Gee, This is Silly

There’s nothing like a cartoon character editorialising about the cartoon he’s in. Example? Tex Avery’s Land of the Midnight Fun (1939).

Cut to a shot of a large tree. “Here we show you an Alaskan Timber Wolf,” says narrator Bob Bruce. The wolf runs out from behind the tree and points at it. “Timber” he yells before running away laughing.



The camera moves in and the wolf confides in us, “Gee, this is silly,” before the camera moves back and the silliness continues.



The literalness of “timber wolf” helps the gag.

Avery plays the wolf. Chuck McKimson gets the animation screen credit but Sid Sutherland and Virgil Ross are here, too. Johnny Johnsen supplies the backgrounds.