounding fantastic.
This has been a labor of lovefor many people here within the
company.
This would not have happenedwithout the collaboration of
(02:22):
many colleagues here.
I don't want to mention anyonespecifically by name, because
then they'll get bombarded withemails and phone calls and God
knows what else.
There are some people thatreally went to the mat for this
so that we could do this theright way, which we've never
been able to do before.
30 years ago, jerry and I puttogether the Art of Tom and
(02:46):
Jerry Laserdisc box sets, andeven those releases were
compromised in quality andsometimes we weren't able to
provide complete versions ofcertain cartoons because the
masters that Turner would sendto us at MGMUA were censored.
These are all completelyuncensored as they were shown in
(03:08):
theaters, and that is amonumental achievement, and I
can't name names, but just knowthat a lot of people in a lot of
different divisions within thiscorporation all saw the wisdom
of paying homage to Hannah andBarbara and their wonderful cat
and mouse that kept peoplearound the world because Tom and
(03:32):
Jerry is universally beloved inso many countries, especially
because they don't talk, theyshouldn't talk.
We won't talk about that 1992feature.
This is a moment of celebrationfor the true animation fans who
have been begging, clamoring andpleading for this, those who
(03:53):
were so disappointed in 2013because the Tom and Jerry Golden
Collection Volume 2 was goingto be missing Casanova Cat and
missing mouse cleaning and thatannouncement and people's nasty
comments all over the internetended up canceling the release,
(04:13):
ruining it for everyone.
Well, now all those past painscan be put in the past, because
it's only celebration.
These cartoons are going tolook and sound magnificent.
They're all going to bepresented uncut chronologically
with, on the Blu-ray version, awhole bonus disc and there will
(04:34):
be 20 commentaries includedamongst the 114 animated short
subjects in these collections.
The DVD set will be availableat certain retailers that still
carry physical product.
The Blu-ray version from theWarner Archive will have a
deluxe booklet and really niftypackaging and will be available
(05:00):
from your favorite onlineretailer, whoever that may be,
but anybody who carries WarnerArchive products will certainly
be touting this.
The release date is December9th and I think it's going to be
under the Christmas tree of alot of people, I know.
(05:21):
Well, one of the people, ofcourse, that has been involved
with Tom and Jerry, not workingat Warner Brothers but obviously
I'm talking about you.
Jerry is here with us, so whydon't you tell us, jerry, a
little bit about what this meansto you and what's so special
about this release?
Jerry Beck (05:36):
Well, this is definitely a special release.
This is one of those must haveuh items.
Uh, if you're collecting at all, this does uh supersede a lot
of older sets that were done wayback when.
Um, because a they're, theseare restored, um, it's the whole
(05:58):
thing all in one package.
Like George said, we did thisway back when.
We did this like 30 years ago Idon't even know the date, but
it was in the 90s and uh, uh,this is one of those things we
wanted to make good forever.
We hoped to do it.
What was it 10 years ago?
Uh, with the, with the goldencollections.
(06:18):
That didn't happen.
The great news is that we livein a different era, mainly
because of the technology, thefact that we've dug deeper into
the archives, the scanning, thehigh def all of that has
improved.
No matter what you've hadbefore, this is definitely an
improvement.
(06:39):
This is really the ultimate setas far as this series is
concerned, and there's bonusmaterials, as george will tell
you, and uh, great bonus docs.
I hope george talks tells youuh reveals what they are.
Uh and uh, uh.
You know it's the.
I don't want to say it's thefinal word, but I think it is.
(07:01):
It's.
It's really the final word ontom and jerry.
No, it doesn't have the chuckjones cartoons or the gene dyche
cartoons or the filmationcartoons, but it's it's got the
ones we all want and I'm notputting anything else down.
We it's got what we want.
Here it is.
And I actually know I was goingto ask, george, this is the
(07:23):
beginning.
As much as we've been doingthis for 30 years, as much as
we've been doing great stuff onBlu-ray for the last more than
10, this is really the beginning, right, george?
Yeah, I mean, we're starting anew slate here and it's going to
be good stages that bode wellfor 2026 and beyond, hopefully,
(07:45):
that we're excited about becausethis, this opens a lot of new
doors, yeah and uh.
I also want to speak to thefact that some of the cartoons
that were on, like the goldencollection, volume one, which
was a nice collection, but someof the cartoons didn't look good
and also, uh, not the bestelements we have were used right
(08:08):
.
So people were seeing 1960sreissue titles with the black
mgm lion on the back of them andlike it was like no, no one was
paying attention.
Jerry and I were not involvedwith that, um, but we're now
correcting for that.
(08:28):
We are correcting a lot ofmistakes that were made in the
past.
It's also funny, jerry, youmentioned those laser disc sets
that we did, yeah, leave.
They were 125 dollars a pieceretail price uh because it would
cost you, you know, somewherebetween 250 and 300 dollars to
(08:52):
get all this.
And we look at the quality onthose now and, uh yeah, it's
hard to believe that.
We once thought they wereamazing but compared to what we
grew up with on television theywere.
But I also want to talk aboutsome new material that is on our
bonus disc, again exclusive tothe Warner Archive Blu-ray set.
(09:15):
We have a new documentarycalled Animal Hijinx, the
Friends and Foes of Tom, andthen a really, really exciting
documentary that has been manyyears in the making it was
actually started for GoldenCollection Volume 2 and never
finished because that releasegot squashed, got squashed and
(09:41):
thankfully the elements werestill there and the filmmaker,
constantine Nazar, who has beenour partner in making
documentaries and all sorts ofthings for so many of our
releases, but specifically forall the animation collections,
yes, constantine was able tofulfill his dream.
(10:02):
After 13 years he has made adocumentary called Lady of the
House, the story of Mammy TwoShoes, and this is a
retrospective on that character,which really never got that
name.
Jerry, isn't that correct?
That's not an official name.
That's not the character's nameat all, but it has been pegged
(10:26):
that way for decades.
Well, I've seen this documentary.
Jerry's in this documentary.
I'm younger with more hair.
But I am not.
But there are some wonderfulanimators, animation historians,
film historians, animationhistorians, film historians, and
(10:48):
there's some great archivalfootage with your late friend
June Foray.
There's just great, greatmaterial in the way this is put
together to give you context ofthis character that really was
so integral to a lot of the bestTom and Jerry cartoons.
And then, in addition to thedocumentaries, we have the
(11:08):
excerpt from anchors away withJerry the mouse and Gene Kelly.
We have the excerpt fromdangerous when wet with Tom and
Jerry and Esther Williams.
Both of those, of course, areon HD.
The bonus disc is highdefinition and I may have
mentioned this already.
If I am, I'm repeating myself.
But uh, both of those, ofcourse, are on HD.
The bonus disc is highdefinition and I may have
(11:29):
mentioned this already.
If I am I'm repeating myself.
But we have 20 of the cartoons,have audio commentaries from
beloved animation historians andthere's a 28-page booklet in
the Blu-ray collection,exclusive to the Blu-ray
collection it's not in the DVDset that has original artwork,
sketches and essays.
So this is really a first forthe Warner Archive.
(11:52):
We've never had such a deluxeoffering with a bonus disc and a
booklet and fancy packaging.
But I think we're moving up inthe world.
Tim Millard (12:10):
You've had a lot of great firsts this year, George.
George Feltenstein (12:11):
And this is just another one of them for the
Warner Archive.
And, as Bugs Bunny would say,and the year ain't over yet, doc
.
Tim Millard (12:16):
And I think you mentioned that this is coming
out in December, so it's goingto be perfect for a holiday gift
date December 2nd is the streetdate.
Well, this is a great gift foranimation fans.
I mean, this is the 85thanniversary of Tom and Jerry and
I know there's been a lot goingon from the studio for consumer
products and other things, butto do this for the physical
(12:36):
media fan is a wonderful,wonderful gift for the holiday.
And to go back a little bitabout some of the more sensitive
cartoons that are included inhere, that's going to be a huge,
huge thing for the fans, isn'tthat Jerry?
Jerry Beck (12:52):
Well, yeah, I mean, there's a whole bunch of
cartoons on here that won't betelevised by your streaming
services or the broadcastchannels because they don't want
the kids to see some of thesefilms.
These films, of course, werenever made for kids.
I say that every time I come on, but that's true, it's made for
(13:13):
the whole audience.
They were products of theirtime.
Again, this is really one of thepinnacles, the highlights of
the history of animation is theHanna-Barbera series of Tom and
Jerry in the forties and fifties, and for it to finally, once
and for all, be presentedcomplete, you know, never,
(13:35):
looking like they've never hadbefore.
I mean, I don't even know whatelse I can say other than take
my money.
You know I want this now and,uh, you know, I'm just so
excited that, uh, we could do itthe way we believe it could be
done.
We're living in a great periodwhere people like george are at
warner's and george and talks tome occasionally and no, and we
(14:00):
can guide the company to do theright thing on some of these
releases, all of these releases.
That's why I wanted to make noteof the fact that people can see
the films in the way they weremeant to be seen.
(14:28):
And, jerry's point, this hasbeen our ethos for god knows how
many years.
These were films made to beshown to adults in theaters.
That were okay if the kids werein the audience.
Yeah, you know it wasn'tpornographic or anything like
that, but suddenly there becamethis oh my God, you can't
possibly show this and you can'tpossibly show that.
(14:51):
Well, this is a collection forthe adult collector and it's up
to the parent whether they wantto share this with their child
or not.
But adult collectors grew upwith these cartoons and a lot of
them got to see them uncutuntil somebody got in there with
a very heavy pair of scissors.
(15:12):
Some of that is dealt with alittle bit in the documentary
about the Lady of the House,about how that character, mammy
TwoShoes, which is really nother name she was reanimated to
be an Irish washerwoman in the1960s and revoiced by June Foray
, and then there was anotherattempt to change it again and
(15:37):
the way it originally was wasintentionally funny and
respected by the people whoprovided those voices.
And that is what the contextualdocumentaries really provide is
another light to look at wherethese fall in, not only the
(15:59):
history of animation but thehistory of film, because another
thing that Jerry and I haveboth been very insistent about
is and I'm quoting Jerry now islike you wouldn't do that to
Singing in the Rain, youwouldn't do that to An American
in Paris.
These films need to be treatedthe same way.
And I think, am I quoting youright, jerry?
(16:19):
Yes, that's been his watch cry.
And we all owe a tremendousdebt to Jerry, because even
before I got into the home videobusiness, jerry was behind in
October of 1980.
The very first group of Tom andJerry cartoons that were among
the very first group of MGM homevideo releases in October of
(16:44):
1980.
Yep, and that was long before Igot to MGM UA home video, and
it wasn't even MGM UA home video.
Then it was MGM CBS home video.
That's right, but I still havemy Betamax tape that I bought as
a kid, oh yeah.
George Feltenstein (17:01):
I still have all my VHSs of that period.
I thought this would be a oneand gone forever thing.
I thought it was never going tohappen again.
Jerry Beck (17:10):
Well, some people have tried to make it that way
but got to tell you folks,physical media it rules.
Tim Millard (17:16):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (17:18):
And these cartoons, the way they're going
to look in this new collectionis going to surprise a lot of
people, because some of themhaven't looked very can do it.
You know we have streamingservices.
(17:45):
They have them come in thecartoons listed, you know, in
order or whatever, and you getto pick the one you want to
watch and this, and that youhave the broadcast channels that
run whatever they want to runat that time.
This gives you complete freedomto pick what you want to see
when you want to see it.
You can see the chronology andthe uh progression of the
(18:08):
characters and animation as itgoes through through time.
Um, I mean it's, you know,that's what's great about home.
You know media and that'swhat's great about being able to
own these.
If a streaming service pullsthe tom and jerry cartoons, you
will still have them, you know,and that's really, really it,
(18:29):
that's it.
I I fear the day that we don'thave physical media.
I hope that never happens, but,um, because that's the way it
was, george and I lived throughthis.
That was the way it was in ourchildhoods, our teenage years,
right, our early twenties.
That's how old we are.
That that we, you couldn't goand buy Casablanca.
You couldn't go and get the.
You couldn't buy these things.
(18:54):
They were either on TV at acertain date and you had to make
sure you were there to watch it, or maybe played in a repertory
theater If you were lucky, or amuseum, if you were lucky.
But to be able to own, to like,a book you know, to be able to
have it on your shelf, pull itoff and watch it any time.
This is definitely.
I know it is for George.
It's a dream.
Come you to build a librarythat will entertain you and
(19:17):
those in your life for years andyears to come and it's
(19:40):
something you can share withother people.
And if somebody is talking aboutsomething, you're also getting
it with the very best quality.
Yeah, yes, there arealternative ways of seeing.
Jerry mentioned that, uh, butyou're not getting the curation
and you're not getting thecontext, because what we have
(20:03):
here are we have thesedocumentaries, we have these
essays, we've got the booklet,we also have 20 commentaries
among the 114 cartoons, all inone release, and that is
basically unprecedented, and Ihope and Ierry, just as they
were the first mgm cartoons tomake it on beta and vhs and I
(20:49):
think they were on a ced and alaserdisc too.
Yeah, um, you know, before wedid our laserdisc box set you
know, um, you know, back back inour day, um, I'm gonna, I'll do
some confession, confession andreveal a little bit about
myself.
But I don't think I could havegotten through high school if I
didn't see Tom and Jerry andBugs Bunny when I got home and
(21:13):
they really inspired me to go onand they really mean a lot to
me and that's why I got involvedwith documenting the history of
animation, because at that timethere were no DVDs, tapes,
there weren't even books.
So I got involved with how manycartoons were there?
Who did them?
You know that kind of thing.
(21:34):
I got involved.
I just started researching itand that's how I got involved.
Back in our day, remember, wewould buy things.
If you're a movie buff, uh, youwould buy these books which I
still have, uh, from citadelpublishing, like the films of
john wayne, you know what I mean.
Uh, you know the films of everybig movie star, the films of
gene kelly, and I would buythose books a to relive those
(21:55):
great films.
They'd have stills, the credits.
We didn't have imdb, we didn'thave a computer, we didn't have
youtube, and we'd buy thosebooks.
And I was comforted knowing Ihad the record of these films
Leonard Maltin's, our Gang,right and Magic to document.
(22:22):
You know, these the cartoons, webought those things because we
wanted them as soon as this ideaof home video came to be, the
idea that you got to have acomplete set.
You know which we sort ofpioneered way back when I slept
better at night, you know,knowing that I could watch
Acrobatic Bunny whenever I it,because you know those cartoons
(22:42):
really mean something to me.
They're deeper than just afunny little seven minutes.
They got me through school,like I said.
So this is the payback, this iswhat we're doing to.
You know, make sure thesethings live forever.
Make sure these things liveforever.
Now I think it's somewhatwell-known, sadly, that the
(23:05):
original negatives for all theTom and Jerry cartoons burnt in
a tragic fire in 1978, they hadbeen copied for preservation
onto safety film those that wereon nitrate film, but it was all
the cartoons from 1940 to about1952.
So we've always been at adisadvantage.
(23:26):
We thought that a handful ofthem didn't burn up and that
information was incorrect.
It wasn't original negatives atall.
They were safety separationsand not nitrate original
negatives at all.
They were safety separationsand not nitrate original
negatives.
But because they were thesuccessive exposure, people
(23:48):
thought that it was nitrate andit wasn't and it was at a
different facility.
But the point is is that everyeffort has been made to use the
earliest generation sourcematerial of the best quality and
mistakes that were plentiful onprior releases have been
(24:09):
hopefully eradicated or made thebest that they can be dealing
with what we can deal with, andeverybody here is very, very
proud.
This has been such a wonderfulcongregation of different people
in different departments hereat Warner Brothers, all working
(24:33):
together to have somethingwonderful to do for Tom and
Jerry's 85th birthday.
And there was a time in thiscompany where you couldn't say
how old a cartoon was, youcouldn't say that a character
had an anniversary or birthday,because somebody thought that
was going to jeopardize onething or another.
(24:55):
And this is when there alreadywas IMDb, where you could look
and see whenever anything wasreleased or made.
Not that IMDb doesn't haveerrors in it it does but overall
it's pretty good.
But the point is now I thinkeverybody's put their best foot
forward and my hope is that ourloyal customers who have been
(25:17):
asking, pleading, crying forthis I hope it will make a lot
of people really happy.
I know that I'm grateful to mycolleagues and, of course, to
both of you and to everybody whogathers together to support our
efforts here, and it's reallywonderful to think how this is
(25:39):
arriving just in time forChristmas.
And you know, let Santa comedown your chimney with Tom and
Jerry.
It doesn't get better than that.
Tim Millard (25:49):
Well, I know I'm looking forward to seeing these.
Gee, some of these have notbeen seen for so long, and to
just have it all together in onecollection is going to be
amazing.
I'm going to want to watch themchronological just because
there's no way I've ever seenthem that way before.
So it's going to be a brand newexperience in HD.
(26:12):
Beautiful sound, beautifulpicture.
It's going to be fantastic.
George, jerry, this is excitingnews, as always.
Thank you for coming on andsharing this with the fans.
Well, thank you, tim.
As always, we are so gratefulfor the opportunity to share
what's happening with the peopleout there who support our work,
(26:33):
and I thank you and I thankthem and just to let everybody
know we'll we'll get backtogether once we get the discs
and we'll be talking about theseas well, so they can look
forward to that down the road.
George Feltenstein (26:44):
But we're going to have to do 114
different podcasts.
Tim Millard (26:48):
It'll be sometime in June next year by the time I
finish.
No, but that'll be a lot of fun.
George Feltenstein (26:54):
Just one of them will be all about the
cartoons that have mouse in thetitle, exactly.
Tim Millard (26:59):
All right, thanks.
Exactly All right.
Thanks, guys.
Thank you.
Well.
This is just so exciting foranimation fans and for fans of
Tom and Jerry and those of uswho grew up with all of these
fantastic classic cartoons.
And for those of you who'd liketo get your pre-order in right
away, it is available already onAmazon, so I have a link in the
(27:22):
podcast show notes.
Get your pre-orders in and thatway you'll get it sent to you
as soon as possible in December.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Millard, stay
slightly obsessed aboutanimation.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.