Tom an Jerry is a successful and long-running series for over six decades of theatrical short subjects created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cartoons centered around a never-ending rivalry between a housecat (Tom) and a brown mouse (Jerry), whose chases and battles often involved comic violence. Hanna and Barbera ultimately wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons at the MGM cartoon studio in Hollywood, California between 1940 and 1957, when the animation unit was closed down. The original series is notable for having won the Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) seven times, tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the most-awarded theatrical animated series.