Vernon Stallings
1891 - 1963George Vernon Stallings was an American animation director and writer. He started working for Bray Productions in 1916 where he directed the Colonel Heeza Liar series of shorts, and the Krazy Kat shorts. He then worked for Van Beuren Studios from 1931 through 1934. Stallings directed the Silly Symphonies short Merbabies before continuing writing for the Disney studios on feature films such as Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. He is the son of famous baseball manager George Stallings.
Pencil Mania
John Foster, Vernon Stallings
This Tom and Jerry cartoon (the human versions, not the cat and mouse) is an opportunity for the animators to have fun with the medium. There is no specific plot. One of the boys uses a pencil to create a myriad number of animated illusions that could only work in a cartoon. For example, a short vertical line is drawn, which when held by both ends suddenly becomes a saxophone. When played, the notes pop out of the bell of the instrument to suddenly grow legs and transform into ducks. After the song, the saxophone itself quickly follows suit and becomes a goose. The entire short consists of these disjointed, though often creative and humorously unlikely events.
Pencil Mania
Jolly Fish
John Foster, Vernon Stallings
Tom and Jerry go fishing, where they encounter an affectionate but annoying fish who won't leave them alone. They hear a piano-playing octopus (with twelve arms!) and have a run-in with a sword fish who cuts their boat in half. Other hijinks ensue, and the two eventually catch a tiny fish, which is in turn swallowed by a larger fish, and this process continues until they've caught a veritable whale. They row ashore triumphant, but when one of them puts their reel (still holding the fish) over their shoulder, the larger fish slip off, unbeknownst to them, leaving them with the runt they started with.
Jolly Fish
The Magic Mummy
John Foster, Vernon Stallings
Tom and Jerry are police officers, driving around in their car and enjoying listening to some music on their police radio, when they hear a bulletin announcing another theft of a mummy from the local museum. They stumble upon the culprit, a mysterious and ghoulish man who is carrying a coffin through a secret door in a cemetery. They sneak in after him and watch him command the mummy to life; it is a beautiful woman, who he then commands to sing for his audience of skeletal theatre-goers.
The Magic Mummy
A Swiss Trick
John Foster, Vernon Stallings
Tom and Jerry are aboard a train making its way up a mountain in the Swiss Alps. When their train breaks down, they're spotted by a very thin St. Bernard, who brings the engine some liquor. The engine zips through the Alps, but leaves the pair behind.
A Swiss Trick
The Tuba Tooter
John Foster, Vernon Stallings
A German "ohm-pah" trio is incomplete until their tuba player arrives on a boat from overseas. The resulting quartet brings the whole town out for a German dance party, until the police arrive to take the "tuba tooter" to jail.
The Tuba Tooter
A Spanish Twist
John Foster, Vernon Stallings
Tom and Jerry (the human versions, not the cat and mouse) are on a raft in the ocean. After being attacked by an octopus and losing their raft, they wash up on the shores of Spain. After harassing the waitresses at a local sidewalk café, they insult the owner and wind up in a bull ring as punishment. In the midst of fighting dozens of bulls, they receive a telegram that Prohibition has been repealed back in the U.S. They immediately leave Spain headed back to the U.S. for a drink.
A Spanish Twist
