Gerald "Jerry" Mouse is a fictional character and one of the two titular main protagonists (the other being Tom Cat) in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of "Tom and Jerry" theatrical animated short films. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Jerry is a brown mute anthropomorphic house mouse, who first appeared as a mouse named Jinx in the 1940 MGM animated short "Puss Gets the Boot".

Hanna and Barbera decided to expand upon the standard expected cat and mouse relationship. Instead of being a "cowering victim" of Tom, he took delight in besting, and even torturing, his feline frenemy. Hanna and Barbera considered Tom and Jerry "the best of enemies", whose rivalry hid an unspoken amount of mutual caring and respect for one another.

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