Life Imitates Tex

Tex Avery’s Car of Tomorrow (1951) made fun of the step-down Hudson and the wrap-around-window Studebaker; both were joked about on network radio comedy shows of the day. But there was also a gag where, eventually, life imitated art.

A small car appears on the screen, and narrator Gil Warren describes it: “The super-thrifty Scotchman model. This car uses absolutely no gasoline.” Dissolve to the gag.



It turned out someone actually made a “Scotchman.” Studebaker produced the Scotsman (scotch is a drink, not a nationality). Studebaker produced the economy car in 1957 and 1958.



No, it didn’t run on pedal power. But it got “25 to 29 miles per gallon,” according to newspaper ads in June 1957 (“Oil industry trembles,” the ad announced). The Scotsman came in two-door, four-door and station wagon models.You got a heater and turn signals as free extras.

By this time, Avery was in the cartoon commercial business, though he wasn’t animating a Studebaker.

Deer Mother-in-Law

In 1910, humourist Irvin S. Cobb wrote the mother-in-law joke was one of only eight jokes in the world, and all others were derivatives of the eight. (The “Peevish Wife” and the “Husband-Who-Comes-in-Stewed” were among the other two).

They were old then. And, more than 40 years later, Tex Avery was putting them on screen at MGM.

In Field and Scream (1955), the narrator tells us “Our old friend Ed here has designed a special deer hunting outfit for the mother-in-law.” Ed even helps her on with it.



It comes with a special accessory.



The mother-in-law strolls out of the scene. We hear a shot off-camera. Ed bows his head in mock sorrow.



A great look to cap the scene.



Grant Simmons, Mike Lah and Walt Clinton are the animators. Designs by Ed Benedict.

If you want an earlier example of a mother-in-law cartoon, here's one from a newspaper from 1903.

Wacky Stripper

Warner Bros. had cartoons titled Wacky Blackouts, Wacky Wild Life and The Wacky Worm, so why not a “wacky” cartoon at Screen Gems?

Wacky Wigwams (1942) has something else in common with Merrie Melodies. Besides being a spot-gag cartoon like Wacky Wild Life by Tex Avery, a variation on Avery’s stripper gag from Cross Country Detours (1940) found its way into the short.

“Back in the days of the covered wagon,” intones the narrator, “the territory which is now called the state of Oklahoma was known as the Cherokee Strip.” The panning camera stops on a helpful sign.



The camera resumes panning. Why look! It’s a stripping Cherokee!



The gag in Cross Country Detours ends with a card over the stripper’s body so we can’t see her naked. In Wacky Wigwams, guess what?



Even a better-looking print can't save this one.

Columbia put out another “wacky” cartoon—Wacky Quacky (1947) which featured a duck resembling Daffy engaging in Warners-type gags with a dumpy, bald hunter.

Gambling on Women

T.V. of Tomorrow was no kiddie cartoon. Gags were aimed at sex-starved 1950s suburban men. There’s a television set with a Faye Emerson-esque “plunging neckline.” An annoyed man has his set shoot down a small plane for distorting the picture while he’s watching a bathing beauty. There’s another set “which allows you to see all of the picture,” which happens to be another young lady in a swim suit.

There’s yet another gag featuring another bathing suit model, this one in repose. The TV set is the “Las Vegas Special, for you two-bit gamblers, lets you gamble on your channel.” It’s a one-armed bandit set. The viewer put in two bits and, well, the pictures tell the story.



If you’re wondering, the “tired businessman” gag featuring the TV with a full-sized film of Joi Lansing posing is in the earlier House of Tomorrow cartoon (released 1949).

The voiceover for this gag is provided by John Brown. Paul Frees did the rest of the cartoon. I have no idea why Avery switches voices.

At least one gag appears to have been edited out of this cartoon. At the 0:53 mark, there’s a sudden cut in the soundtrack. But if you listen to the soundtrack of the cartoon on the Scott Bradley music CD that came out some time ago, you’ll hear the music that was under the gag (the soundtrack is 30 seconds longer than the cartoon in circulation).

Heck Allen assisted Avery with the “story” in the 1953 release, with Ray Patterson added to Avery’s usual unit of Mike Lah, Grant Simmons, Walt Clinton and Bob Bentley.

Such Language in a Cartoon

The familiar theme of noise/silence is explored yet again by Tex Avery in his final theatrical cartoon, Sh-h-h-h-h-h (Walter Lantz, 1955).

Unlike Avery’s other cartoons with this plot device, Mr. Twiddle doesn’t run into the distance and make noise. He and other characters hold up little signs instead.

In one scene, Twiddle stubs his toe on a footstool.



Cut to the sign gag and topper.



Notice Twiddle has a red nose like an Avery character at Warners in the late-'30s.

The cartoon is a disappointment to me. The idea of the hotel staff maintaining quiet is completely violated when noise comes from the room next to Twiddle’s. Why aren’t they taking any measures to deal with it? And in the opening scene, Twiddle’s reaction to the noise is weak compared to the emotional reactions of Avery’s wolf in Northwest Hounded Police at MGM ten years earlier.

Avery left Lantz after this cartoon and, after a bit, worked on TV commercials, which he found less stressful.

The picture everyone seems left with is Avery was a sad and broken man when Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera gave him a job near the end of his life, where he had to deal with the restraints of television and the sausage factory attitude of the studio.

As this was Avery’s final cartoon for the big screen, this is our final post as we go on an indefinite hiatus. Thank you for reading.

The Duck Takes It Off

Who'd shoot a soon-to-be-mother duck? Well, either the dog version of George or Junior in Tex Avery's Lucky Ducky (at least someone told me they're a revamped George and Junior, though they don't act like it).

The mother's egg is shot down from the sky, but breaks its fall by partially hatching on the way down.



The duckling hatches at the edge of our heroes' boat, then dispenses with the unneeded shell à la mode Gypsy Rose Lee to a familiar MGM song (If anyone has the title, please post it).



Getting screen credit for animation in this cartoon are Walt Clinton, Preston Blair, Louie Schmitt and Grant Simmons.

This is the cartoon with the terrific “Technicolor Ends Here” gag. Unfortunately, the original end title animation has been replaced. However, E.O. Costello has advised us that it (well, a re-creation) has been posted on-line. See it below.

Solving the Fridge Mystery

“To clear up the mystery of whether the light stays on or goes off when you close the door of your refrigerator,” says the narrator in The House of Tomorrow (1949), “we have this model equipped with a window, so you can see just what happens to the light when you close the door.



Cut the next scene which reveals the answer. A tinkling bell accompanies the gnome as he comes in and goes out.



Jack Gosgriff and Rich Hogan worked with director Tex Avery on the spot gags, while Walt Clinton, Mike Lah and Grant Simmons provided the animation.