Who hasn't seen Tom and Jerry? I was visiting a friend of mine's house who has kids and was delighted to see that young people today still watch that show. They have revamped more modern ones but the old ones from the 50's and beyond are still popular with kids today as well.
While the first "Tom and Jerry" episode was actually aired in 1940, the two famous enemies weren't called Tom and Jerry, they were called Jasper and Jinx but that was not really a focal point of the cartoon which was actually called "Puss gets the Boot." The short was immensely popular but it was shown that the names were not popular. It was on this day in 1940 that the world was officially re-introduced to the famous duo known as Tom and Jerry.
Tom has underwent some dramatic makeovers throughout the years but Jerry has remained pretty much the same. I'm glad that happened because the original Tom was a bit too menacing looking. I think that most of the world is most familiar with this Tom.
I think the extreme success of Tom and Jerry on an international scale is also the same reason why Mr. Bean is popular the world over: There is very little language involved in the presentation. There are people that sometimes speak around Tom and Jerry (and other guest characters) but it is very rare that this dialogue is actually important to understanding the plot of each story.
The "ownership" and artistic direction of the show has changed many times over the years. It is currently owned by Warner Bros and while I am not a fan of the new art style, my bias is based on nostalgia an i am also not 8 years old currently, so I suppose Warner Brothers probably has some good reasons for doing this.
I have met people from all over the world and everyone is familiar with Tom and Jerry - young and old. They have won many Academy Awards throughout the yeas and it is hard for me to believe at times that this duo has been around for nearly 80 YEARS.
I think you would have to look pretty hard in order to find someone whose life has not been touched by Tom and Jerry in some way. For me, even though it has been nearly 3 decades since I parked my butt in front of our 900 lb television I can still hear the intro music to this iconic TV show.