Tom and Jerry is an American series of animated cartoons created by
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, centering on a
never-ending rivalry between Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse. Hanna and
Barbera wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry shorts
between 1940 and 1957, before the animation department was closed.
The original Tom and Jerry series, now known as one
of the most famous and longest-lived rivalries in American TV history, is notable for having
won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film seven times, tying with Walt
Disney’s Silly
Symphonies. A longtime television favorite with kids, teenagers,
and adults alike, in 2000 it was named one of the greatest television shows of
all time by Time magazine.
