There’s one in Screwy Truant (1945), directed by noted anvil enthusiast Tex Avery. First, Screwy Squirrel pounds Meathead’s nose on one.
The anvil returns after a nose gag as Screwy (off-screen) has developed super squirrel strength and tosses it through the air at Meathead. Here’s one frame of the take.
Meathead runs away. In one drawing (on one frame) the anvil actually goes past his head. The action is so fast, you don’t notice. I’ve seen this before in impact drawings in other cartoons.
And now the gag.
Preston Blair, Ed Love and Ray Abrams are the credited animators.
Has anyone reading this seen a real anvil? I don’t mean in a museum. It isn’t like there are blacksmith shops or livery stables around today.
You do, actually, see *miniature* anvils, as used by jewelers and the ilk, still being used widely today. The anvils of spreading chestnut trees and the like are pretty rare, though there's one or two farriers that service the horse-drawn carriages here in New York City. There's also the craftsmen in ornamental metal objects; until fairly recent times, there was a forge near my home town in Connecticut that had a working anvil to make parts for gates.
ReplyDeleteIk that critics at the time loved these Screw cartoons, but I honestly wonder what audience members thought of him at the time. Screwy never really took off like Tex's other characters to the point he hated the character. Was it because audiences found Screwy to be too unlikable? I have no idea...
ReplyDeleteScrewy* cartoons, my bad.
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