Professor Tom is an animated Tom and Jerry short released on October 30th, 1948 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby.

In this episode, Tom is a renowned teacher, and aims to teach his first pupil ever (Topsy, of "Baby Puss" fame) how to catch mice (in this case, expectantly, Jerry). However, on top of being a sleepyhead and a spoiled brat, Topsy ends up having a... different plan with Jerry in mind.

This animated feature provides examples of:

• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Tom teaches mousing to a kitten. When the kitten does a good job, he gets a pat on the head.
• Big "NO!": Tom shouts a prolonged "NO!" upon seeing Jerry (a mouse) and Topsy (a young cat) shaking hands, as Tom insists that's not what cats and mice are meant to do.
• Bowdlerise: The UK version of Boomerang has aired this cartoon with the following edits (surprisingly, in the US, neither Boomerang nor Cartoon Network removed this scene in the airings):
  • The kingdom's 2006 ban on TV show characters smoking resulted in the omission of the scene featuring Tom smoking a cigar and blowing smoke in Jerry's mouse hole until Tom gets sick.
  • The scene of Tom spanking Topsy for letting Jerry go and Jerry breaking Tom's tail in retaliation is eliminated as well.
• Comically Missing the Point: Tom hands a vase over Topsy so he can smack Jerry with it while Tom is chasing the mouse. Topsy watches Tom chase Jerry around a part of the house, but does nothing with the vase. Tom stops chasing Jerry (who then stops running), and sternly looks at Topsy while pointing at the vase and then at Jerry (as in "use that to smack the mouse"). Topsy interprets it as "give that to the mouse" and does just that; cue Jerry smacking Tom.
• Green Around the Gills: In a scene, Jerry runs to his Mouse Hole to escape from Tom. The cat grabs a tobacco and begins inhaling smoke to blow it into the hole in order to suffocate Jerry, but the more times he does it the worse he feels; his face's color shifts from the usual indigo to green. Jerry exits the hole with his nose covered with a clothespin, unharmed. Tom recovers and tries to grab him, only for Jerry to take the tobacco and put it back on Tom's nose, turning his face green again and incapacitating him.
• Interspecies Friendship: Enforced by Jerry and defied by Tom. The latter tries to teach Topsy that cats are meant to chase mice, while Jerry tries to teach him instead that cats and mice can get along well. Ultimately, Jerry succeeds.
• Kayfabe: Jerry's tactic to eventually win over Topsy's loyalty. He knows Tom is indoctrinating Topsy into chasing mice, including Jerry himself. Yet Jerry is too fond of him to be even intimidated, so when Topsy is ordered by Tom to start the chase, Jerry goes along with that to pretend he's running away from him; every time Topsy gets stuck or is hit by something, Jerry helps him get up to resume the chase and continue fooling Tom.
• Nails on a Blackboard: During the start of the short, Tom is trying to teach a young cat about hunting mice, but while he's not looking Jerry adds "Mice are very nice" to the chalkboard. When Tom notices, Jerry quickly scratches the chalk against the chalkboard in such a manner that Tom needs a moment to recover before he can give chase. However, while he's busy, his pupil wants to try the chalk trick himself, disturbing Tom just as he's caught Jerry.
• Oh, Crap!: Done by Tom whenever he sees any scene of Jerry befriending Topsy, due to not approving of a friendship between the two. The biggest instance is when Tom sees Jerry teaching Topsy about the friendship between cats and mice with some sentences written in a blackboard (like "Cats and mice are pals" and "Cats and mice are buddies").
• Soft Glass: At one point while chasing Jerry, Topsy passes slips into a rug and, due to the floor's low friction, heads at full speed towards the bathroom's glass door and crashes into it. He remains unwounded.
• Squashed Flat: Near the end of the episode, Tom runs at full speed to enter back the house in order to capture Jerry. When Jerry sees Tom come at him and runs away, Topsy approaches the door and opens it, resulting in Tom running over him and leaving him squashed flat.
• Tickle Torture: At one point, upon seeing Tom furiously approach him, Jerry uses the teaching pointer to touch him in various spots, tickling him. He then passes the pointer to Toposy so he, who's supposed to be Tom's student, can tickle him with it as well.