animation history dumps and ramblings lmao

hello, joe

You guys really need to go check out Tex Avery he's basically my absolute FAVORITE director ever and his cartoons are some of the funniest ever put out there.

if you're not familiar with him, here's a quick rundown on him!: 

Tex Avery was an American animator who was best known for his work at Warner Bros Cartoons and MGM cartoons. He got his start at Walter Lantz working on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons as an animator, and then claimed to direct about 2 of the cartoons. He ended up leaving the studio after a salary dispute.

He then joined Leon Schlesinger Productions, where he was one of the "founding fathers" of Bugs Bunny, co-created Daffy Duck with Bob Clampett (also my favorite right behind him) and created Elmer Fudd (who started out as a little character called Egghead). He also helped shape the design of Porky Pig and gave him the cuter design we all know n love today!! He helped shape the studio and reminded them that they're not Disney and they shouldn't try to be like them, and created strange, crazy, and fast-paced cartoons.

After a dispute between him and Leon Schlesinger over the ending to Heckling Hare (1941), Avery either left or was fired (depending on who tells the story here).  Avery went to MGM, where he proceeded to create some of the funniest stars and cartoons out there. As his creativity peaked at the studio, he created stars such as Droopy, The Wolf (officially known as Slick Joe McWolf), Red, and Screwy Squirrel (whom he hated SO much he literally killed him off in his last short).

end of rundown! now you guys get to hear the yapping i promised in the title

to be honest i fell like one of the biggest shames in animation history is the fact that tex never directed a tom and jerry cartoon. like it would've been SUPER interesting to see him do his own interpretation of tom and jerry. i know h&b borrowed some elements from his cartoons to use in certain gags in the scene (ex. some special over-the-top wild takes) since obviously him and tex were the biggest creators in the studio (dont worry barney bear fans I didn't forget about you guys), but don't you guys think it would've been so interesting to see him direct at least ONE t&j cartoon. i stg that would've been great if he did.

another thing i'm gonna fucking yap about here is RED HOT RIDING HOOD (1943) HELL YEAH LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥

arguably red hot riding hood is the absolute PINNACLE of tex avery's career. it's always been my absolute favorite from him and since i love drawing hawt classic-styled cartoon women this is what i absolutely look up to. red hot riding hood is honestly the cartoon, imo, that everyone knows but has no idea what the hell its name is, idk man directors didn't get enough credit that they deserved back then it was always the producers (fred quimby here). its so incredibly iconic yet not many people know the name of it and especially, WHO directed it. i think the biggest example would be the "*jaw drops to the floor eyes pop out of sockets accompanied by trumpets etc*" copypasta and the whole "AWOOOOOOOOGA HUMINA HUMINA HUMINA" meme that emerged directly from this short. if tex can influence meme culture than that just shows how far he's gone even in today's age.

DROOPY.

DROOPY.

droopy is the most underrated gigachad EVER from classic animation. if you guys ever watched that video that got really popular during the whole dr. livesey phonk walk meme fad called "The Gigachads of Old Cartoons" (link here: https://youtu.be/C_9afImI1z4?si=ZrEqiYPpuPzlQ3s0) then you'll see a couple of comments labeling droopy as the "depressed gigachad" of popeye and dr. livesey. droopy honestly deserves more love in this day n age and if you're an avid watcher of metv's saturday morning cartoons block i can tell you that i get SOOOOOO hyped every time no matter WHAT droopy cartoon it is (thanks a lot minus8 and the internet for fucking ruining sheep wrecked it was like a 5 SECOND GAG THERE WAS NO NEED TO DO THAT TO HER GODDAMMIT)

Screwy Squirrel honestly deserves a lot more love too. ik tex avery really hated the shit out of him so much that he killed him off in his final cartoon but honestly he was actually a really funny character. imo he wasn't that fleshed out in his shorts like the whole gist of it that we got of him that he was some sort of cruel ass squirrel who used the power of cartoon physics to torture the shit out of anyone who comes across him. tex avery was a big perfectionist who sometimes did scenes or animated sequences literally over and over and over again until he thought it was right, and i'm guessing he had a lot more trouble with screwy squirrel. idk maybe he thought to himself and said screwy was just a shitty attempt to make some sort of bugs bunny-like character for MGM but it failed. 

as crazy screwy squirrel was i think he really does deserve some credit for tricking people into thinking that he's the hero when literally he's the antagonist of all the stories (or at least tries to be in his final short). i'm sure this is because he's literally the MAIN CHARACTER and probably the public was still used to seeing heroes as the protagonist and immediately know that everyone else who's "against him" are bad people. screwy squirrel broke this by tricking people with his goofy screwball attitude and his likeable screwy attitude that ppl thought was funny. screwy was just one of the biggest trolls out there, like almost genuinely antagonistic trolls, dudes a goddamn scp lock him up he can't be let out