TEX AVERY |
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Tex Avery was born under the name Frederick Bean Avery on February 26, 1908 in Texas. During his life he directed a lot of high points in movie cartoon history: those fantastically funny fireworks of outrageous invention and perfect execution that made every Tex Avery cartoon so very extra-special. His cartoons feature fast-paced, violent, zany humor, punctuated with outrageous "takes". When a character does a "take" in an Avery cartoon, his eyes literally pop out, his jaws drops to the floor like porch steps, and his tongue gyrates variously as he screams. Tex Avery can rightfully be called the King of Cartoons. As the creator of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and director of many of the "Looney Tunes" cartoons and numerous MGM masterpieces, his influence on American animation and comedy has been incalculable. He was leading a direction away from the imitation Disney, personality-orientated cartoons every studio in Hollywood was producing. Avery and his crew believed in making funny cartoons for themselves, with the kind of humor that he and his collegues enjoyed. His new approach to animation would greatly affect the style and the timing of cartoons at MGM. Avery's cartoons soon became the standard for cartoon comedy, so much so that his techniques, designs and gags are still copied today. It is often considered a great oversight that Avery never won an Academy Award. Avery was less interested in creating lasting characters than creating gags and funny situations. Of the characters he did create at MGM, Droopy has become his most popular star, though Red Hot Riding Hood, the Wolf and the obnoxious Screwy Squirrel have their own cult following. Many of Avery's cartoons have earned their place among the greatest cartoons ever made: "King Size Canary", "Bad Luck Blackie", "Magical Maestro" and "Blitz Wolf" are but a few. In the '70s Avery joined the lucrative world of TV-commercials, and created the original RAID insect spray ads and the Frito Bandito. Tex Avery died in August 1980. On these pages you will find three very different Tex Avery-cels, as well as two wonderful vintage drawings. I hope you'll enjoy my website, and if you have anything to add or any other comments, please e-mail me: hwalther@xs4all.nl Hans Walther All images © and TM of the respective studios. You can click on the thumbnails to see larger images. |
DEPUTY DROOPY (1955) I combined this cel with an original handpainted background from "Tumbleweed Tex", a Hanna-Barbera special. To see this combination, click HERE. |
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ONE CAB'S FAMILY (1952) |
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RAID BUG COMMERCIAL (1970's) |
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SLAP HAPPY LION (1947) |
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SLAP
HAPPY LION (1947) Production
154 - Scene 49 - Nr. 116. |