You all know Tom and Jerry, the cat and mouse from M.G.M. cartoons. If you are a true animation buff, you also know Tom and Jerry, the tall-and-short pair that appeared in Van Beuren cartoons before them. This new website tells you all about the human duo, whose cartoons I remember well from my early television viewing. Sheriff John ran them, over and over, on his Lunch Brigade cartoon show on KTTV, Channel 11 here in Los Angeles. After the feline/rodent characters named Tom and Jerry became famous, the old Van Beuren shorts were retitled "Dick and Larry"…but I am certain that the ones Sheriff John ran were still named "Tom and Jerry."
In fact, I recall wondering how the cat and mouse in my Tom and Jerry comic books and in the cartoons over on Channel 13 could have the same names as the two guys on Sheriff John's show. Around this time at a restaurant, I heard an adult order a "Tom and Jerry" from the bar and I wondered if the drink was named after the human Tom and Jerry or the animal Tom and Jerry. When you're a kid, the world can be so mysterious.