For the modern viewer, it is a reminder that slapstick has its own aesthetic. For the historian, it is the last place where the original sound of a falling piano isn't a digital sample—it is the sound of a real piano falling down a flight of stairs, recorded in 1943, preserved on a giant silver platter, waiting to be spun one more time.
Modern streaming versions of Tom and Jerry often suffer from "loudness wars" compression or replaced sound effects (generic boings instead of the original Foley crashes). The Art of Tom and Jerry contains a rare, uncompressed PCM stereo track derived directly from the original 35mm magnetic masters. the art of tom and jerry laserdisc archive
This is the tragedy of the archivist. Much of the original nitrate film elements for the 1940s Tom and Jerry shorts have deteriorated. The negatives for some of the supplementary material (the photos and sketches) are lost or were destroyed in the 1980s MGM vault fires. For the modern viewer, it is a reminder
The jackets feature high-quality frame enlargements and liner notes. ⚠️ The Rarity Factor Finding a complete set today is difficult and expensive. The Art of Tom and Jerry contains a
: This final 3-disc set compiles all 34 shorts produced by legendary animator Chuck Jones. It is now considered one of the rarest LaserDisc sets to find on the secondhand market. Why Collectors Prize This Set Before the advent of modern Blu-ray collections like the Golden Era Anthology (available on Instagram)
This volume was a "godsend" for collectors because it presented 22 shorts in their original 2.35:1 CinemaScope ratio
: A 3-disc set containing 48 cartoons, including the experimental CinemaScope
