Switchin' Kitten

Switchin' Kitten
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Released:	September 7, 1961
Runtime:	8 min. 51 sec.
Series:	Tom and Jerry
Production Number:	400
Copyright Renewed:	August 5, 1988
Starring:	Tom Cat Jerry Mouse Mad Scientist
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Allen Swift (uncredited) Gene Deitch (uncredited)
Director:	Gene Deitch
Written By:	Eli Bauer Gene Deitch
Producer:	William L. Snyder Gene Deitch (uncredited)
Animated By:	Milan Klikar Zdenek Smetana Jindra Barta Antonin Bureš Mirko Kačena Věra Kudrnová Olga Šišková Věra Marešová Zdenka Skřipková (all uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Lu Guarnier Gary Mooney
Background Artist:	Miluse Hluchanicová (uncredited) Bohumil Siska (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Gene Deitch (uncredited) Zdenka Navrátilová (uncredited)
Camera Operator:	Zdenka Hajdová (uncredited)
Sound Effects:	Tod Dockstader (uncredited)
Musician:	Vaclav Lidi (uncredited)

Switchin' Kitten is a 1961 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Gene Deitch.

Plot

During a storm, Tom is trying to find a place to stay after being thrown out of a horse-drawn wagon. In the meantime, Jerry is assisting a mad scientist in a castle. They take Lightning and strap him to a table next to a dog that is strapped to another table. The mad scientist and Jerry push a number of buttons and controls to switch the brains of the cat and dog, that is, Lightning now has a dog's brain and vice versa. The mad scientist gives the "cat" to Jerry as a companion. While they are sleeping, Tom approaches the castle, noticing Jerry. Lightning (with a dog brain) growls and threatens Tom. Tom tries to convince Lightning that he is a cat, but fails. Over the next few minutes, Tom's efforts to catch Jerry are thwarted by Lightning. As Tom runs off in fright, he comes into contact with other animals that the mad scientist has experimented on, including a chirping elephant, a chicken that bleats like a lamb, a mooing cuckoo-bird, a dog whose brain was switched with Lightning, Tom prays for the cartoon not to end, but Jerry roars like the MGM Lion, Leo, with the trademark ribbon that reads "Ars Gratia Artis" (Latin for "Art for Art's Sake"), the official motto for the company) ends it anyway. Tom blasts off like a spacecraft, as he flees out of the castle, while Jerry winks at the camera as it closes.

Availability

• (2013) DVD - Tom and Jerry's Magical Misadventures (TV print; Warner Bros.)
• (2015) DVD - Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection (restored; Warner Bros.)

Notes

• This is the first cartoon without animation credits since 1942.
• The cartoon was originally titled "Dog My Cats".
• On July 18, 1961, MGM announced that it was going to resume filming of Tom and Jerry cartoons.
• The orange cat in this short might be Lightning Cat.
• The blue bulldog resembles Spike Bulldog, albeit not the same character.

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