It's Cartoon Time, kiddies! This is one that's embedded in my brain from having seen it 7,448 times between the ages of 4 and 8. Sheriff John Rovick on KTTV here in Los Angeles used to run Tom & Jerry cartoons on his daily noontime show, Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade. The Sheriff was a genial, gentle man who put on a great show even if he did only have about eight cartoons to run over and over and over.
This is, of course, not the famed cat 'n' mouse duo named Tom & Jerry. This is an earlier pair whose cartoons were animated between 1931 and 1933 by the Van Beuren Studios. They made 26 of these and among the folks responsible was a young gagman named Joseph Barbera. Years later, of course, Mr. Barbera would team up with Bill Hanna to make the cartoons of the other Tom & Jerry. Thanks to Sheriff John, I've always had a warm spot for the human versions and particularly remember this film, which was released on December 9, 1932. I'm about to watch it for the 7,449th time…