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Five years ago I picked up a bunch of public domain cartoons in cheap cardboard sleeves at a dollar store. Since then I’ve watched only a few of the cartoons on these discs, but until now I had avoided the one DVD that most fascinated me; the original Tom & Jerry as produced by the Van Bueren studio.

With its evil, mind-shattering cover, this is the Necronomicon of public domain cartoons. I can’t stop looking at it. My greatest fear was that the cartoons found within could not possibly match the horrifying power of this intern-provided illustration. To my surprise, the first short on the disc met my lofty expectations.

I love the jazzy, urban feel to the East Coast cartoons of the early thirties, best exemplified by the Fleischers, the studio behind Betty Boop and Popeye. The Van Bueren studio couldn’t hope to match their technical virtuosity, but I’ve always enjoyed cartoons that are a little off. Judging by the animation in Piano Tooners, Van Bueren couldn’t keep on-model for more than a few seconds, but damn if the characters’ elasticity doesn’t have a lot of personality. There’s something almost hypnotic about it.

I wouldn’t normally try to push anyone into watching any of these cartoons, but I implore you, at the very least watch the gag that starts at 1:50. The Golden Age of animation was a theatre of pain, and I’ve watched my fair share of cartoon brutality, but that bit with the false note is the most cruel thing I have ever seen in a cartoon.