Tom Scream

An example of Tom screaming sound as heard in the cartoons.

An example of Tom screaming sound as heard in the cartoons.

A picture of William Hanna, the person responsible for the recording.

A picture of William Hanna, the person responsible for the recording.

Tom Scream (most known as Tom and Jerry Screams) is a sound effect of Tom and Jerry Franchise.

These are vocal recordings that were used in MGM classic cartoons, namely Tom and Jerry. This shouldn't be confused with SCREAM - FEMALE, SHORT, HUMAN, HORROR 01.

Info

  • First recorded: 1941
  • Creators: William Hanna (original recordings); Rich Danhakl ("The Tom and Jerry Show" recordings)
  • Owner: MGM Cartoon Studio (1941-1967), Turner Entertainment (1986-1996), Warner Bros. (1996-present)
  • Origin: United States
  • Year debut: July 5, 1941
  • First heard: The Alley Cat
  • Area used: Worldwide

These screams were done by William Hanna at MGM since 1942. His earliest performance of the screams in the Tom & Jerry cartoons made at that time were in "Fraidy Cat" and "Dog Trouble," but "Puss n' Toots" was the first where he would do the screams that would be recycled in later MGM cartoons since. Hanna would later do more variations of the scream for more MGM and Tom & Jerry cartoons.

MGM continued to use the screams until they shut their animation studio down in 1957, and they were not used again until the mid-60's during the Chuck Jones era MGM cartoons for his version of Tom & Jerry, but, after Chuck stopped making his verse of Tom & Jerry cartoons in 1967, the Bill Hanna archival sounds for the first time went back to obscurity on its use, after original voice did not reprise it in since 1958.

However, another time archival recordings of some of the screams do exist, and were used by Turner and later WB since then (mostly in current Tom and Jerry media since Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, including The Tom and Jerry Show).

Some new screams were created for The Tom and Jerry Show by the series' uncredited sound designer/sound effects editor, Rich Danhakl. And the Direct to Video films (started with Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale) New Tom Screams is created/voiced by Spike Brandt.

Outside from MGM and Tom and Jerry, the sound is used in other media.

Versions

The Tom screams come with many different takes:

  • Ow!
  • Ow-whoa-oh-OH-ho-ho-hoo! is high-pitched.
  • AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! (aka Tom’s Primal Scream, Tom’s Raw Scream, Tom’s Serious Scream, or Tom’s Violent Scream) the infamous and raw version which is the longest scream, which sounds like if someone got violently tortured (heard in various shorts like "Jerry and Jumbo". It's usually heard in a high pitch.).
  • Shriek 1 is brief high-pitched
  • Shriek 2
  • Eee-eee-EEE-eee... YOWWWWWHHHHHHH!

Used In

TV Shows

Movies

Shorts

Video Games

Online:

PC:

  • M.U.G.E.N (Only used for Tom and Jerry.)
  • MultiVersus (Only used for Tom & Jerry; Heard differently.)
  • Sally.exe Troll Game

PlayStation:

  • Kid Klown in Crazy Chase 2

PlayStation 4:

  • MultiVersus (Only used for Tom & Jerry; Heard differently.)

PlayStation 5:

  • MultiVersus (Only used for Tom & Jerry; Heard differently.)

SNES:

Xbox One:

  • MultiVersus (Only used for Tom & Jerry; Heard differently.)

Xbox Series X/S:

  • MultiVersus (Only used for Tom & Jerry; Heard differently.)

Commercials

Previews

  • Coming Soon From Warner Home Video Preview (2000)

Promos

  • Cartoon Network: The Tom and Jerry Show (2014) (Promos)

Trailers

Music

  • Orbital - Macro Head (1991)
  • Pickle Scott - Oggy and the Cockroaches Remix

Other Media

  • Rat in a Trap - Sonic Control Novelty Prank Toy (toy)
  • A Taste Of Cartoon Network (promotional video) ("AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" heard once)

Music Videos

Newgrounds Videos

Reddit Posts

  • r/brainrot

YouTube Videos

Trivia

  • Outside from Tom & Jerry brand, Tom Screams would later be used in other media, including they also become memes, which would often used in various web content, including on YouTube, through cheaply-made animations, low-quality videos, YouTube edits, YouTube Poops, Internet clips, games, etc.
    • Especially, like most of the Tom & Jerry cartoons and even some other MGM cartoons, the infamous entry within the Tom Screams which dubbed AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!/Tom’s Primal Scream is the most overused stock sound effect of all.

Image Gallery

Audio Samples