The Prude Vs. Tex Avery

Swing Shift Cinderella's fairy godmother waves a wand and TA-DA! Tattered clothes turn into a mink fur.



The Avery wolf flips his lid. See the multiples and brush work.



Avery adds to the take with growing eyes.



Preston Blair, Ed Love and Ray Abrams are the credited animators.

The Exhibitor concluded “This is an attractive entry that draws a few good laughs, and is generally amusing. GOOD.”

But someone was upset about it, and wrote the Showmen’s Trade Review. The letter was published in the Sept. 1, 1945 edition.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer recently released a cartoon entitled "Swing Shift Cinderella," which most certainly is not suitable for children to see—and I doubt if few adults appreciated it. It is hard to understand how Metro would place the MGM trademark on such a disgusting piece of film.
The story was given over completely to a so-called “wolf” and a strip tease artist wiggling and squirming like a hula dancer. It was anything but entertainment or constructive to the minds of adolescents.
I am a small town operator, managing several central Illinois theatres. We constantly battle whistlers who have been taught by cartoons and features to whistle at a good-looking girl who makes her appearance on the screen. They have been educated by the motion picture industry itself by reason of the fact that often a sequence will show a soldier or possibly a civilian whistling at a girl going down the street, or in a night club, and in various other circumstances. Naturally if the youth sets this on the screen, he feels he has a perfect right to do the same thing because he is "educated" along this line by the pictures.
Often times, in a serious part of the feature, a beautifully dressed girl will make an appearance, and someone will let out a whistle, which kills the effect of the particular scale. We have fought this practice by paying bonuses to ushers who catch a whistler of this type; and of course, he is promptly given a good lecture or, in some cases, asked to leave the theatre. Motion pictures in the making should take these things into consideration; and I am sure that no box-office value would be disturbed by merely leaving out the whistling sequence in any particular picture.
Referring back to the "strip tease" cartoon Metro released—they were and are primarily made and shown for the children, and should in no way be suggestive or downright dirty as was the ease of "Swing Shift Cinderella." Adults, naturally go for cartoons too, but they are not impressed by "cheap dirt" if they have children of their own.
As mentioned above, I am a small town operator and seldom feel the urge for writing suggestions or criticising the efforts of companies who have been very successful and their important executive heads. However, when I look at a cartoon, referred to in this article and when I hear patrons, particularly the bobby-seeks group, whistle and I know that it was promoted by the screen itself, "blow my top" and sit down and write a letter, getting the heated steam out of my system.
Most of my letters are never mailed; and I am not sure I will mail this one. On the other hand. I think I will. Maybe it won't do any good, but at least have the satisfaction of "telling" them a thing or two. "Out of the mouths of babes" sometimes comes a fertile and suggestion.
Samuel T. Traynor
Gm. Mgr.
Bailey Enterprises,
Princeton, Illinois

Mr. Traynor has an unusual definition of the term “strip-tease” as no clothing is even partially removed by Red in this, or any of her cartoons. If the concept of sexual attraction bothered him so much, why did he book the cartoon? It’s not like Red was making her cinematic debut.

Fred Quimby paid no attention to the complaint and Avery made three more films starring Red.

Conducting the Conductor

“What will the audience least expect” was the Tex Avery credo. And he pulled it off in cartoon after cartoon after cartoon.

An example starts off the proceedings in Hamateur Night, a 1938 cartoon for Warner Bros. A theatre pit conductor gets the attention of his musical crew.



Swiftly, Avery switches the situation and the musicians conduct the conductor.



His eyes extend when the slide on his trombone extends.



The number being played is “It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight” by Harry Williams and Egbert Van Alstyne. After one chorus, the conductor ducks down and switches instruments for a fanfare.



Being a professional of the theatre, he bows to the audience in appreciation.



Jack Miller is given a story credit, though we wonder how much he contributed as the gags are typical of Avery’s sense of humour. Paul Smith is the credited animator. Did Virgil Ross do this scene?

It’s good to see this cartoon has been restored. It’s one of Avery’s finer efforts for Leon Schlesinger.

Hot Head

Tex Avery and writer Heck Allen set up a premise and use variations of it throughout Red Hot Rangers (MGM, 1947). George and Junior try to catch a living flame. Junior screws up every attempt. George kicks him in the butt. The little flame then moves across the screen as they look at him.

In one sequence, George’s butt is on fire. Instead of grabbing a pail of water, Junior picks up a bucket of gasoline. George sits in it. The flaming butt causes the only possible result (You can see some frames in this post).

Tex isn’t done yet. George’s hat catches on fire. The frames tell the story as the premise plays out.



Like a Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon, the main violence (Junior bashing George’s head with the shovel) happens off camera. And if Carl Stalling were scoring this, you’d hear “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” as the flame makes his appearance.

Showmen’s Trade Review of April 5, 1947 had this story about the cartoon.

Forestry Service Seeks ‘Red Hot Rangers’ Tieup
The United States Forestry Service has asked MGM for a special preview for its Washington staff and for a national tieup on the Technicolor cartoon. "Red Hot Rangers," Fred Quimby, head of MGM's short subjects department, has announced. The cartoon, produced by Quimby, was directed by Tex Avery and it features George and Junior in a story that concerns the dangers to forests by careless smokers.
Quimby also announced that negotiations have been completed with William C. Erskine, New York merchandising executive, for the development and merchandising of various types of novelties, toys, jewelry, dolls and comic books displaying the MGM cartoon characters, Tom and Jerry, Red Hot Ridinghood, Barney Bear, George and Junior, Skrewy Squirrel and many others. Erskine will handle world-wide distribution of these articles in department stores, news-stands and shops everywhere.

The cartoon was used as a public service message, as the Review reported on Aug. 9 that year. Tex gets “top spot.”

Good Tie-in Bill
Manager James LaRue of Interstate's Kimo Theatre, Albuquerque, N. M., had a ready-made tie-in bill for the observance of Forest Fire Prevention Week. The feature, appropriately enough, was MGM's "Sea of Grass," and the principal short subject was the same company's "Red Hot Rangers," a Technicolor cartoon.
Accordingly, he utilized a show window which advertised both the feature and short subject (with the short getting top spot) and displayed forest fire-fighting equipment plus instructive placards put out by the Forest Ranger service.

Layouts in this cartoon were drawn by Irv Spence (uncredited) while Preston Blair, Ed Love, Ray Abrams and Walt Clinton got animation credits.

I Don't Care What You Say

Here we have an eight-frame cycle of a camel chewing on, well, I’m not quite sure. Note the spacing of the drawings. There seems to be barely any movement at one point.



This is the cycle slowed down, which gives you an idea of how the mouth moved.



Yeah, I know. Not the post interesting of posts, unless you are into timing of poses and in-betweens. The director is Friz Freleng, and the cartoon is Hot Spot, a 1945 Snafu short. The gag is an example of how everyone borrowed from Tex Avery. In fact, the short is like an Avery travelogue in places.

In this scene, the narrator (the Devil, played by Hal Peary, complete with Gildersleeve laugh), informs us “Here, the native beast of burden, the camel, is the only one who doesn’t mind the heat.” After chewing a bit, the camel (Mel Blanc) turns to the viewing audience and says “I don’t care what you say, I’m hot,” and resumes chewing.



Say, that gag is familiar, isn’t it? Let’s think back to Avery’s Wacky Wildlife (1940), where a camel is strolling across the desert. Narrator Bob Bruce informs us the camel “plods over scorching desert sands, in terrific heat, never once desiring a cool, refreshing drink of water. The camel (Mel Blanc) turns to the viewing audience and says “I don’t care what you say, I’m thirsty,” and resumes strolling.



Say, that gag is STILL familiar. That’s because Avery used a variation of it earlier in the year in Cross Country Detours. In this one, a polar bear is shown on a chunk of ice. “Mother Nature has provided him with layer upon layer of fat, plus a thick coat of heavy fur, to keep him good and warm,” says the narrator. The camera moves in and the bear (Mel Blanc) tells us “I don’t care what you say, I’m cold.”



Is it any wonder that Avery came up with the idea of footage of real animals with superimposed cartoon mouths that made wisecracks. The idea ended up at Jerry Fairbanks Productions, which made the Speaking of Animals series for Paramount. If the “I don’t care what you say” routine was one of the gags in those shorts, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

What about the end gag of Hot Spot, you ask? Thanks for reminding me. The short has emphasized how hot it is in Iran, hotter 'n Hades as they used to say. The short finishes with the Devil discovering the camel is now in his office in Hell. The camel turns to him and casually remarks, “I don’t care what you say, I’m cool.” It resumes chewing to end the cartoon.



None of the artists who worked on this are given screen credit.

Shotgun Non-Wedding

“The worst thing about these nosy people is, they’re always interferin’ with somebody’s love-life,” says the voice of The Cat That Hated People (from the cartoon of the same name).

Further dialogue isn’t needed, like many fine gags in a Tex Avery cartoon. Animation tells all.



The animators in this cartoon are Walt Clinton, Grant Simmons and two ex-Disney artists soon to leave the Avery unit, Bill Shull and Louie Schmitt. The title character is played by Pat McGeehan. The short was released in 1948.