The Milky Waif (1946)

Jerry finds himself in charge of a foundling mouse called Nibbles, who is eager to steal milk from Tom's bowl and oblivious to the danger.

Directors:

Joseph Barbera, William Hanna

Stars:

William Hanna, Lillian Randolph

Cast

Credited cast:
William Hanna	...	Tom (voice)

Storyline

Jerry is awakened from a nightmare by a knock on the door: someone has left a foundling in a walnut shell with a note, giving his name as Nibbles and saying he needs lots of milk. Fortunately, there's a dish handy, but it's next to Tom. Nibbles scurries out and dives off Tom's nose, then grabs a whisker for balance, waking Tom up. Jerry grabs him just in time and they hide under the milk. Tom laps up some milk and gets Nibbles; Jerry rescues him, and they run for the hole. Next, they try a very long straw; Tom catches them and sucks Nibbles through the straw. Much chasing follows, with a pause now and then for some milk. Tom traps Jerry in a milk bottle and chases Nibbles a while; he finally corners Nibbles and spanks him with a flyswatter. Jerry is so enraged he burst out of the milk bottle and lets out a ferocious roar; he grabs Tom by the tail and thoroughly pummels him, then stands over him as Tom feeds Nibbles milk.

---

Plot Keywords:

1940s | tom the cat character | jerry the mouse character | cartoon cat | cartoon mouse | 

---

Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family

---

Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last Tom and Jerry cartoon animated by Irven Spence until The Cat Concerto (1947) and The Invisible Mouse (1947) when he returned from this short.

---

Alternate Versions

Cartoon Network's print cuts the sequence where Jerry and Nibbles disguise themselves as African-Americans, and very badly too.

---

Connections

Followed by Love That Pup (1949)

---

Soundtracks

Shortnin' Bread
(uncredited)
Traditional

User Reviews

The First Of The 'Nibbles" Intro Films

I swear I have seen another cartoon in which the character "Nibbles" was "introduced" yet the opening scenes in here make it sound like he's introduced in THIS cartoon. I finally looked it up and found out THIS cartoon was the first and the other one - "The Little Orphan" - was the similar story, and released in 1948.

Anyway, Jerry wakes up from a bad dream and hears a knock on the door and there, under a blanket in a little wooden bowl is the little gray mouse. Attached to the blanket is a note saying, "Please take care of Nibbles. He's always hungry. P.S. Feed him lots of milk."

Well, as a watched this I realized it's a different story because in the other cartoon, the "orphan Nibbles" eats Jerry out of house and home. Here, he's just a milk freak, so the story centers around the little one getting his milk from Tom's bowl.

The gags are funny in here, I am to give them that. I also have to remark how violent some of these T&J cartoons are, not that it bothers me but often I am almost shocked at the amount of it....mainly because I can't believe the pain that usually inflicted on the poor cat (Tom). It's unbelievable what this cat goes through in most of these cartoons, but this one isn't as rough. At least both mice get a little of their own medicine, too.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Den forslugne mus

Company Credits

Production Co:

Loew's, MGM Cartoon Studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

7 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1