The country wolf gets a telegram (and photo) from his city cousin.
The scene isn’t just a big-eye take. The wolf ties his body in a knot (in mid air), then clicks his heels as his body flies apart. It’s difficult to see in still frames, but Avery adds to the movement by having the torso and the legs rise on the background.
The wolf pulls himself together, then the eye take. These three frames are consecutive.
Avery doesn’t simply hold the take. The big eyes move slighty toward and away from the picture. The wolf’s whole body is animated on ones. Then the eyes retract and move in on the photo for a closer look.
The wolf bounds up and down, then side to side.
Next, he stomps on his own head. His body moves slightly downward; it’s not static. The action is also animated on ones.
Finally, the wolf’s tongue rolls onto the floor as his head bobs up and down.
From the wolf’s first reaction until Rural Red leans back into the scene, Avery takes a little over six seconds (149 frames). The cartoon zips along when it needs to.
Bobe Cannon, Grant Simmons, Mike Lah and Walt Clinton animate the short, with Scott Bradley (perhaps under duress) scoring “Frankie and Johnny” under the scene (the tune under the held shot of the telegram is the even-more-ancient “Reuben and Rachel”).
The cartoon was released on September 17, 1949. Perhaps Avery felt there wasn’t much more he could do with Red as she was retired, though this short was re-released by MGM in 1956 and 1966.
Yes, Avery's reactions in many of these MGM shorts are worth the price of admission alone. Glad we can see it frame by frame.
ReplyDeleteY'know, I wonder what kind of relationship Scott Bradley have with Tex during his time at MGM? I always noticed the music in Avery's shorts rely more on specific music cues then just Bradley doing his own thing with jazz and stuff.
ReplyDeleteBradley apparently didn't like Avery's ideas on how his music should be composed and Avery didn't like his music at all.
Delete"Tex Avery didn’t like my music. We disagreed a lot on what kind of music was appropriate for his cartoons. His ideas on music were so bad that I had to put a stop to it.... I gave in to him for a while, but finally I went down to see Quimby in his office and complained.... And Quimby backed me up"
"Bradley was not especially fond of Avery’s use of music, as the great director repeatedly requested what the composer felt were obvious old folk tunes and less of what Goldmark calls “through-composed” music.” Most likely to him, it was less of a challenge and more “wah-wah-wah-wah.”"
https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2023/03/praise-for-scott-bradley.html?m=1
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/tex-tom-jerry-droopy-on-scott-bradley-soundtracks/
Very interesting. We could've lived in a timeline where we did get music akin to Tom and Jerry's in Avery's cartoons.
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