The Tom and Jerry wars: How acrimony between the cartoon’s producer and its animators was key to its success

MGM cartoon boss Fred Quimby used to take all the credit for Joseph Barbera and William Hanna’s cat-and-mouse stories. As the new Tom and Jerry movie hits screens, Geoffrey Macnab looks at how resentment can be good for creativity

The furry feuding duo featured alongside Esther Williams in ‘Dangerous when Wet’ (1953) (Mgm/Kobal/Shutterstock)

You can see the footage of the old Oscars ceremony online. The master of ceremonies beckons glamorous star Jeanne Crain to the microphone to present the 1949 short film award. When she announces the winner – the Tom and Jerry cartoon The Little Orphan – a stocky, middle-aged man in a bow tie clumps his way inelegantly to the front, brusquely takes the statuette and quickly disappears backstage. There is no speech or acknowledgement of any of his collaborators. 

This happened many times over the years. The man who made off with the Oscars was Fred Quimby, the head of MGM’s cartoon department. From 1943 to 1953, Tom and Jerry shorts, written and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, won seven Academy Awards, but Quimby, as the producer, hogged the limelight… and all the statuettes. 

“Quimby used to walk up on the stage, take the Oscar, never say a word and leave. It was highway robbery,” Barbera later complained.