Tex is Finally Coming

To the right you see a frame from Daredevil Droopy (1951). Kind of murky. Oh, it’s also a frame you don’t see in some versions of the cartoon because it’s been censored.

Well, finally, it appears this and the remaining works of director Tex Avery during his days at MGM will get a better showing on home video. Daredevil Droopy is one of 19 Avery cartoons that will be released on Blu-Ray in the first volume of a Tex Avery set by the Warner Archive.

They will be made from 4K scans (reduced to 1080p). I can only presume, since I haven’t actually seen what the cartoons will look like, that they’ll be sharp and pristine.

As someone who really likes almost all of Avery’s cartoons, I’m quite happy just to have them restored and available. I am not obsessed with chronological order. I’ve been watching cartoons on TV for more than a half century and they don’t follow some linear time frame. (If it weren’t for animation historians, people wouldn’t know what the chronological order would be anyway). I am not obsessed with bonuses; they’re a nice extra, but I just want to watch the cartoons.

I can only presume again they won’t be full of DVNR. See the frame below from Car of Tomorrow for an example (this will not be on the first volume).



It’s hard to pick a most favourite out of the cartoons on the first set. Red Hot Riding Hood may have been the most publicised Avery cartoon of its day. There are four of the five Screwy Squirrel cartoons. I’ve always liked the early detective spoof Who Killed Who? And I think many fans would rank Bad Luck Blackie among Avery’s best.

There’s still lots of great Avery to come in future volumes. Example?



Oh, right, you can read more about the set on Jerry Beck’s site.