The Doors of Tomorrow

“Why, it even has a separate entrance for each member of the family,” says narrator Frank Graham before Jack Stevens’ camera pans over a Johnny Johnsen background of The House of Tomorrow.

There’s one for Fido.



For Junior (Scott Bradley plays “The Alphabet Song”).



For the Missus. “She just loves sweets,” Graham explains (Bradley plays “Mother”).



For Dad (Bradley: “For he’s a jolly good fellow”). Evidently 1949 suburbia is loaded with bars and taverns. Or maybe he drives home drunk after a few at a bar in the city.



And, chuckle, for the mother-in-law.



Yes, the mother-in-law joke, a comic staple of stand-up comedians of the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, and...

Well, the battle-axe mother-in-law goes back to silent film comedies and who know how long before then. Avery dredged it up in several cartoons at MGM: Car of Tomorrow, Field and Scream, The Last Bad Man. I can’t think of any at Warners where he used it. He makes up for it with three mother-in-law gags in this one.

I can’t tell you who did the layout on this, but Rich Hogan and Jack Cosgriff helped Tex Avery gag it.