The Milky Waif

Plot

Jerry's asleep on his bed having a nightmare when he wakes with the sound of a knock at his door and goes out to open it, finding a basket on his door step. He pokes the basket, and it comes alive and runs around in circles. Jerry pulls the blanket off to reveal Nibbles. An attached note says, "Please take care of Little Nibbles—He's always hungry! P.S. Feed him lots of milk." Nibbles then begins licking his lips and rubbing his belly.

After finding that he has no food, Jerry tiptoes out of his hole, spotting Tom asleep by his bowl of milk. Nibbles sees the milk and runs towards it, but Jerry pulls him back and goes out to get the milk for him. Nibbles runs out, but accidentally waking Tom. Jerry grabs Nibbles and both fall into the bowl of milk, splashing it into Tom's face and waking him. Tom, startled, looks around and sees no one, so he starts to drink his milk. Jerry and Nibbles are under the milk holding their breath until Tom unsuspectingly scoops up Nibbles with his tongue. Jerry jumps out of the milk and opens the cat's mouth to retrieve Nibbles, which begins the chase. The mice retreat into the mousehole before Tom crashes head first into the wall.

Jerry builds a pipeline of straws into the milk but Tom turns the tables by grabbing the end of the straw and sucking Nibbles through into it. Jerry squishes the end of the straw, saving Nibbles just in time, and blows the small mouse into the mousehole. Tom chases Jerry back to his hole but the cat moves the hole so that Jerry crashes into the wall and grabs him, but Nibbles comes out and hits Tom's tail with a hammer. The chase starts up again until Nibbles sips and spits some milk into Tom's face.

Jerry and Nibbles hide in a closet, while Tom pounds on the door. Jerry uses a container of shoe polish to disguise himself and Nibbles as a pair of black people. Jerry (voiced by Lillian Randolph) emerges from the closet dressed in a headscarf and in blackface and greets Tom. Out comes Nibbles also in blackface and wearing a headscarf. However, the disguise is revealed when Nibbles' diaper falls down, exposing his tail and gray fur. The chase continues until Jerry hits Tom in the face with a frying pan, knocking him out before he pulls out Tom's tongue, and all with his strength knocks the cat in the head, causing Tom to chomp his tongue and he yells in pain before the chase once again. Jerry hands the frying pan to Nibbles and continues to lead the chase. But Instead of whacking the cat, Nibbles swings too soon and smashes his comrade. This repeats a second time, and on third time around, Jerry stops and points at the cat. Nibbles obliges and hits Tom square in the face, then crawls under the rug to escape with Jerry. Tom grabs a bottle to trap the mice but only catches Jerry. Nibbles taunts the cat and darts back under the rug, and Tom continues the chase.

Nibbles stops at the bowl again, signals for the cat to stop, and starts to drink the milk. Tom allows the mouse to drink briefly, then grabs Nibbles, but Nibbles crawls under Tom's fur. Tom grabs his tail and a revolver to shoot at Nibbles when he emerges from it, but just shoots his tail instead, screaming in agony. As Nibbles runs away, the cat chases him with a flyswatter and corners him. He gives the mouse with a great swat on the buttock. Jerry breaks through the glass to inspect his nephew. Jerry became very upset about a serious big red mark on Nibble's buttock by Tom's swat. Realizing what he did was unwise, the guilty Tom hides the flyswatter behind his back as if to say, "It's not what it looks like Jerry". Not fooled, Jerry lets out a gentle roar and Tom turns yellow in fear. He tries to run away but Jerry grabs his tail, slams him against the floor, and then throws him into the trash can. He bashes Tom's face repeatedly with the can's lid.

In the last scene, a still-incensed Jerry stands with a wooden meat tenderizer over a bruised and injured Tom to keep him in line under a threat of getting hit, wanting him to spoon-feed Nibbles his milk. Tom timidly spoon-feeds milk to Nibbles, not to let one drop spill or else...!

Censorship

There is a scene where Jerry and Nibbles dress up as blackface caricatures to fool Tom. Additionally, Jerry is voiced by Lillian Randolph during the scene. The entire scene is usually cut from TV versions, so the edit occurs between Jerry and Nibbles running in the kitchen and Tom running into the frying pan.

Voice Cast

Availability

DVD

TV