2016-02-12 Fri

Did you know that Tom and Jerry's first appearance was not on television?

They first appeared in an MGM cartoon called “Puss Gets the Boot”, which was released to theatres on February 10, 1940. The cat was named "Jasper"; the mouse was unnamed onscreen, but was called "Jinx" by the MGM animation staff.

The cat and the mouse were later renamed as “Tom” and “Jerry” respectively and this series became the highest-grossing animated short film series of time, overtaking Looney Tunes. In its original run, Hanna and Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1940 to 1957. Later another of 47 episodes were added to original from 1957 to 1967 and a number of spin-offs have been made. Tom and Jerry still date is loved by all and it completed 76 years this 10th February 2016.

The Royal Canadian Mint had in 2013 issued a Sterling-Silver 1 dollar (Country of issue: Niue) coin. The reverse side of the coin has the images of Tom and Jerry are depicted in relief. Next to it, the colourful image of the cartoon characters and the inscription: TOM AND JERRY. On the obverse, the stylized image of a film reel with the scenes featuring the fantastic cartoon characters. Along the edge is the inscription: ELIZABETH II, and on the right: 1 dollar, the mint mark: MW, and at the bottom is the inscription Niue Island, and the year 2013.

There are many stamps of various countries like Netherlands, Morocco, USA, and etc featuring these ‘Best Buddies’ as well.