Tom & Jerry were cartoon characters that starred in a series of early sound cartoons produced by Van Beuren Studios in the 1930s.

The characters were a Mutt and Jeff-like pair, one short (Jerry) and one tall (Tom). Each cartoon featured a different adventure and the plot varied from film to film. Sometimes they were babysitters, sometimes they were hobos, etc. Stylistically, the cartoons were similar to those made by Fleischer Studios, which like Van Beuren Studios was located in New York City.

In 1940, MGM came up with their own cartoon characters that had the name Tom & Jerry, the now-famous cat and mouse pair. Because of the enormous popularity of this new Tom & Jerry, the Van Beuren characters were renamed Dick & Larry in the 1950s to avoid confusion.

External links

• Full list of Van Beuren Tom & Jerry cartoons from the Big Cartoon Database