Tex Avery - "Jerky Turkey"

I figured I'd post something with a Thanksgiving theme, so what better than a Tex Avery short. While "Jerky Turkey" might not be one of his best MGM shorts it's loaded with great gags. And who doesn't love a Jimmy Durante impersonation? So here's the short along with a couple of model sheets and animation drawings. Happy Thanksgiving.

Jerky Turkey

Uploaded by klangley

Tex Avery - "Doggone Tired"

Here's a model sheet and layout drawing by Louie Schmitt from Tex Avery's classic "Doggone Tired". Yes, when you come here everything Tex did is considered a classic. There's some great animation from Bobe Cannon who worked for Tex briefly. I wish he had stayed with Tex. His animation in the few shorts he worked on at MGM is some of my favorite work by any animator.

Doggone Tired

Uploaded by klangley

Tex Avery - "Half Pint Pygmy" Model Sheets

Here's two great model sheets drawn by Louis Schmitt from the last George and Junior short. While I like the character designs I don't think of them as George and Junior. Thad posted the cartoon as part of last Saturday's bowl of WTF so check it out there.

Tex Avery - "Ventriloquist Cat"

Another Tex Avery classic animated by Michael Lah, Walt Clinton and Grant Simmons. Grant Simmons' Spike is hilarious. They're are without a doubt my favorite unit out of all the animators and directors from any of the studios that were making theatrical shorts.

Ventriloquist Cat

Uploaded by klangley

Tex's 100th Birthday

Tex Avery is by far my favorite director, no other director's shorts make me laugh like Tex's. I don't think any other director was as influential as he was. Not even Chuck Jones. I won't try and persuade anyone that Tex is the all time greatest. But for me there's no one better. I wanted to do something really special for Tex's centennial but PC troubles kept me from really putting together a great tribute. But I did manage to finish up a clip reel of scenes from his MGM shorts. (Which for me, are the all time greatest cartoons.) I've spent many hours watching these shorts in chronological order and each one gets funnier and funnier. I think one gets sucked into Tex's "world" when viewing them that way. Anyway, Happy Birthday to the greatest cartoon director of all time.

Tex at the drawing board with Fred Quimby

Tex and Fred Quimby

Tex at Schlesinger's. Tex is second from the left, seated next to a rather large Frank Tashlin.

The Termite Terrace Crew

Tex and musical director extraordinaire, Scott Bradley. (Even though Tex didn't think so)

Tex Avery Tribute

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Tex Avery - "Red Hot Rangers"

I just noticed the other day that it's been two years (this Wednesday) since I started this blog. It doesn't seem like I've been blogging that long. I originally started this blog to post drawings and clips from a short that I was working on. I was inspired by Wil Branca and Nick Cross' production blogs, but quickly realized that I need to really work on improving my drawing ability and practice animating before I would have been happy with any of the work I was doing. (I'm still working at it) I started posting model sheets from some classic shorts to just post something in between my crap. Thanks to links early on from Thad, John K., Amid, Mark Mayerson, and the Animation Archive blog (thanks guys!!) people actually started reading this blog, or at least looking at the pictures since I say very little. It's been great "meeting" fellow bloggers like Thad, Ryan, David, Benj, Pedro, Greg, Craig D, Kasey and plenty of others. Thanks for all the drawing advice that I've been given and all the historical information that's been tossed around here. Even relatives of Jim Tyer and Robert Gentle have visited, very cool. This whole blogging thing has been much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Thanks everyone!!

Here, enjoy another one of Tex Avery's MGM classics.

Red Hot Rangers

Uploaded by klangley

Merry Christmas

Here's a little Christmas gift for everyone, Tex Avery's "One Ham's Family". I can't recall the last time I saw this one on TV, even when they actually showed classics, so hopefully it's a nice treat for those who haven't seen it in a long time. Sorry the quality isn't that great. I had a bitch of a time encoding if for some reason. The Tom and Jerry pic is from an old cover of Rexall magazine. Happy Holidays!

One Ham's Family

Uploaded by klangley

Tex Avery - "Bad Luck Blackie"

It's been a while since I posted anything from Tex Avery so here's "Bad Luck Blackie" and some model sheets to go along with it. So many great gags in this one. And who doesn't love the dog's laugh? Enjoy.

Bad Luck Blackie

Uploaded by klangley

Tex Avery - "Of Fox And Hounds"

Here's Tex's first use of the George and Lenny characters from "Of Mice and Men". This is also Willoughby's first appearance and I think Tex was credited with providing his voice. One of the greatest run cycles involving a cartoon dog is in this short so I decided to slow it down so we can check out each of those great drawings.

Willoughby Run Cycle (slow motion)

Uploaded by klangley

Of Fox And Hounds

Uploaded by klangley

Tex Avery - "The First Bad Man"

Here's another classic from Tex Avery along with some great layouts by Ed Benedict. I think this cartoon along with The Flintstones should be shown to all those who don't believe in creationism. You think these cartoonists just made this stuff up on their own? :)

The First Bad Man

Uploaded by klangley

Tex Avery - "Cellbound"

This was Tex's last cartoon for MGM which he co-directed with Michael Lah. Ed Benedict's design of the warden is great. You'd be surprised how many different people have emailed me to post about this short. I do remember it being on TV more frequently than some of the Avery shorts when I was a kid so maybe that's the case with so many other people.

Cellbound

Uploaded by klangley