Give and Tyke

When a stray dog reads that the city will be sending every dog without a tag to pound, he steals Tyke's license. This gets him into a three way struggle over two licenses with Spike, while the dog catcher will happily grab any dog without a license.

Hanna and Barberra take a break from Tom & Jerry, just before they head off for independence, with a simple design that lets you know the budgets haven't risen in a dozen years. Daws Butler does all the voices, and the second dog sounds like a cross between Top Cat and Doggy Daddy.

A stray dog reads that dogs without licenses are being rounded up. Spike and Tyke have licenses. The stray dog sneaks into their backyard and steals Tyke's collar. The dog catcher catches Tyke and Spike gives him his license. This was created by Tom and Jerry creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It has their fun and it's good. The only thing better would be a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Spike is a good side character. As the lead, he is only second tier material.

As the 1950s progressed, most cartoons tended to look much cheaper....thanks to UPA and their ultra-cheap productions like "Gerald McBoing Boing" which, inexplicably, were garnering Oscars. I don't understand this, as the once-gorgeous backgrounds which were the norm in the 1940s were replaced with cheap and garish simplistic artwork. Additionally, cel-counts dropped and characters became simpler.

I mention all this because when you watch MGM's "Spike and Tyke", you can see how this modernistic trend was clearly being employed at the studio. And, if you compare the bulldogs Spike and his son, Tyke, to their earier versions in Tom & Jerry cartoons, you can see what I mean. They are simpler...and the backgrounds are often colors like orange and even hot pink! While many seemed to like these films, I wince when I see them because the artistry of the earlier cartoons is absent.

Despite these complaints, the cartoon itself is entertaining. When the story begins, a dog that is an Ed Norton knock-off (from "The Honeymooners") is worried as the city has announced a roundup of all dogs without licenses. So, he steals the license from Tyke and later Spike and most of the cartoon consists of the dogs trying to retrieve their licenses AND avoid the dog catcher. Mildly entertaining but not among the funnier and more creative MGM shorts.

This cartoon has Spike and Tyke of Tom and Jerry fame, without said cat or mouse. Sort of giving the supporting players a shot at the brass ring, as it were. Their problem child here is a dog clearly modeled after the pre-eminent second banana, the Ed Norton character from the show The Honeymooners. I half expect the words, "Ralphie boy" to glide through the air, a punch line in search of a set up (or vice versa). A great short, with gags aplenty. Good script and great voicework by Butler highlight this one. Well worth looking out for. Most recommended.

Instead it is Spike and Tyke in a cartoon that was intended to be a spin-off or part of one. And it is a pretty good cartoon actually. Sure the story is routine, and I found the animation quality inconsistent, it is certainly colourful but some of the background art detail and character designs seemed rough around the edges to me. The music however is great, with beautiful orchestration and upbeat rhythms. There is some humorous writing while the gags, involving the dogcatcher and the lengths Spike and the other dog goes to get the collar from one another, are plentiful and cleverly timed, making up for somewhat the lack of originality and the fact that some of it is not that much of a surprise. There is even a touching bit towards the end between Spike and Tyke, that turns into an originally noble then crafty action on the other dog's part. I loved the characters, Tyke is very cute while Spike is true to character, firm and caring if not as easily fooled as he was in his outings with Tom and Jerry. The dogcatcher is an amusing character and feels more than just a plot device, but the scene stealer is the second dog, who looks strongly like Disney's Pluto but with a hat. If there was a contender for the best asset of Give and Tyke, it is the voice work of Daws Butler, which was terrific. He has so much energy and sly delivery while maintaining that distinctive voice that he brought to Yogi Bear(he actually sounds very like him here as the second dog). In conclusion, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox