The short, "Puss Gets the Boot", featured a cat named Jasper and an unnamed mouse, named Jinx in pre-production, and an African American housemaid named Mammy Two Shoes. Leonard Maltin described it as "very new and special [...] that was to change the course of MGM cartoon production" and established the successful "Tom and Jerry" formula of comical cat and mouse chases with slapstick gags. It was released onto the theatre circuit on February 10, 1940, and the pair, having been advised by management not to produce any more, focused on other cartoons including "Gallopin' Gals" (1940) and "Officer Pooch" (1941). Matters changed, however, when Texas businesswoman Bessa Short sent a letter to MGM asking whether more cat and mouse shorts would be produced, which helped convince management to commission a series. A studio contest held to rename both characters was won by animator John Carr, who suggested Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse after the popular Christmastime cocktail, itself derived from an 1821 stage play by William Moncrieff, itself an adaptation of 1821 Pierce Egan's book titled "Life in London" that originating those name, itself based on George Cruikshank's, Robert Cruikshank's, and Egan's true story. Carr was awarded a first place prize of $50. "Puss Gets the Boot" was a critical success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject: Cartoons in 1941 despite the credits listing Ising and omitting Hanna and Barbera.