Tom and Jerry

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Tom and Jerry were fictional characters that starred in a series of early sound cartoons produced by the Van Beuren Studios. The series lasted from 1931 to 1933. When Official Films purchased the Van Beuren library in the 1950s, the characters were renamed Dick and Larry to avoid confusion with the famous cat and mouse team of the same name. Today, animation historians refer to the characters as Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry.

Tom and Jerry are an animated cat (Tom)and mouse (Jerry) team.
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who formed the basis of a successful series of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatrical short subjects created, written and directed by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (later of Hanna-Barbera fame). One hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in Hollywood from 1940 until 1957, when the animation unit was closed down. These shorts are notable for having won seven Academy Awards for Best short Subject (Cartoons), tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the most-awarded theatrical animated series.

In 1960, MGM outsourced the production of Tom and Jerry to Rembrandt Films (led by Gene Deitch) in Eastern Europe. Three years later, production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood with Chuck Jones' Sib-Tower 12 Productions; this series lasted until 1967. Tom and Jerry later resurfaced in TV cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera (1975 - 1977; 1990 - 1993) and Filmation Studios (1980 - 1982)