The Cartoon With Two Meanings

Symphony in Slang looks to have been an experiment by Tex Avery in several different areas—stylised backgrounds (except for the opening), limited animation and a story consisting of nothing except visual puns.

Avery and writer Rich Hogan shoved in as many literalized phrases as they could string together to make a narrative. They come at the audience quickly.

Just one: “My breath came in short pants.”



Avery uses a 20-drawing cycle for the pants flying out of the hipster's mouth.

Years ago, we posted a link to screen grabs of the gags and to the dialogue. The links are still active.

Tex suggested to author/historian Joe Adamson if MGM cartoon boss Fred Quimby had his way, the cartoon never would have been made.

We got smart, and we would wait until it got close to our deadline and we'd say, “Chief, this is all we’ve got! The only way to keep from making this show is to lay the animators off. This is all we've got!”’ So we got by with some things. That's how we did Symphony in Slang, where we illustrated literally a lot of popular expressions—‘‘I was in a pickle’, “‘I went to pieces.’ He had a hell of a time trying to understand that one.

The short seems to have sat on a shelf (try saying that five times). Variety reported on Aug. 5, 1949 that John Brown was recording three different voices for it. Brown, at the time, was Digger O’Dell, the friendly undertaker, on The Life of Riley and deadbeat boyfriend Al on My Friend Irma. Then this story popped up in the papers; one was published Aug. 27th.

SCENES FOR SLANG
HOLLYWOOD—Largest number of scenes ever listed for a one reel cartoon are scheduled for M-G-M’s “Symphony in Slang,” Producer Fred Quimby states. An entirely new cartoon technique will give five feet each to individual slang expressions. The cartoon will also be different in that it will have commentation behind the action for its entire length.

Scott Bradley's score was copyright September 11, 1950, but the cartoon’s official release date was the following June 16th. However, to the right you see it advertised for screening on April 29 at a theatre in Waverly, New York.

I can’t imagine this cartoon went over in theatres outside North America, but it did go over well at one American institute of higher learning. Reported the Hollywood Reporter on Dec. 27, 1951:

Cartoon Lesson
E. A. Warren of Notre Dame has requested Fred Quimby, producer of MGM cartoons, to show “Symphony in Slang” before the English classes at the University. Cartoon pokes fun at some of our more familiar slang clichés.

As the cartoon’s hipster might say, “Ain’t that a kick in the head!”