The Thrifty Tex

Tex Avery re-worked and re-used gags over and over, and his spot gag cartoons of the ‘50s were no exception. All of them seem to have a mother-in-law joke, including the fine “Field and Scream.” Two of them refer to “The Thrify Scotchman model.” You know, Scottish people are cheap. Yuk, yuk.


The Car of Tomorrow


TV of Tomorrow

This may give you an idea how involved Avery was in gagging his cartoons—“Car” was written by Roy Williams and Rich Hogan while “TV” was written by Heck Allen. I doubt they came up with the same “Thrify Scotchman model” term independently. That Western the Scotsman is watching got some mileage, too. It’s a running gag throughout “TV” and surfaces in “The Three Little Pups” and “Drag-a-long Droopy.” A thrifty use of gags.