2020 Short Film Challenge - Tex Avery Week

Fred Bean "Tex" Avery was born on 26 February 1908. Many feel that he was the King of Cartoons. Under his supervision and direction, he brought about the creation of "Termite Terrace", possibly the single most important entity in the history of animation. Termite Terrace was that place in the Warner Brothers studio that would be the birthplace of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and every other character that brought mayhem and laughter to the silver screen. It also would be the springboard for other talents like Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Michael Maltese, Friz Freleng and more. Avery would move to MGM in 1942, carrying on the same brand of lunacy to the dismay of Fred Quimby. In 1954, he would work for Walter Lantz, who created Woody Woodpecker. That would last a year.

Some of the residents of Termite Terrace

The days of Tex Avery would be a Golden Age of Animation.

To me, there is little that is funnier than Droopy Dog looking out at the beginning of a cartoon and uttering that immortal line:

"Hello all you happy people."

Films already viewed:

Warner Brothers

I Love to Singa (1936)

Porky's Duck Hunt (1937)

Daffy Duck and Egghead (1938)

Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938)

A Wild Hare (1940)

Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)

Hollywood Steps Out (1941)

The Heckling Hare (1941)

MGM

Blitz Wolf (1942)

Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)

Who Killed Who? (1943)

Batty Baseball (1944)

Screwball Squirrel (1944)

Happy-Go-Nutty (1944)

Big Heel-Watha (1944)

The Screwy Truant (1945)

The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945)

Wild and Wolfie (1945)

Lonesome Lennie (1946)

Northwest Hounded Police (1946)

Senor Droopy (1949)

The Chump Champ (1950)

Dare-Devil Droopy (1951)

Droopy's Good Deed (1951)

Droopy's Double Trouble (1951)

One Cab's Family (1952)

Three Little Pups (1953)

Drag-a-long Droopy (1954)

Billy Boy (1954)

Dixieland Droopy (1954)

The First Bad Man (1955)

Deputy Droopy (1955)

Millionaire Droopy (1956)

As much as I tried to find some of the Warner Brothers cartoons that I hadn't seen, they were few available. Thanks to DailyMotion.com, many of the MGM cartoons could be viewed. So here we go. 

The two Warner Brothers cartoons I found were:

Plane Dippy (1936), with Porky Pig trying to get into the Air Force. This is prior to the Porky of later years, who was the picture of pig sartorial splendor. Porky here was grossly overweight, which added to the comedic impact of the cartoon.

A Sunbonnet Blue (1937), Mice take over a hat shop with songs. love and a villain. 

The MGM cartoons were more numerous.

Jerky Turkey (1945), a hunt by a pilgrim for a turkey, who speaks like Jimmy Durante and a running gag of a bear with an "Eat at Joe's" sign.

Doggone Tired (1949), a rabbit tries to stay alive by keeping a hunting dog up all night. 

Symphony in Slang (1951), a hep cat tries to explain to St. Peter and Noah Webster how he died, in the current day vernacular.

The Cuckoo Clock (1950), the beginning shows where the idea for Symphony in Slang came from, the rest is a cat trying to eat the cuckoo in the clock.

The Car of Tomorrow (1951), innovations to the auto that we all need...

The Counterfeit Cat (1949), a cat pretending to be a dog to get a bird guarded by a dog. Never mind. If you see it, you'll get it.

Swing Shift Cinderella (1945), the lead looks and talks like Bette Davis. She soon breaks into the "Oh Wolfie" number from Red Hot Riding Hood.

Little Rural Red Riding Hood (1949), the country wolf goes to meet the city wolf to see what women are really like. She soon breaks into the "Oh Wolfie" number from Red Hot Riding Hood. Don't ask me how often they used this bit. I lost count.

Lastly, a cartoon under Walter Lantz at Universal

The Legend of Rockabye Point (1955), Chilly Willy and a polar bear vie for a tuna boat's catch. Throw in a guard dog that falls asleep to Rockabye Baby, and you have the essence of the story.

There is a reference book used for this one. The filmography of Tex Avery's work is courtesy of Joe Adamson's book "Tex Avery: King of Cartoons" (Big Apple Film Series, 1975), which has had a place on my shelves for years. Also, thanks to DailyMotion. You don't hear about these guys too often, as YouTube rules the roost. But they really are worth exploring. And, yes, there was some looking at Wikipedia and IMDb.

Just for yucks, some of the above are linked to the cartoon. Have fun.

Films viewed: 11

Total Films viewed :124

Next week is completely open, which means it's a "No Theme" week. So who knows what I will watch, but I wouldn't be surprised if some Horror found its way there! Stay Tuned!!