Cross Country Detours

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Cross Country Detours
Cross Country Detours.webp
Directed by Tex Avery
Story byRich Hogan
Release date
  • 1940 (1940)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Cross Country Detours is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short animated film directed by Tex Avery (credited as Fred Avery). The film was written by Rich Hogan and animated by Paul Smith.

Contents

A travelogue spoof or parody of nature documentary, it presents various settings in the United States and is particularly remembered for its use of a split screen and rotoscoping as well as for featuring a scene depicting the mock self-censored striptease of a lizard and one including the suicide of a frog.

Plot

A narrator talks about the wonders of nature in the US:

  1. He starts with Yosemite National Park in California. He talks about how tourists always feeding the wildlife. A stupid man gives a bear a sandwich, then the bear pounds the man on the head and says, "Listen, stupid! Can't you read!?" pointing to a "Do not feed the bears" sign.
  2. As the narrator says, "Hello, deer," to a "shy little deer", the deer stands up on its hind legs and says in a sultry Mae West impression, "Hello big boy!”
  3. A scoutmaster takes his troops to a washroom at a gas station, where he asks permission from the gas station owner for permission to use the washroom while showing him his dirty hands, which the owner allows. Immediately after given permission, hoards of boy scouts quickly rush in droves into the same washroom with their scoutmaster.
  4. The narrator tells of how careless people often forget to put out their cigarettes or cigars, which could lead to forest fires. A ranger spots one and goes all the way to pick it up only to smoke it himself.
  5. The narrator describes natural rock formations in Bryce Canyon, one of which looks like a mouth with a gold tooth with a pun on the word bridge [1]
  6. In Alaska, the narrator tells how a polar bear's thick coat and layer of fat keeps him warm during the harsh winter climates. The polar bear says, "I don't care what you say, I'm cold", with his rear turning icy-blue to support his remark.
  7. The narrator tells about how happy Eskimo dogs are living in Alaska, except for one, who has dark brown fur, who wants to go to California.
  8. In another part of the United States, a bobcat prepares to pounce on and eat a cute baby quail, but he can't bring himself to do it to the point of having an emotional meltdown.
  9. At a local pond in the Everglades [2] where many frogs reside, the narrator says, "Here, we have a close-up of a frog croaking." The frog then takes out a pistol and commits suicide by shooting itself in the head. A patron's notice appears, stating that the management is not responsible for any lame puns in the cartoon.
  10. The Eskimo dog from earlier is still running.
  11. In New Mexico, a lizard is shedding her skin, which plays out like a striptease in which a censor bar appears before her breasts are exposed. [3]
  12. The narrator says that the next tale is very gruesome and that he will split the screen in two halves, with the grownups' side on the left and the children's side on the right. On the grownups' side, a Gila monster constantly snarls and growls, and on the children's side, a little girl recites "Mary Had a Little Lamb". After being interrupted by the Gila monster, she growls back at it, causing it to run away.
  13. At the Grand Canyon, a hiker tries to make an echo twice, but nothing happens. So finally, for the third attempt, he shouts at the top of his lungs and a female telephone operator's voice says "I'm sorry, they do not answer."
  14. The Eskimo dog appears again, and the narrator remarks how determined he must be.
  15. He tells of the Colorado River, and some beavers create a giant dam that looks man-made.
  16. Finally, the exhausted Eskimo dog makes his way to California where he runs into the Redwood Forest and declares, "Trees, thousands and thousands of trees, and they're mine, all mine!"

Caricatures

Cast

Production

The film was written by Rich Hogan and animated by Paul Smith. [6] Carl W. Stalling served as music director. [5]

Avery shot live action scenes to serve as reference footage for the animators, notably for the Mae West-deer and the lizard's striptease scenes. [7]

In an interview with Joe Adamson, Avery told the latter:

"Avery: Here's this little lizard running along, and then she suddenly gets up and “Da da da DA!” But there, we had the real babe! And she was undressing. She'd take off her sleeve here (the skin) and toss it out. We Rotoscoped her action to fit the lizard. Shaped the lizard like a girl, took off her skin and she was just a lighter green. It got a great laugh, too.

Adamson: I wonder if that's really a sensual act among lizards.

Avery: No, snakes do it. What the heck, we couldn't animate a snake." [8]

Release

The film was released on 16 March 1940. [9]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray as part of Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 2 . [10]

Screenings

The short was screened in March 2025 at the Bergamo Film Meeting as part of a Tex Avery retrospective. [11]

Reception

Contemporary reception found the film to be a funny parody. [12] [13] The Motion Picture Herald found that this "satire (went) to new lengths in achieving male audience appeal." [14] The Exhibitor noted in 1943: "When first released in 1940, this drew raves, and was considered one of the best of the color cartoons." [15]

It was later described as an Avery "classic", implementing indeed in a mock travelogue format, surreal ideas and spot gags. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] The film was called "the most famous of his travelogue spoofs" [22] and deemed better than its predecessor of the precedent year, Detouring America . [23] Glenn Erickson considered it was one of Avery's "WB's masterpieces". [24]

The "self-censored" episode of the lizard's striptease in New Mexico was particularly commented: [25] [26] "although the strip teaser in the cartoon is a lizard (shedding its skin, you understand), it is only one short step removed from its human original." [27] the cartoon "spoofed the reaction to the «danger» of depicting somebody in full frontal nudity even if it is only a lizard". [28]

Noting how "(i)n some cartoons, Avery actually seems embarrassed by the obviousness of his gags", Michael Barrier stated: "Avery had occasionally made such a mock apology in his Schlesinger cartoons, most notably in Cross Country Detours: immediately after the narrator, Robert C. Bruce, says, "Here we show you a frog croaking," the frog shoots itself and a card appears onscreen, announcing that the theater's management disclaims any responsibility for the puns used in the cartoon. The timing of the frog's "croak" is perfect, though— there's no opportunity for an audience to anticipate the gag— and so the "apology" is more like a smirk." [27] The scene was deleted for the original release in 1940 [29] before being restored in its 1944 reissue. [30] [31]

The role of the voice over is also analysed by Cristina Formenti as being part of the economy of the parody of nature documentary. [32]

The early use of a split screen was also noted. [33] [34] In terms of animation, the cartoon was said to stand out among the production of the time. [35] It is notably known for its "most explicit" use of rotoscoping. [36]

References

  1. ↑ Grant, John (2001). Masters of Animation. Batsford. ISBN   978-0-7134-8554-7.
  2. ↑ Withalm, Gloria (2012-01-01). "Filmic Communication on Controlling Film Culture: The Presentation of Movie Censorship within a Movie". Cantero, Pilar Couto, Gonzalo Enríquez Veloso, Alberta Passeri & José María Paz Gago (eds.). Culture of Communication, Communication of Culture. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies IASS-AIS, La Coruña, 22–26 September 2009, pp. 2133–2145.
  3. ↑ Barnier, Martin; Jullier, Laurent (2021-05-19). Une brève histoire du cinéma: 1895-2020 (in French). Fayard/Pluriel. ISBN   978-2-8185-0736-0.
  4. ↑ Petit, Laurence (2014-04-11). Picturing the Language of Images. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4438-5933-2.
  5. 1 2 Webb, Graham (2000). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences 1900-1979. McFarland. ISBN   978-0-7864-0728-6.
  6. ↑ Friedwald, Will; Beck, Jerry (1981). The Warner Brothers Cartoons. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   978-0-8108-1396-0.
  7. ↑ "The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion: A". www.warnercompanion.com. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  8. ↑ Adamson, J. (1975). Tex Avery, King of Cartoons. Popular Library, p. 184.
  9. ↑ McCall, Douglas L. (2015-09-11). Film Cartoons: A Guide to 20th Century American Animated Features and Shorts. McFarland. ISBN   978-1-4766-0966-9.
  10. ↑ Salmons, Tim (2024-04-09). "Looney Tunes: Collector's Choice – Vol. 2 (Blu-ray Review)". The Digital Bits. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  11. ↑ "Cross Country Detours". Bergamo Film Meeting. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  12. ↑ The Independent Film Journal (1944). Media History Digital Library. New York, The ITOA Independent, Inc.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ↑ The Film Daily (1940). The Film Daily (Apr-Jun 1940). MBRS Library of Congress. Wid's Films and Film Folk, inc.
  14. ↑ Motion Picture Herald. Quigley Publishing Company. 1940.
  15. ↑ The Exhibitor. J. Emanuel Publications. 1943.
  16. ↑ Wells, P. (2014-10-09). Animation, Sport and Culture. Springer. ISBN   978-1-137-02763-4.
  17. ↑ Wells, Paul (2008-11-28). The Animated Bestiary: Animals, Cartoons, and Culture. Rutgers University Press. ISBN   978-0-8135-4643-8.
  18. ↑ Dana, Philippe (2024-10-23). Au pays des Toons !: L'animateur de l'émission culte "Ça cartoon" nous raconte tout ! (in French). Kero. ISBN   978-2-7021-6984-1.
  19. ↑ Larsen, Darl (2024-06-18). Moving Pictures: A History of American Animation from Gertie to Pixar and Beyond. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN   979-8-216-33274-9.
  20. ↑ Peterson, Jennifer Lynn (2013-05-22). Education in the School of Dreams: Travelogues and Early Nonfiction Film. Duke University Press. ISBN   978-0-8223-5453-6.
  21. ↑ Film Library Quarterly. Film Library Information Council. 1982.
  22. ↑ Solomon, Charles (1989). Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation. Knopf. ISBN   978-0-394-54684-1.
  23. ↑ Beck, Jerry (1989). Looney tunes and merrie melodies : a complete illustrated guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Internet Archive. New York : H. Holt. ISBN   978-0-8050-0894-4.
  24. ↑ Erickson, Glenn (2020-02-18). "Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1". Trailers From Hell. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  25. ↑ Susik, Abigail (2025-05-15). Surrealism and Animation: Transnational Connections, 1920-Present. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-1-350-47593-9.
  26. ↑ Canemaker, John (1996). Tex Avery: The MGM Years, 1942-1955. Turner Pub. ISBN   978-1-57036-291-0.
  27. 1 2 Barrier, J. Michael (1999). Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age. Internet Archive. New York : Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-503759-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  28. ↑ Withalm, Gloria (2012). Filmic communication on controlling film culture. The presentation of movie cersorship within a movie. Universidade da Coruña. ISBN   978-84-9749-522-6.
  29. ↑ "The Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Guide: C". www.intanibase.com. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  30. ↑ McCall, Douglas L. (2015-09-11). Film Cartoons: A Guide to 20th Century American Animated Features and Shorts. McFarland. ISBN   978-1-4766-0966-9.
  31. ↑ "Blue Ribbon Blues - Original Title Gallery". blueribbonblues.neocities.org. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  32. ↑ https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/4338686
  33. ↑ Jerry Beck (1997). Warner Bros. animation art: the characters, the creators, the limited editions. Internet Archive. Hugh Lauter Levin Associates. ISBN   978-0-88363-107-2.
  34. ↑ Bernard, Jeff; Fikfak, Jurij; Grzybek, Peter (2005-01-01). Text & Reality. Založba ZRC. ISBN   978-961-6500-86-9.
  35. ↑ Floquet, Pierre (2009-05-01). Le langage comique de Tex Avery: Dix ans de création à la MGM - 1942-1951 (in French). Editions L'Harmattan. ISBN   978-2-296-22922-8.
  36. ↑ https://theses.hal.science/tel-05225498v1/file/2025theseCarfantanEPartiel.pdf (pp. 165-168 & fig. 76-77)
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