Jerry is relaxing to some jazz when Tom comes into the room to read his paper and turns the music off. While the cat and mouse take it in turns to turn the radio on and off, there is an announcement that a dancing bear has escaped from the carnival and a reward for his capture is being offered. Inevitably, the bear crosses paths with Tom, who immediately sees dollars, but the cat cannot claim his reward because every time Jerry plays some music, the bear grabs Tom for his dancing partner.
I'm going to be fairly forgiving of the cruder animation style for this cartoon simply because the idea of Tom cutting a rug with a bear is so funny. Sure, it would have been nicer to see the level of detail that the earlier cartoons had, but with Tom reluctantly waltzing, jitterbugging and tangoing with the dance-crazy circus bear, this caper is still one of the best of this particular era and well worth watching.
7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.
