The studio that originally produced the Tom and Jerry shorts was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM.
MGM established its cartoon studio in Hollywood and began producing the series in 1940. The first short, Puss Gets the Boot, introduced an early version of the cat-and-mouse pairing and earned enough attention for MGM to continue the concept. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera directed the best-known original run, while producer Fred Quimby oversaw production for much of that period.
The MGM shorts were theatrical cartoons, meaning audiences generally encountered them in cinemas rather than first seeing them on television. The studio’s famous roaring lion logo became closely associated with the series, although later television versions used different openings and distributors. MGM produced 114 Hanna-Barbera shorts between 1940 and 1958, and seven won Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).
Warner Bros. later became connected to the franchise through Turner Entertainment’s ownership of MGM’s pre-1986 film library, but Warner Bros. did not originally produce the classic shorts. Pixar and Disney were also major animation companies, yet neither created the original Tom and Jerry series.