The famous couple of cat and mouse, Tom and Jerry, was first released in 1940 as a fruit of the creative work of the animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at MGM, known then as one of the famous cartoon studios. Their first short will be Puss Gets the Boot, the point of reference, about the tricks that can usually be seen in the traditional chase, slapstick comedy, and silent Hollywood comedy.

At the time, Tom was known as "Jasper," and Jerry had yet to be named; the resounding success of the short, however, prompted MGM to green-light a full series, and by the second cartoon, the name for the characters would be established-Tom the cat, Jerry the mouse.

Hanna and Barbera continued producing Tom and Jerry shorts, which quickly became incredibly popular. The duo’s physical comedy, with a simple premise of cat chasing mouse with endlessly inventive twists, won them a large fanbase. Between 1943 and 1952, Tom and Jerry won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film—still a record for an animated series.

The MGM cartoon studio was shut in 1957 and, with Hanna-Barbera, they left to found their own company and went on to produce even more: The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo. Tom and Jerry remained to remain in popular demand, and MGM simply farmed out new shorts to studios.

From 1961 to 1962, Czech animator Gene Deitch took over production, creating 13 unique and slightly surreal episodes that were stylistically different due to budget constraints and Deitch’s distinctive approach.

Later in the 1960s, MGM contracted the Tom and Jerry series to famed animation director Chuck Jones, who brought his own signature style and humour to the characters. Under Jones’s direction, Tom became more clever and Jerry a little less innocent, though the familiar chase-and-trap dynamic remained.

By the 1970s, Tom and Jerry had transitioned to television, where they continued to evolve through several revivals and adaptations. In the 1980s, The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show introduced more dialogue and expanded storylines, a departure from the series’ silent roots. Then came Tom and Jerry Kids in the 1990s, which reimagined the characters as young children in a series that aired on Fox Kids.

Tom and Jerry have made several direct-to-video movies since the 2000s, among them Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring and crossover films with the beloved Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In 2021, a hybrid film in which Tom & Jerry featured, in which their characters were embedded into everyday life, together with the introduction of them to a completely new audience, arrived at multiplexes.

The duo remains timeless as new adaptations, merchandise, and fan interest come from all across the world. Today, Tom and Jerry are no more a symbol of American animation but also a cultural landmark transcending language and generation and loved for their simple, universal comedy.