Not a Dog and Tree Gag

When Tex Avery had a dog standing next to a tree, it was usually a gag where the dog needs to ... well, we needn't get into that. Ah, but there was a different dog-tree routine in one of his cartoons.

Screwy Squirrel pulls off the old “move-the-hole” gag in his debut, Screwball Squirrel (1944). Naturally, Meathead the dog dives toward the hole that Screwy dove into—but it’s not there now.



There are some frames of solid colour in between drawings to emphasize the impact, which has left an impression of Meathead’s head in a tree—with Meathead in it. The dog stretches his head back to snap it out of the tree. The chase continues.



The animators are Preston Blair, Ed Love and Ray Abrams. Heck Allen assisted with gags and Johnny Johnson is the background artist.