Happy birthday to Fred 'Tex' Avery! I'll have a tribute thread momentarily... 
Born in 1908 at Taylor, Texas, Tex Avery’s early cartooning can be traced to his high school days in Dallas, where him and his friends often greeted each other as "Doc" (e.g. "What’s up, Doc?"). Here’s a 1924 drawing he submitted for publication that was ultimately scrapped.
Here’s a portrait of Tex as a senior, along with some illustrations he drew for the school year book in 1926:
To improve his drawing, Tex enrolled in a three-month summer course at the Art Institute of Chicago, but quit after only a month. After he knew he couldn't publish an illustration or comic strip there, he moved back to Dallas.
In 1928, Tex and his friends in Dallas drove to LA. He decided to stay, and for a few months, loaded produce crates at the docks and painted cars. Some time later, Tex was hired at George Winkler’s animation studio, inking and painting cels on the Oswald Rabbit cartoons.
Tex moved over to Walter Lantz’s studio, working as an inker. He rose through the ranks and became an animator by 1930. The animators served as their own gag men on the Oswald Rabbits, improvising material as they went along, much like the New York studios.
Here's a scene from ALASKA ('30) that *could* be a Tex contribution - a character singing an old tune with a deadpan expression throughout. Much of the animation is by head animator/co-director Bill Nolan, and the voice is by Pinto Colvig (another animator for Lantz).
This might be a combination of several animators/gag men, but this excerpt from GRANDMA'S PET ('32) - taking cues from Buster Keaton's SHERLOCK JR. - serves as another example of the improvisational, freewheeling nature Tex became accustomed.
Here are some pictures of Tex from the early 1930s, while he worked at Lantz.
Soon, Tex’s abilities as a gag man for Lantz became the center of attention. Bill Nolan would hand him sections of a cartoon and let him “gag it up”, with one or two other animators contributing. One of these cartoons was THE ZOO ('33), where Tex came up with the end of the gag.
Here is a 1934 publicity photo with Tex at the drawing board, along with an Oswald model sheet that can be seen on his right.
In CHRIS COLUMBUS JR. ('34), Tex recalled animating the sequence of the peg-legged pirate having trouble with his cannon, which he expanded repeatedly to a point where "the drawings kept piling up". (Tex's voice is also heard as the pirate yells out.)
Soon, Tex wanted more control over his gags and asked Bill Nolan if he could direct a cartoon that would be entirely his. This might have been TOWNE HALL FOLLIES (’35), which certainly feels like an Avery cartoon in its gags, timing, and incidental character designs.
Unhappy with his salary, Tex left Walter Lantz’s studio in April 1935. Shortly after, he was hired as a director at WB by Leon Schlesinger. Tex was assigned to make cartoons using animal characters from one of their latest productions, Friz Freleng’s I HAVEN’T GOT A HAT (’35).
Due to limited space, Tex was moved into a small wooden-frame building in the middle of the WB lot, which they named "Termite Terrace". There, he recruited animators Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones, along with two former Lantz animators Sid Sutherland and Virgil Ross.
The first of Tex’s cartoons for WB was GOLD DIGGERS OF ’49 (’35), which featured Beans, with Porky in a supporting role. The speed effect in this clip, lifted from Disney’s Oscar-winning TORTOISE AND THE HARE, was a strong indicator on the films that followed after.
Tex saw more potential in Porky Pig, finding the solution to create refined character-based comedy by making him more of a sympathetic underdog, rather than a plucky comic hero like Beans the Cat. His first starring role was in Tex's next cartoon PLANE DIPPY ('36).
THE BLOW OUT (’36) was certainly a breakthrough cartoon for Tex's career. Note how the Mad Bomber breaks the fourth wall to address the audience—this became one of Tex’s big trademarks and cemented the identity of the studio as an institute of fresh, irreverent film comedy.
Here’s an important cartoon from the studio, I LOVE TO SINGA (’36) - a great example of how Tex's unique comic touch and attitude were able to push away an excessive sentimentality, unlike other Disney imitators with their cartoons in the late 1930s.
“Whew! What a buggy ride!” In this long sequence from THE VILLAGE SMITHY (’36), Tex experimented with speed effects once again, but his timing improved significantly than his first cartoon at WB.
By the end of 1936, Tex re-designed Porky - smaller snout, chubby cheeks, and more of a softness rather than large and rotund as his early appearances. Here are two model sheets from PORKY THE WRESTLER ('37).
Speaking of PORKY THE WRESTLER (’37), Tex took a simple gag in a boxing arena and transformed the setting into another through visual gags, a motif lifted from silent comedy and used frequently in the Marx Brothers’ films.
Tex’s groundbreaking cartoon PORKY’S DUCK HUNT (’37) introduced a certain little black duck with a white ring around his neck. In his first big scene with Porky, he bounces away from the lake with a crazy laugh. Truly a landmark event for animation.
LITTLE RED WALKING HOOD (’37), Tex’s first fairy-tale spoof, brought upon a new character type in Avery’s films with the comic villain—the Wolf displays no real menace to any of the characters in the film; instead, he’s constantly provoked throughout the whole cartoon.
Some pictures of Tex - a few taken inside the WB studio.
With the success of PORKY'S DUCK HUNT, Tex had created a new star character out of the little black duck, which the studio named Daffy.
Here’s a recurring gag Tex mostly used at WB in this clip from DAFFY DUCK AND EGGHEAD (’38), along with a scene with Daffy in his first starring role. (Story man Tedd Pierce is the rotoscoped theatergoer.)
HAMATEUR NIGHT (’39) is one of Tex’s better spot-gag cartoons, where the story is comprised of incidental gags centered around a theme or setting, one after another. (Tex also provides the roaring laughter from an audience member.)
THUGS WITH DIRTY MUGS (’39) not only spoofed gangster movies from the 1930s, mostly released by Warner Bros., but also violated live-action filmmaking techniques, as you’ll see here:
Eventually, Tex strived for more realistic character animation in his films. Sometimes, he filmed live-action reference to get a certain gag across, such as the payoff from CROSS-COUNTRY DETOURS (’40), one of his many parodies of travelogue films.
The studio directors made cartoons with rabbit characters earlier, but Tex solidified the character of Bugs Bunny in A WILD HARE ('40) as confident in the face of danger, with a streetwise Brooklyn/Bronx accent to match.
In OF FOX AND HOUNDS ('40) Tex finds comedy potential in the bleakness of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and its 1939 film adaptation, turning it into a comic duo of sorts—big dumb oaf and his shorter, mentally superior pal. Tex himself is the voice of Willoughby.
After A WILD HARE, Bugs was re-designed from the late Bob Givens' design to a model drawn by the studio's head animator Bob McKimson.
In Tex’s second cartoon with Bugs Bunny, TORTOISE BEATS HARE ('41), he made a wise decision to portray Bugs as the loser. In a variation/improvement on a motif from THE BLOW OUT, anywhere Bugs turns, Cecil Turtle either stands beside or is ahead of him in the race.
Tex makes his own satirical comment on animation when Porky Pig presents his own crudely-drawn film in PORKY’S PREVIEW (’41). Mostly comprise of simple line drawings, this serves as a forerunner to graphic stylization in animation that would emerge later in the 1940s.
Tex clashed with Leon Schlesinger over the ending to THE HECKLING HARE (’41), and it was ultimately cut before release. Originally, Bugs and Willoughby the dog were intended to fall two more times as an experiment to test the audience’s patience.
After Avery left the WB studio in June 1941, his next films went uncredited, while others were finished by Bob Clampett. Recent evidence has found that one of these was WABBIT TWOUBLE ('41), even though Clampett is credited. These opening scenes were undoubtedly directed by Tex.
Tex also pitched an idea for a series of live-action shorts, in which animals make wisecracks through animated mouths. Leon Schlesinger refused, so Avery went to producer Jerry Fairbanks. Here's the first of this series, known as "Speaking of Animals":
After three “Speaking of Animals” shorts, Tex was offered a chance to direct cartoons for MGM in September 1941—these would have larger budgets and a higher production value than WB. Here's a photo taken to mark the occasion, with drawings of Barney Bear seen on the left:
Tex’s first cartoon in production for MGM was THE EARLY BIRD DOOD IT (’42). The timing/pacing became quick and energetic, and as you’ll see at the start of this clip, Avery experiments with speed in a different method:
DUMB-HOUNDED (’43) introduces the unassuming little bloodhound later known as Droopy. Using the omnipresence motif from THE BLOW OUT and TORTOISE BEATS HARE, Tex also makes a large improvement with characters speeding forward and backward from THE VILLAGE SMITHY.
RED HOT RIDING HOOD (’43) is the most notable cartoon in Tex’s career—a sexually fueled take on the fairy tale set within the extravagant Hollywood nightlife. An enormous sensation upon release, it epitomized the 1940s animated cartoon and influenced many filmmakers throughout.
In WHAT’S BUZZIN’ BUZZARD (’43), Tex takes advantage of the camera fielding, as it frequently trucks in and out of close-ups when Joe Buzzard continuously attempts to devour the Jimmy Durante-esque vulture. (Apparently, producer Fred Quimby disliked this cartoon.)
In SCREWBALL SQUIRREL (’44), Avery makes a blunt critique of Disney’s lavish feature films, particularly BAMBI, right at the start of these opening scenes. This was the first of five cartoons with Screwy Squirrel, a character Tex despised in later years.
Here's Tex with producer Fred Quimby drawing a rough character layout for the last Screwy cartoon LONESOME LENNY (in production by late 44, released '46).
Following the success of RED HOT RIDING HOOD, Tex made a few sequels with Red and the Wolf. With the third film SWING SHIFT CINDERELLA (’45), Avery’s comic timing became much sharper and faster than ever before.
Now that his timing had improved, Tex chose to remake his first cartoon with Droopy and cast him as a Canadian Mountie in NORTHWEST HOUNDED POLICE (’46). The Wolf’s paranoia is displayed in the most wild, exaggerated takes in an Avery cartoon at that point.
RED HOT RANGERS (’47) is one of three cartoons with George and Junior, again patterned after the two main characters from the novel/ film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”. (Tex voiced Junior in all three cartoons.)
The premise of KING-SIZE CANARY (’47) is built on a single concept that gradually builds into a heavy barrage of gags accelerating at a fast momentum—this became a sort of template for many of Tex’s MGM cartoons to follow.
The centerpiece of LITTLE ‘TINKER (’48) has a lovelorn skunk win over a potential mate by swooning, a la Frank Sinatra. His admirers react in such a brutal and amorous fashion that almost acts as a parody of the “twitterpated” sequence from Disney’s BAMBI.
BAD LUCK BLACKIE (’49), considered by many fans and scholars as Tex’s masterpiece, bases its narrative on a single, absurd idea based on superstition that progresses its gags along smoothly.
WAGS TO RICHES (’49) pairs Droopy with Spike the bulldog, a character Tex used in several cartoons thereafter. Believe it or not, this concept of collecting life insurance or inheritance through murderous intent was real comedy fodder decades before on stage and film.
Tex used limited animation accompanied by flat, stylized characters and backgrounds in SYMPHONY IN SLANG (’51). The film is mainly comprised of various sight gags based on familiar expressions taken quite literally by the Heavens above, as a dead hep-cat recounts his life story.
MAGICAL MAESTRO (’52) contains perhaps one of Tex’s most inventive gags, lifted from his WB cartoon AVIATION VACATION. It seems Tex saw UPA’s THE MAGIC FLUKE ('49), which also substituted a baton with a magic wand, with obvious effects (except there, it was accidental).
Another reoccurring pattern of gags first appeared in ROCK-A-BYE BEAR (’52), in which Spike is hired to ensure absolute quiet in a hibernating bear’s house, but a jealous little dog intends to break the silence.
Around May 1950, after production on either MAGICAL MAESTRO or ROCK-A-BYE BEAR, it seemed Tex’s dedication to his work—calculating camera pans, drawing layouts, re-timing/cutting scenes in the work print—caused a mental breakdown. He took a sabbatical from MGM for a year.
By the time Tex returned to the studio in June 1951, UPA’s modern graphic approach manifested itself in the animated cartoon. THE THREE LITTLE PUPS (’53) was the first where Avery fully embraced these artistic decisions in his films.
Tex tried a unique experiment with Daws Butler’s voice of the farmer wolf in BILLY BOY (’54). With the new tape technology used to record dialogue, the last syllable of each sentence is repeated to give off a reverb effect.
In March 1953, MGM’s animation department was worried the latest trend with 3D movies would eclipse their cartoons in popularity. The studio shut down Tex’s unit and his last two cartoons DEPUTY DROOPY and CELLBOUND (both ’55) were finished by animator Mike Lah.
Here's a rough storyboard drawn by Tex from DEPUTY DROOPY. Usually, he had a story man (like Heck Allen) that acted as a safeguard to his ideas, and several character layout men that would translate his rough drawings in his MGM cartoons. (I made a whole thread about the latter.)
After Tex left MGM, Walter Lantz asked Tex to come back to his studio as director, offering a percentage of the profits of his cartoons. These cartoons are purely Avery's—not only did he direct the films, but he also wrote, boarded and drew his own character models.
From February to August 1954, Tex directed only four cartoons for Lantz. Avery re-designed Lantz’s penguin character Chilly Willy and used him in a pair of cartoons, one being THE LEGEND OF ROCK-A-BYE POINT (’55) - a semi-remake of ROCK-A-BYE BEAR and DEPUTY DROOPY.
Lantz wanted Tex to direct cartoons with Chilly Willy, but he preferred one-shot ideas instead of an established character. CRAZY MIXED-UP PUP (’55) is considered the best of the four cartoons Tex directed. It was later nominated for an Oscar (as was ROCK-A-BYE POINT).
Isolated clips wouldn't justify this, so here is Tex's last cartoon he directed for Lantz (and his last theatrical) in its entirety. It uses "The Okeh Laughing Record" throughout much of the cartoon - a novelty record issued in 1923.
Tex left Lantz with some Chilly Willy cartoons left unfinished in their storyboard stages that were finished by director Alex Lovy. HOLD THAT ROCK (’56) certainly has the essence of an Avery cartoon, judging by similarities to his cartoons at WB and MGM.
It seems while Tex was directing at Lantz in 1954, he freelanced as a gag writer on an NBC television show starring popular bandleader Spike Jones, known for his parodies of popular and classical music. Here's one of Tex's sketches for THE SPIKE JONES SHOW:
Tex was unhappy with Lantz's budgets and feet burnt out directing theatricals. In 1955, he found a job at Cascade, a small studio that specialized in commercials, where he would spend the next two decades. Here's Tex with a young Mark Kausler while he was at Cascade from 1969:
At Cascade, Avery directing several commercials with various products manufactured by Frito-Lay, Raid, Kool-Aid and Pillsbury, among many. Here’s one of Tex's Kool-Aid spots from the late 1950s/early 1960s, animated by Ken Muse.
Soon, Tex was able to persuade Cascade to use Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in different Kool-Aid commercials. Here's one from 1964, animated by Rod Scribner and Ben Washam:
Though Tex was modest about his career, his cartoons gained a following over time. Writer/historian Joe Adamson interviewed Tex, and published a biographical overview of his career in 1975, which led to a more widespread appreciation of his role in the world of animation.
Cascade closed in 1977/78, which left Tex out of work. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera offered him a job at their studio to help write and develop characters for TV. Here are some of his storyboard pages featuring their new characters Kwicky Koala and Wilford Wolf.
Tex passed away in August 1980, while THE KWICKY KOALA SHOW was still in production. Many filmmakers and animators pay tribute to his cartoons, even to this day. (Thank you all for reading - sorry this was such a long thread.)
