User Reviews

It's a quiet day at the railroad station. Jerry is playing craps with the dog, and a mosquito is bothering Mr. Givney, so he tells Jerry to get rid of the insect. Jerry attaches a hammer to to dog's tail to take out the bug, with the usual results.

Although JERRY ON THE JOB was a very successful comic strip that ran from 1915-1932, the movie version -- usually animated by an uncredited Walter Lantz -- was not as good. It lacked the absurd cast of characters that hung around the railroad station and the daft signs that filled the comic. Although it occasionally stretched itself, particular when Mr. Hoban was away during the First World War, the emphasis here seems to have been on getting it out on schedule -- Lantz later claimed than he animated a three or four minute cartoon every two weeks.

"Tale of a Wag" is a Jerry on the Job cartoon from Bray Studios. It seems that it's based on a newspaper comic strip by Walter Hoban and involved the young Jerry working a variety of jobs. Bray made these shorts from 1916-1920 and apparently Walter Lantz (of later Woody Woodpecker fame) did the animation.

When the story begins, Jerry and his dog are shooting dice. The boss gets Jerry because a pesky mosquito is bothering him....and Jerry gets the insane idea of tying a hammer to his dog's tale and then having the dog hammer away the bug!

While the story is simple and the drawings even simpler (with no shading or much in the way of backgrounds), the story accomplished something important...it made me laugh! Also, for 1920, it's a very good cartoon....as good as many of its contemporaries, such as Felix the Cat....which it preceded by a few years....and with similar art stylings.