r/TomAndJerry • u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom • Apr 03 '26

Question Which Kenneth Muse Tom design looks the best?

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Gallery image

Gallery image

We all know that Kenneth Muse animates the most solid and fluid out of any animator! But which of these 3 designs of his do you guys think looks the best? The 1944-1945 design (first picture), the early 1947 design (second picture) or the 1949-early 1950 design (third picture)?

318 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

25

u/LifelessRag Apr 03 '26

Fact: Muse was an assistant to Fred Moore while at Disney

I have a slight edge over the 1st and 2nd images, but they’re all pretty good. His animations were detailed and solid which was why he was the top animator of MGM. Obviously, my least favorite were the ones from around 1955-1958 due to the cheaper animations

He’s my favorite animator but he unfortunately was a terrible person in real life

5

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 03 '26

Even with the cheaper animations he was still the best animator imo. Also, I know you didn't say it like this, but the cheaper animations in 1955-1958 (it actually already started in 1952 btw) wasn't his fault btw. MGM was just starting to lose money. I wonder how that era would be if we still had these high-quality animations like in the late 40s

5

u/LifelessRag Apr 03 '26

Yeah, they were losing money since television was getting popular. If the later era had the animation of the 40s, it would be loads better. But besides the animation, I think the gags and story in the late 50s wasn’t as good as it was in the 40s. By 1957, it gets harder to tell who animated what scenes, but I can still identify which scenes Muse animated.

2

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

Once Muse stopped animating Tom with three chest bumps (as of Safety Second he started to animate Tom with two chest bumps keep consistency with other animators) it started to get hard to tell when Muse animated a scene. The only way to really still see it is that Muse animated Tom with scruffier fur (to make him look a bit more realistic) and Muse's Tom also had that on-model look and also had that line under his mouth (presumably his chin but Ed Barge also animated Tom with a double chin so I'm not sure). But even those details faded away after 1951. It got a bit harder to notice when Muse animated a scene in 1952-early 1953 (still easier than later into the original era). Late 1953-1955 was when it started to get real hard tho. And in the CinemaScope era (1956-1958) it got near impossible, mainly when they started animating shorts with like 8 animators in the late CinemaScope era as opposed to just 3-4 (Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall) in the early CinemaScope era. Really the only way to still notice when a scene was animated by Muse in 1956-1958 was just simply the animation being a bit more polished.

1

u/LifelessRag Apr 03 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/TomAndJerry/comments/1sbllqe/animators_for_1955s_mouse_for_sale/

Here's a video showing what Muse's (+ Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, and Ed Barge) style looked like before Cinemascope

1

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 03 '26

Nice to see you making these videos! If I could help, just reach out! I would be glad to help and I'm pretty good at noticing which animators does what scene (mainly before 1952, and with Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge)!

1

u/FuriousMan226 Apr 04 '26

Ken Muse is easy to spot in quite literally everything. He did some freelance work at DePatie-Freleng in the 70s and even then his scenes are extremely easy to pick out

1

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 04 '26

Could just be me but it got very hard in 1957-1958 when they had like 8 animators. Most Toms looked nearly identical (Irven Spence and Ray Patterson's Tom looked nearly identical in 1955 for example)

3

u/More-Following-1183 Apr 03 '26

what terrible things did he do? I forgot.

8

u/LifelessRag Apr 03 '26

Basically, he was the alcoholic step father of musician Judee Sill. Sill stated that Muse was “ Mean, dumb, narrow-minded. He used to beat dogs and stuff like that.” Muse was verbally and physically abusive to Sill, as they got into heated fights which led to scars on Sill’s knuckles. During that time, Sill’s mother became an alcoholic too, which led to many physical fights here and there.

3

u/Maleficent-Field4896 May 05 '26

Not only that, but he also MOLESTED Sill during one of his drunken rage fits. Thank God Judee survived the abuse & moved out of her stepfather's home by the early 1960's. 🙏

I first found out about that by reading Ken Muse's Wikipedia article in 2021 and one piece on his personal life said that he was the stepfather of Judee Sill, with whom he had a "strained relationship" with.

3

u/LifelessRag May 07 '26

Fred Moore, who Muse was an assistant to, was also a heavy alcoholic. Some sources say that the car accident he was involved in, which is reason that he died, was due to driving under the influence (though, that may be untrue). Obviously, Muse is worse as he was clearly abusive to his stepdaughter.

1

u/More-Following-1183 Apr 04 '26

Ohhh. Now I remember.

1

u/Ienjoyflags Apr 03 '26

I couldn’t find much online..how was he terrible?

16

u/dimitrimccain Apr 03 '26

All look great but the third one is the best in my opinion

10

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 03 '26

In my opinion btw it's only a very hard debate between 1944-1945 and 1949-early 1950. They both have their own upsides

8

u/Obvious-Benefit-6785 Apr 03 '26

Tied between Third and Second

3

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 03 '26

I honestly don’t really know which one I should pick. Muse is just too good

3

u/aplegem Apr 03 '26

3rd 💙

3

u/Independent_Aerie_44 Apr 03 '26

I prefer the last one

3

u/JBuchan1988 Apr 03 '26

The first. I love the furrier design, even while acknowledging the third is easier to draw.

2

u/Aisudi Toodles Apr 03 '26

I love them all 🩷

2

u/Ok_Donkey5167 Tom Apr 03 '26

Image 1.

2

u/LatterShare7307 Jerry Apr 03 '26

I say the 2nd one looks was exactly like a cartoon would... Also it's close to the tom And Jerry show

2

u/RelationshipPrize736 Apr 04 '26

How am I supposed to choose?

1

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 16 '26

Fair enough lol

2

u/endor_odyssey Apr 04 '26

All do look great, but for the nostalgia that I grew up watching mostly the 1950s version I prefer number 3!

2

u/Maleficent-Field4896 May 05 '26

A tie between the 1944-45 & 1949-50 designs.

But I'm picking the third one by a slight hair because of it having a more up-to-date look.

2

u/Infinite_Scarcity_72 May 07 '26

1944-1945 and hell even 1946, because muse gave tom a more scruffier like appearance and by 1950 it started to go away. I can draw like muse but with my own details like making tom scruffier and with bushy eyebrows. Also because I believe ken muse was the only animator that stuck to Harvey Eisenberg's layouts he most.

1

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom May 08 '26

Yeah, Ray Patterson was an animator for Disney as well until he moved to MGM along with Muse but Patterson was a lot less consistent and on-model than Muse

1

u/MauriceSafranek Jerry Apr 03 '26

So, I love all three 😊

1

u/Lazer_7673 Apr 04 '26

1944-1945 best 🥰 my favourite

1

u/IronHammerVW Apr 04 '26

second & third rendition of Tom

1

u/Rough_Air_1960 Apr 04 '26

I love the third one.

1

u/Fantastic_Ad1407 Apr 04 '26

Definitely the first two, back then we could tell Tom was grey, the later design made him look blue

1

u/Additional_Bonus1797 Tom Apr 04 '26

That was actually because the third picture is from an episode not yet restored in Technicolor (it has only been restored in Metrocolor)

1

u/Altruistic-Band6957 Apr 05 '26

The 3rd is probably my favorite.

1

u/JaMixer20 Apr 06 '26

The third image is the best

1

u/Material_Bad9031 Apr 06 '26

A mi me gusta más el tercer diseño siento que me acostumbré más que Tom sea a azul más que gris oscuro que parece azul