TOM & JERRY - 023 - Springtime For Thomas (1946-03-30)

Springtime for Thomas (also known as Springtime for Tom) is a 1946 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 23rd Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby.

On a beautiful spring day, Jerry wants to play with Tom, but Tom is too busy, fixated with a female cat named Toodles sunbathing in the yard outside. Tom stares dreamily at her for hours, until he approaches her and falls head over heels in love with her. As Jerry watches, a small devil (his anti-conscience smaller, green with a barbed tail, small horns, and pointed ears) convinces Jerry to break things up between Tom and his new-found love. Jerry sends a forged letter laced with perfume to Butch, Tom's rival, foraging in a trash can in the alley. Butch reads the letter aloud and speeds off to gain Toodles' affections.

First Butch lies on the sun lounger, next to Toodles. Tom gets a croquet mallet and hits Butch on the head with it. Butch does not react to the pain. Instead, he grabs Tom and throws him into the swimming pool. Tom gets out of the pool as Butch is serenading Toodles the chorus of the Spanish song Quiéreme Mucho (written by Gonzalo Roig with lyrics by Agustín Rodríguez)[1] with his guitar. Tom grabs the end of the sun-lounger and wheels it over to the pool, tips Butch into the pool via the diving board. Butch gets out of the pool and hits a croquet ball on Tom. Tom, drinking from a tall glass, gets hit on the back of the head and falls down. Butch hits Tom through a number of croquet rings and he crashes into the central pole. Tom lands onto a barbecue and turned around on a rotisserie.

Butch is now laid down again next to Toodles. Jerry, and his anti-conscience, place a pin onto a spring under the lounger. Butch says that he is expecting Cupid's arrow any minute and at that precise minute, the pin jabs him in the rear and sends him flying up with a loud scream. The pin is left sticking out of the lounger just as Tom walks over. Tom picks it up and Butch assumes that Tom had caught him with the pin. He chases Tom, who hits Butch by turning a statue as Butch is running towards Tom. Butch then chases Tom off the high diving board; after landing in the water, Tom quickly drinks all the water, this makes Butch crash on the bottom of the pool. Tom then runs to a swing, places a flower pot on it, and hurls the swing at Butch, hitting him (and leaving Butch wearing the flower on his head). He then throws the swing back, catching Tom on the seat. Tom swings back, helplessly, and Butch hits him with his guitar like a baseball bat. Tom flies over the fence and off the garden.

Tom frowns and gives up trying, saying "Aw, phoo!". Jerry runs up to Tom, and the two shake hands as they agree that Tom is finished with Toodles. Tom then gives chase to Jerry, with each wearing happy expressions on their faces. However, this chase ends prematurely, because Jerry hypocritically finds his girlfriend on the enclosure and starts to fall in love with her. He pushes Tom out of the way as if to say, "Personal space, please," and snuggles up to his newfound girlfriend.