Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His most significant work was for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, where he was crucial in the creation and evolution of famous animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, The Wolf, Red Hot Riding Hood, and George and Junior.
Magical Maestro is a 1952 American animated short comedy film directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby for MGM Cartoons. Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the short was released on February 9, 1952. It features the Great Poochini, a canine opera singer who spurns a magician. The magician is able to replace Poochini's normal conductor prior to the show through disguise. In 1993, Magical Maestro was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", making it the only Tex Avery cartoon so far to be inducted.
Walter Scott Bradley was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and conductor.
Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. Essentially the polar opposite of Avery's other MGM character, the loud and wacky Screwy Squirrel, Droopy moves slowly and lethargically, speaks in a jowly monotone voice, and—though hardly an imposing character—is shrewd enough to outwit his enemies. When finally roused to anger, often by a bad guy laughing heartily at him, Droopy is capable of beating adversaries many times his size with a comical thrashing.
Tom and Jerry is an American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the rivalry between the titular characters of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. Many shorts also feature several recurring characters.
Barney Bear is an American series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by MGM Cartoons. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a sluggish, sleepy bear who often is in pursuit of nothing except for peace and quiet. 26 cartoons were produced between 1939 and 1954.
Screwy Squirrel is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic squirrel created by Tex Avery for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Red Hot Riding Hood is an animated cartoon short subject, directed by Tex Avery and released with the movie Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case on May 8, 1943, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1994, it was voted number 7 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, making it the highest ranked MGM cartoon on the list. It is one of Avery's most popular cartoons, inspiring several of his own "sequel" shorts as well as influencing other cartoons and feature films for years afterward.
Dixieland Droopy is a 1954 animated short subject in the Droopy series, directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters, which included popular cartoon characters Tom, Jerry, Droopy, Butch, Spike, Tyke, and Barney Bear.
Tee for Two is a 1945 American one-reel Technicolor animated cartoon and is the 20th Tom and Jerry short, first released to theaters on July 21, 1945, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The short is directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, composed by Scott Bradley, and animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Pete Burness, and Kenneth Muse.
Mouse Cleaning is a 1948 one-reel animated cartoon and the 38th Tom and Jerry short. The title is a play on "house cleaning". It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on December 11, 1948, by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and again on February 18, 1956. It was animated by Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge and Ray Patterson, who were the usual animators for the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the early 1940s up until the late 1950s. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby; no writer has yet been credited. The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the backgrounds were created by Robert Gentle.
George and Junior are cartoon characters, two anthropomorphic bears created by Tex Avery for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. All of the George and Junior shorts were directed by Tex Avery in the 1940s. They appeared in four cartoons: Henpecked Hoboes (1946), Hound Hunters (1947), Red Hot Rangers (1947), and Half-Pint Pygmy (1948).
The Cat That Hated People is a 1948 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby, featuring Blackie the Cat. Blackie's voice was supplied by Patrick McGeehan in the style of Jimmy Durante; incidental music was directed by Scott Bradley. The film borrows elements from the Warner Bros.-produced Looney Tunes cartoons Porky in Wackyland and Tin Pan Alley Cats, both directed by Bob Clampett.
Slap Happy Lion is a 1947 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Released on September 20, 1947, the short details the tragic downfall of a lion from king of the beasts to a gibbering, pill-popping wreck. It is narrated by a mouse whose torments drove him crazy. The mouse's voice was supplied by Frank Graham. Scott Bradley provided the music.
Little Rural Riding Hood is a 1949 MGM animated cartoon short subject directed by Tex Avery, conceived as a follow-up to his 1943 cartoon Red Hot Riding Hood.
Animation music is original music written specifically to accompany an animation.
Butch is an animated cartoon character created by Tex Avery. Portrayed as an anthropomorphic Irish bulldog, the character was a recurring antagonist in the Droopy shorts, and appeared in his own series of solo shorts as well. His name was changed to Butch in 1955's Deputy Droopy to avoid confusion with Spike from the Tom and Jerry cartoons. All of the original 1940s and 1950s shorts were directed by Avery and Michael Lah at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. Butch would not appear in new material again until Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring in 2002.
Blue Cat Blues is a 1956 one-reel animated Tom and Jerry cartoon and was written, directed and produced by co-creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The short was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on November 16, 1956 in CinemaScope. It is the series' 103rd entry.
Tex Avery Screwball Classics is a series of single-disc Blu-ray and DVD sets by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Warner Archive unit collecting various theatrical cartoons from animation director Tex Avery during his tenure at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio's cartoon division between the years of 1942 and 1955. It is the first comprehensive collection of Avery's MGM shorts to be released on home media in North America since The Compleat Tex Avery series of laserdiscs in the 1990s, with many of the shorts having been previously unreleased on DVD or Blu-ray.
