The year was 1947. Deep in the "Golden Age of Hollywood," with Technicolor magic at its peak, animated shorts were captivating millions. When it came to awards, one duo was sweeping everything: Tom and Jerry. On April 26 of that year, The Cat Concerto premiered — a short that, 75 years later, is still remembered as one of the best in animation history, and it has a fascinating story behind it.
If you try to find The Cat Concerto on YouTube, you'll only come across a truncated version uploaded by the WB Kids channel that removes many important details — to the point that it's not worth watching. A classic example of Warner being Warner, especially since that animated short recently turned 75 and still hasn't entered the public domain (we've already explored certain copyright maneuvers in the past). A bit of extra Google-fu will undoubtedly lead you to the full version... right?
75 Years of The Cat Concerto, One of Tom and Jerry's Finest Adventures
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39zrqc
The technical details of The Cat Concerto confirm William Hanna and Joseph Barbera as directors and story, Fred Quimby as producer, Scott Bradley as musical supervisor, layouts and backgrounds by Robert Gentle, and a large animation team including Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Richard Bickenbach, and Don Patterson. The result? Seven and a half minutes of pure comedy and action, with notable precision in several animation points, such as Tom's fingers correctly following Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
Plagiarism or Coincidence?
The Cat Concerto was nominated for the 1946 Academy Awards, although the process was not without controversy. Between 1946 and 1947, animation studios focused particularly on musical productions, but the surprise was huge when Warner presented Rhapsody Rabbit, a short with none other than Bugs Bunny in an extremely similar setting to Tom's — a pianist playing Rhapsody No. 2 and fighting with a mouse. The Cat Concerto was screened first, Rhapsody Rabbit followed, and Concerto ended up winning the Oscar in its category, while Rhapsody was not even nominated. The inevitable question: who stole from whom? Friz Freleng, director of Rhapsody Rabbit, swore he had never seen Concerto before, and examining available evidence suggests that Rhapsody precedes Concerto. So were Hanna and Barbera at fault?
A Bit of Technicolor
Actually, no. The best hypothesis is that Technicolor made a serious error, mixing material and sending a sample of Rhapsody to the MGM studio. Joe Adamson described the situation in his book Bugs Bunny: Fifty Years and Only One Grey Hare. (Editor's note: unofficial translation).
"Tex Avery witnessed when the obviously stressed Technicolor people mistakenly sent a day's filming of Rhapsody Rabbit to MGM's cartoon unit, apparently confusing it with a very similar Tom and Jerry cartoon in which Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera had placed their hopes for the 1947 Academy Award. When Bugs Bunny appeared on MGM's screen, Hanna and Barbera were initially disturbed: A project very similar to theirs was near completion at Termite Terrace, and clearly it was going to be a rival for the 1946 Oscar. The Tom & Jerry cartoon, finally titled Cat Concerto, was rushed through the production process at the studio and put into consideration for the Academy in the spring."
Beyond some exchanges, the truth is that both studios did not reach a legal conflict. The Cat Concerto won the 1946 Oscar fair and square, adding the fourth consecutive win for Tom and Jerry. Freleng had his revenge the following year by winning the Oscar for Tweetie Pie, the first crossover of Sylvester and Tweety. And to top it off, none of that clash matters now, because thanks to a series of mergers and acquisitions, both shorts belong to Warner.
Sources: Cartoon Research, Wikipedia
