The Cat Concerto
Tom enters from stage left in white tie and tails, sits at the piano, gets his focus as the orchestra in the pit beneath him warms up, and begins to play Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody.” Unbeknownst to Tom and the audience, Jerry is asleep across several of the low-note keys inside the instrument, so Tom’s playing eventually wakes him. Jerry is pummeled by hammers, bounced by wires, and squeezed by Tom as the cat tries to play the concerto while dispensing with Jerry. Jerry’s defensive antics add to the brio of the program and answer Tom with Jerry’s own skillful musical attack. By the concerto’s end, the duet leaves only one animal standing for the audience’s applause.
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), and by common consent the finest Tom and Jerry ever made. Tom performs Liszt's second Hungarian Rhapsody in white tie while Jerry, woken inside the piano, wages war on him — and Tom never stops playing, never breaks character, and never acknowledges the audience. The animation is locked to the score with astonishing precision. Warner Bros released a strikingly similar piano cartoon the same season and the two studios accused each other of copying for years afterwards; the argument has never been settled. Whatever the truth, this is the one that won.