Life with Tom (1953)

Mail call. Nothing for Tom, but at Jerry's box, Tom finds a package; inside is a book, "Life with Tom" by Jerry Mouse. As Tom flips to chapters and hears, first a radio audience, then a group of alley cats, then Spike and Tyke, all laughing over the book, we see the clips from earlier shows that everyone is laughing at (the clip from _Little Orphan, The (1949)_ has the original animation of Tom being set on fire, but is cut before the blackface images). Tom gets more and more irate about being the butt of everyone's jokes, and confronts Jerry, clobbering him with the book, when Jerry shows Tom the rest of his mail. The royalty checks have come in, and Jerry has split his $50,000 royalty with Tom. Suddenly, with $25,000 in his pocket, Tom is able to find the book funny. —Jon Reeves