Tom's Owner (Gene Deitch era)

Tom's Owner is an unnamed, middle-aged, average height, overweight, short-tempered, and bald white character who appeared only in the Gene Deitch-era (1961-1962) of the Tom and Jerry shorts, serving as Tom's owner, as well as an antagonist. He appeared in only three cartoons: Down and Outing, High Steaks, and Sorry Safari, and was voiced by the late Allen Swift.

Why He Sucks

 * 1) Unlike Tom's previous owners, he has really severe anger issues and is very brutal, violent, and savage in punishing Tom for his actions, even when the poor cat didn't do anything.
 * 2) * Even Spike the Bulldog from the original Hanna Barbera-era isn't that aggressive in clobbering Tom for his actions as this character, and only clobbers Tom mildly, even when it's usually undeserved. Spike even once saved Tom from another dog in The Truce Hurts and occasionally does treat Tom nicely like when he thanked the cat for curing his and Tyke's hiccups in Hic-Cup Pup. This owner hardly does that.
 * 3) * He's basically like a human version of Spike the Bulldog, but with none of Spike's likability and charm. In fact, if you take away all of Spike's redeeming or likable qualities (even more so than the 2014 reboot version), you're left with this character in a nutshell.
 * 4) His punishments are very cruel and they are basically borderline animal abuse/cruelty, thus making him a really bad cat owner. For instance, stomping Tom's hand really hard to the point where it gets all red and swollen in Down and Outing, searing his face with a steak grill and forcing him to drink an entire bottle of a fizzy soda in High Steaks, and wrapping a gun around his head and firing it and bashing his head with a thermos in Sorry Safari. In High Steaks, he beats Tom up alot more.
 * 5) Aside from punishing Tom with very brutal and violent methods, he hardly ever shows any sort of love or compassion whatsoever towards him unlike the previous owners or even the other characters.
 * 6) He never reprimands Tom even when he didn't do anything, unlike the other characters/owners, but always harms him right away.
 * 7) Unlike the other characters/owners, he lacks any kind of personality, aside from being just a very violent and grouchy man.
 * 8) In Down and Outing, he drives recklessly and yelled at a driver for calling him out which shows that he's oblivious for the fact that he's bad, and also stomped on Tom's hand really hard, causing it to graphically swell.
 * 9) He smiles sadistically whenever Tom is hurt.
 * 10) His mouth, when he gets angry, moves in a weird way, and he often rants and gibbers like a madman.
 * 11) He blames Tom for everything that Jerry (who's gotten flanderized) does without any research and assaults him despite his innocence.
 * 12) Near the end of High Steaks, he didn't care when Tom's tail is stuck on the grill and is on fire (Jerry placed his tail on the grill), and when the cat screams for help and accidentally knocks down his steak dinner (and then him) in the process, he gets really angry about it, and when Tom jumps into the pool and drowns, after fishing the cat out the pool (by holding him by the neck), he just proceeds to beat up the cat senseless, ignoring how much Tom has suffered with his tail stuck to the grill and ties him up by the lounge chair! Jerry then ties the chair to a passing car, leaving Tom at an unknown fate.
 * 13) In Sorry Safari, he didn't care when Tom's nose got stuck in a shotgun, he tells him that it's his gun and that he should give it to him, and when his hat gets shot, he wrapped his shotgun around Tom's head and fired it!
 * 14) With the minor exception of Sorry Safari, he never gets any comeuppances for his actions, hence making him a Karma Houdini.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) He only appeared in three shorts and was never seen again.
 * 2) He finally got his comeuppance in Sorry Safari.
 * 3) To be fair, he wasn't aware of the fact that Jerry caused the problems as the two have probably never interacted.

Trivia

 * Tom's Owner bears a resemblance to Clint Clobber, a Terrytoons character that Deitch had created in the late-1950s, even sharing the same voice actor, Allen Swift. This led to many fans confusing the two.
 * He has become one of the most hated characters in the franchise by fans, alongside Jeannie the Babysitter and Nancy. Though, out of them all, he is presumably the most hated one.
 * He gave out the famous "DON'T TOUCH MY GUNS!" meme.

Reception
Tom's Owner is one of the main reasons why the Gene Deitch-era of Tom and Jerry is poorly received by critics and fans. Because of that, he has been permanently removed from the Tom and Jerry franchise after Sorry Safari following the intense negative backlash that he had received from fans.

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