Ventriloquist Cat | |
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Directed by | Tex Avery |
Story by | Rich Hogan |
Produced by | Fred Quimby |
Starring | Tex Avery Red Coffey [1] |
Music by | Scott Bradley |
Animation by | Walter Clinton Michael Lah Grant Simmons |
Backgrounds by | Don Driscoll |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Loew's Incorporated |
Release date |
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Running time | 6:39 |
Language | English |
Ventriloquist Cat is a 1950 animated short film directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby for MGM Cartoons. [2] The film was released in the US with the movie The Big Hangover on May 27, 1950, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The short stars Spike and Blackie the Cat.
Blackie the Cat is being chased by Spike after he is caught writing "I hate Dogs!" on the fence. In order to escape, Blackie inadvertently jumps into a box full of assorted tricks and discovers a ventriloquist's device for throwing his voice. With his newly acquired powers of ventriloquism, Blackie plays a series of practical jokes on the bulldog. Ultimately, the jokes backfire on Blackie after he discards the device.
Cat's Meow | |
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Directed by | Tex Avery |
Story by | Rich Hogan |
Produced by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
Starring | Tex Avery Red Coffey [1] |
Music by | Scott Bradley |
Animation by | Walter Clinton Michael Lah Grant Simmons |
Backgrounds by | Don Driscoll |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Loew's Incorporated |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6:39 |
Language | English |
Ventriloquist Cat was later remade in CinemaScope as Cat's Meow, which was released on January 25, 1957. [4] [5] It was one of two Avery MGM cartoons to have been reworked in the widescreen format (the other was the 1949 Droopy cartoon Wags to Riches, which was redone as Millionaire Droopy); as Avery himself was long gone from MGM at the time of these remakes, the new versions were worked on by the Hanna-Barbera unit, despite having Avery's name credited on the title card.
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.
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.
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.
Tom & Jerry Kids is an American animated television series co-produced by H-B Production Co. and Turner Entertainment Co., and starring the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry as toddlers. It premiered on Fox on September 8, 1990, airing as the first program of the children's programming block, Fox Kids, and was the second Tom and Jerry TV series to be produced by Hanna-Barbera following The Tom and Jerry Show in 1975.
The Tex Avery Show is an American animated showcase series of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. cartoon shorts prominently by animator Tex Avery. In between the shorts, Don Kennedy gives short facts about the cartoons. The showcase premiered on the Cartoon Network in 1996, and was taken off the air in 2002, while reruns continued to be shown on Cartoon Network until April 11, 2004. It was soon re-broadcast on Boomerang. Some cartoons, like 1947's Uncle Tom's Cabaña, were omitted from the package as they were deemed offensive to some audiences.
The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show is an American animated television series produced by Filmation for MGM Television featuring the popular cartoon duo Tom and Jerry. The show first aired on September 6, 1980 on CBS and continued until December 13 the same year. Its episodes were eventually added to syndicated Tom and Jerry packages in 1983. The series was broadcast on Pop in the United Kingdom in October 2013. Episodes of the show also occasionally appeared on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
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.
Blitz Wolf is a 1942 American animated propaganda short film produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A parody of the Three Little Pigs told via a World War II perspective, the short was directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons but lost to Der Fuehrer's Face, another anti-Nazi World War II parody featuring Donald Duck.
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.
Bad Luck Blackie is a 1949 American animated comedy short film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The Shooting of Dan McGoo is a cartoon directed by Tex Avery and starring Frank Graham as the Wolf. Both Bill Thompson and Avery himself voiced the lead character Droopy. Sara Berner did the speaking voice of Lou, while her singing was provided by Imogene Lynn. The cartoon was edited for a 1951 re-release. It is a loose remake of Avery's 1939 cartoon for Warner Bros., Dangerous Dan McFoo.
Northwest Hounded Police is a 1946 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery, produced by Fred Quimby, and featuring Droopy and Avery's wolf character. A remake of Droopy's first cartoon Dumb-Hounded, the short revolves around the wolf on the run from Droopy, who is trailing the wolf in order to capture him. The title is a play on words on the film North West Mounted Police (1940).
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.
Cellbound is a 1955 cartoon short featuring Spike and directed by Tex Avery and Michael Lah. The story was by Heck Allen, and Paul Frees voiced all the characters. Its title is a pun on "spellbound."
Events in 1945 in animation.
Doggone Tired is a 1949 cartoon short directed by Tex Avery. Doggone Tired is one of three MGM cartoons currently in the public domain in the United States.
The Counterfeit Cat is a 1949 animated short film directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby for MGM Cartoons. Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the short was released in the US on December 24, 1949. The short stars Blackie the Cat, Spike, a yellow canary and a woman.
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.