Shrinking Violet

Tom's advances on a young jive-talking girl cat get nowhere; nowhere, that is, until Tom gets a zoot suit. Armed with his miles of fabric and a new cool lingo, Tom still has to deal with the tricks of his nemesis, Jerry.

The Easter bunny brings an egg for Tom and Jerry that hatches into the little duckling. He keeps getting into water he shouldn't: the aquarium, water cooler, bathtub, sink, as the boys keep rescuing it. They try to give the duck back to the Easter bunny - no go. They leave it in the pond at the park and think they're home free, until the duckling brings his friends home.

Jerry is far from Tom's servant here. Tom, shipwrecked, washes up on a tropical island. His first attempts at food - a coconut and a turtle - are much too hard. But he spots Jerry just before Jerry sees him, and soon has him in the frying pan. Jerry escapes to a cannibal village; when he sees Tom's frightened reaction, he has his plan. Using soot from a pot, he blackens himself, then threatens Tom and starts cooking him. But Jerry's plan - and tail, and un-blackened bottom - is exposed when his grass skirt comes off during his war dance. Jerry helicopters away using the bone in his hair, and leading Tom right into the real cannibals. But Jerry's triumph is short-lived, as a pygmy cannibal comes after him.

Felix the Cat is perched in a tree playing his guitar and serenading himself and a canary with a little ditty called "Nature and Me." It is a beautiful day in cartoon-land but Mother Nature, perhaps not a music lover, whips up a lightning-laden thunderstorm and Felix is soon seeking shelter. He finds it at the castle of King Cole, a boastful, fabricating blow-hard. The King's ancestors, tired of hearing the braggart, come out of their pictures as ghostly specters and take the King to the dungeon and pump the gassy hot-air out of him.

Felix is feeding his various pets: a bird, two dogs, and a goldfish. But Annabelle the goldfish is unhappy; she's lonely. Felix sets out to catch her a friend. The fish drag him underwater. After a bit of searching, he finds a goldfish, but the fish cries for help, and Felix finds himself on trial before King Neptune. He's accused of wanting to eat the fish, but after he explains himself, Neptune gives him a fish from the fish orphanage, and everyone lives happily.

Oswald would like to see Mlle. Zulu the Shimmy Queen but he's short on cash. Seeing the more stately gentlemen being admitted without tickets, he tries to fool the bouncer into thinking he's important by puffing up his chest and striding in. It doesn't work, and he's forced to try a second plan, sneaking in under another patron's shadow. He gets caught and spends his time being chased by the bouncer throughout the theater.

Oswald is riding along on his horse having a merry old time when the two of them fall down a hill, right up to a castle. Oswald whistles for the princess, who blows him a kiss as she appears on a balcony. He reaches her by lassoing the balcony and tying the other end of the rope to his horse's tail, using it as a tightrope. A rival knight suddenly appears and Oswald falls off the balcony, startled. He manages to climb back up and the two fight for the princess.

Oswald is off to see his sweetheart when he is passed by a rival in a faster car. He takes the lead, though, when both drivers encounter a mud puddle; Oswald isn't afraid to get a little dirty, while his competitor is. Oswald arrives and serenades his love, hampered by the animals in the yard. The rival shows up and they fight over the girl, during which time she slips away with a third suitor.

Oswald the Rabbit enters an airplane race with a makeshift aircraft and ends up riding a dachshund lifted into the air by balloons. Meanwhile, his peg-legged rival tries to cheat his way to victory.

Oswald's country is at war, like many other volunters he joins the army and finds himself soon in the trenches. A short battle leaves him wounded, but at least in the field hospital where his girlfriend is working.

Tom enters from stage left in white tie and tails, sits at the piano, gets his focus as the orchestra in the pit beneath him warms up, and begins to play Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody". Unbeknownst to Tom and the audience, Jerry is asleep across several of the high-note keys inside the instrument, so Tom's playing eventually wakes him. Jerry is pummeled by hammers, bounced by wires, and squeezed by Tom as the cat tries to play the concerto while dispensing with Jerry. Jerry's defensive antics add to the brio of the program and answer Tom with Jerry's own skillful musical attack. By the concerto's end, the duet leaves only one animal standing for the audience's applause.