Screwy is Not Dead

Tex Avery reuses animation and dialogue at the end of Lonesome Lenny (1946).

The first time, Lenny crushes a bone and a water dish, as he tells us he wants a little friend, that he had one once, “but he don’t move no more.” Lenny reaches into a pocket and pulls out a dead mouse (as Scott Bradley plays “Taps” in the background.

The second time, he pulls out Screwy Squirrel.

Except in this case, Screwy DOES “move.” He opens an eye and holds up a sign. Bradley doesn’t play “Taps.” He plays “If I Only Had a Brain” because, if Lenny had a brain, he’d know Screwy is alive.

Some animation fans love to connect dots and invent their own history. Screwy is dead, they say, because (Dot 1) “Tex didn’t like Screwy,” (Dot 2) “Tex didn’t make another cartoon with him,” (Ergo) “So, he killed him.”

Sorry, fans. Screwy doesn’t play a harp while ascending to the heavens, or wear a halo, Avery’s signals that a character is dead (see the ending of Batty Baseball). Screwy is still alive. Come to think of it, Sylvester’s nine lives and a gowned, haloed Elmer Fund rise toward heaven in Back Alley Oproar, but no one every claims Friz Freleng killed them.

But, yeah, Tex didn’t make any more Screwy cartoons after this one. Too bad. I liked Screwy and some of the gags were pretty clever and inspired.