Van Beuren's Cartoon Classics. Tom and JerryVan Beuren's Cartoon Classics. Tom and Jerry

Surreal fun and antics await in these timeless cartoon classics from the Van Beuren Studio! Animation director John Foster created Tom and Jerry, and New York based artists George Stallings and George Rufle in the early 1930s. The characters were based on Waffles the Cat and Don Dog from the Aesop's Fables cartoon series, and were inspired by the popular comic strip Mutt and Jeff; several animators from the Fleischer animation studio (Betty Boop) moonlighted for Van Beuren, which was located right across the street! These animators took their surreal and kooky animation styles with them to work on Tom and Jerry. Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera fame, also got his start working on this series; in the 1950s, the characters were renamed Dick and Larry to avoid confusion with the famous cat and mouse duo. Today, Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry have a loyal cult following among 1930s animation fans.