In Of Fox and Hounds, a fox cons Willoughby the dog into jumping over a fence. The dog doesn’t realise the fence is at the top of the cliff.
In Happy-Go-Nutty, Screwy Squirrel pulls the same gag on Meathead the dog. But there's a difference.
Screwy shows up at the bottom of the cliff. “Extra, extra! Read all about it! Dumb dog falls for corny old gag!” Avery and writer Heck Allen are referring to the earlier cartoon. Rich Hogan got the writer credit on that one.
Preston Blair, Ray Abrams and Ed Love animated the MGM short.
I love that Tex fought the impulse to be satisfied with the same old gag, but rather, he went with his better impulse to plus it, add to it, take it to the next level. (Many of his fellow directors failed this test.)
ReplyDeleteQuite so, Anon. He always (and I think it stressed him out, judging by comments by Mike Lah) looked for a way to freshen a gag that went over.
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