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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Tex Avery </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=367 WIDTH=300 ALT="Tex Avery. Artist: Chuck Jones." SRC="avery.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>TEX AVERY</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Born:</B> 1908 : : : <B>Died:</B> 1980 <BR><B>Job Description:</B> Animator and director <BR><B>Worked in:</B> Animated cartoons <BR><B>Noted for:</B> Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Droopy, Chilly Willy and much more<FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> Tex Avery started out trying to break into newspaper or magazine cartooning. But editors deemed his skills insufficient to the task, so he went into animation instead — and became a legend. <P> Frederick Bean Avery was  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> born Feb. 26, 1908, in a small Texas town called Taylor. He contributed cartoons to his high school yearbook, and sold a few more to local publicatios. He studied at The Chicago Art Institute, where he got to rub elbows with a few <A HREF="tribune.htm">Chicago <I>Tribune</I></A> artists, who served as instructors. After that, he took off for California to look for cartooning work. <P> He didn't have much success, until he heard <A HREF="universl.htm">Universal Studios'</A> animation department was hiring. He applied, and producer <A HREF="lantz.htm">Walter Lantz</A> put him to work in the <A HREF="glossary.htm#ink">ink</A> and <A HREF="glossary.htm#painter">paint</A> department. He worked his way up to <A HREF="glossary.htm#inbetween">in-betweener,</A> and that's how he learned the basic skills necessary to make his drawings appear to move. A few years later, he was making them move the way nobody else ever had. Today, his name connotes a style of zany, over-the-top animation that had never been seen in the world until he invented it. <P> It was shortly after he began in-betweening that <A HREF="disney.htm">Disney</A> raided the staff, and with jobs suddenly vacant Avery became a full-fledged animator. With that on his resume, he applied at Leon Schlesinger's studio, where the <A HREF="warner.htm">Warner Bros.</A> cartoons were made, and was hired as a director. His first cartoon was a <A HREF="porky.htm">Porky Pig</A> opus titled <I>Gold Diggers of '49,</I> which was released January 6, 1936. In '37, as a supporting character in another Porky cartoon, he introduced his first major creation — <A HREF="daffy.htm">Daffy Duck.</A> <P> Avery was also instrumental in the development of <A HREF="bugs.htm">Bugs Bunny</A> and <A HREF="elmer.htm">Elmer Fudd</A> (who was in part a modification of Avery's earlier character, <A HREF="egghead.htm">Egghead</A>). And he developed talent as well as characters — <A HREF="cjones.htm">Chuck Jones</A> (<A HREF="roadrunr.htm">Road Runner,</A> <A HREF="grinch.htm"><I>How the Grinch Stole Christmas</I></A>), Bob Clampett (<A HREF="tweety.htm">Tweety Bird,</A> <A HREF="beany.htm">Beany & Cecil</A>) and Bobe Cannon (<A HREF="gerald.htm">Gerald McBoing-Boing,</A> <A HREF="magoo.htm">Mr. Magoo</A>) were among his early assistants. <P> In 1941, Avery quarrelled with Schlesinger over a series idea, comedy shorts featuring live-action animals with animated mouths dubbed onto their faces (a technique which may or may not have inspired the technique used to "animate" <A HREF="clutch.htm">Clutch Cargo</A>). The argument became so heated, Schlesinger suspended Avery from his job for eight weeks — during which time Avery sold the series to Paramound Pictures, where, under the title <I>Speaking of Animals,</I> it ran seven years and won an Academy Award. When the eight weeks were up, Avery didn't go back. <P> In 1942, he became a cartoon director for <A HREF="mgm.htm">MGM,</A> where he promptly created <A HREF="droopy.htm">Droopy</A> and <A HREF="screwy.htm">Screwy Squirrel.</A> He was also responsible for a series of hilarious send-ups of fairy tales, featuring an unnamed wolf character teamed with a <A HREF="red.htm">sexy redhead,</A> starting with <I>Red Hot Riding Hood</I> (1943), and for some of the funniest non-series cartoons of the 1940s and '50s. <P> Avery returned to Lantz in 1954, and continued his habit of strewing classic characters wherever he went. Tho he directed only four cartoons there, they included <I>I'm Cold</I> (1954), the one that established <A HREF="chilly.htm">Chilly Willy</A> as a star. <P> Following a contract dispute with Lantz, Avery went into commercial animation. Classic characters he created in that venue include the Raid bugs and <A HREF="frito.htm">The Frito Bandito.</A> He also, occasionally, got to work on some of his old Warner Bros. creations, once they started doing product endorsements. He continued to work on commercials for more than two decades. <P> In 1979, 71 years of age, he went back to the entertainment business, taking a job with his former co-workers at MGM, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. <A HREF="hannabar.htm">Hanna-Barbera</A> was the only place he ever worked where he didn't leave stars in his wake. His best known characters there were <A HREF="kwicky.htm">Kwicky Koala</A> (a highly derivative character) and Dino & the Cave Mouse (a <A HREF="flintstn.htm">Flintstones</A> spin-off, strongly reminiscent of <A HREF="tomjerry.htm">Tom & Jerry</A>). <P> Perhaps, tho, he'd have left them with a classic or two if he'd had more time. He died on August 26, 1980. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! 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