Tex Avery

Frederick “Tex” Avery (1908–1980) was an American animator and director of iconic pre-television US “cartoon” animation, back when animated shorts ran ahead of feature films for seven minutes, and had broad audiences: children and adults. Avery was better than Disney at pleasing both with anarchic creativity: lots of action on a fairly high budget, and savvy metatheatre.

His first official credit for direction, as Fred Avery, came after he’d left Walter Lantz and started working at Warner on “Gold Diggers of ’49” (1935). Some prefer his later work at MGM, under Fred Quimby, starting with “Blitz Wolf” (1942).

At each studio, Avery was doing serial production, though there is no name for his series at MGM. Many of the films have characters in common, but no plot serialization. At Warner it was Friz Freleng’s Porky Pig, Avery’s own Daffy Duck etc. At MGM his main character was Droopy, who got cuter and cheaper to animate by the film.

Reviewed work

Director: “Gold Diggers of ’49” (1935)
Director: “Don’t Look Now” (1936)
Director: “I Love to Singa” (1936)
Director: “I’d Love to Take Orders from You” (1936)
Director: “Milk and Money” (1936)
Director: “Page Miss Glory” (1936)
Director: “Plane Dippy” (1936)
Director: “Porky the Rain-Maker” (1936)
Director: “The Blow Out” (1936)
Director: “The Village Smithy” (1936)
Director: “A Sunbonnet Blue” (1937)
Director: “Ain’t We Got Fun” (1937)
Director: “Egghead Rides Again” (1937)
Director: “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1937)
Director: “I Wanna Be a Sailor” (1937)
Director: “Little Red Walking Hood” (1937)
Director: “Picador Porky” (1937)
Director: “Porky the Wrestler” (1937)
Director: “Porky’s Duck Hunt” (1937)
Director: “Porky’s Garden” (1937)
Director: “Uncle Tom’s Bungalow” (1937)
Director: “A Feud There Was” (1938)
Director: “Cinderella Meets Fella” (1938)
Director: “Daffy Duck & Egghead” (1938)
Director: “Daffy Duck in Hollywood” (1938)
Director: “Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas” (1938)
Director: “The Isle of Pingo Pongo” (1938)
Director: “The Mice Will Play” (1938)
Director: “The Penguin Parade” (1938)
Director: “The Sneezing Weasel” (1938)
Director: “A Day at the Zoo” (1939)
Director: “Believe It or Else” (1939)
Director: “Dangerous Dan McFoo” (1939)
Director: “Hamateur Night” (1939)
Director: “Thugs With Dirty Mugs” (1939)
Director: “Blitz Wolf” (1942)
Director: “The Early Bird Dood It!” (1942)
Director: “Dumb-Hounded” (1943)
Director: “One Ham’s Family” (1943)
Director: “Red Hot Riding Hood” (1943)
Director: “What’s Buzzin’ Buzzard?” (1943)
Director: “Who Killed Who?” (1943)
Director: “Batty Baseball” (1944)
Director: “Big Heel-Watha” (1944)
Director: “Happy-Go-Nutty” (1944)
Director: “Screwball Squirrel” (1944)
Director: “Jerky Turkey” (1945)
Director: “Swing Shift Cinderella” (1945)
Director: “The Screwy Truant” (1945)
Director: “The Shooting of Dan McGoo” (1945)
Director: “Wild and Woolfy” (1945)
Director: “Henpecked Hoboes” (1946)
Director: “Lonesome Lenny” (1946)
Director: “Northwest Hounded Police” (1946)
Director: “The Hick Chick” (1946)
Director: “Hound Hunters” (1947)
Director: “King-Size Canary” (1947)
Director: “Red Hot Rangers” (1947)
Director: “Slap Happy Lion” (1947)
Director: “Uncle Tom’s Cabaña” (1947)
Director: “Half-Pint Pygmy” (1948)
Director: “Little ’Tinker” (1948)
Director: “Lucky Ducky” (1948)
Director: “The Cat That Hated People” (1948)
Director: “What Price Fleadom” (1948)
Director: “Bad Luck Blackie” (1949)
Director: “Doggone Tired” (1949)
Director: “Little Rural Riding Hood” (1949)
Director: “Out-Foxed” (1949)
Director: “Señor Droopy” (1949)
Director: “The Counterfeit Cat” (1949)
Director: “The House of Tomorrow” (1949)
Director: “Wags to Riches” (1949)
Director: “Garden Gopher” (1950)
Director: “The Chump Champ” (1950)
Director: “The Cuckoo Clock” (1950)
Director: “The Peachy Cobbler” (1950)
Director: “Ventriloquist Cat” (1950)
Director: “Car of Tomorrow” (1951)
Director: “Cock-a-Doodle Dog” (1951)
Director: “Daredevil Droopy” (1951)
Director: “Droopy’s Double Trouble” (1951)
Director: “Droopy’s Good Deed” (1951)
Director: “Symphony in Slang” (1951)
Director: “Magical Maestro” (1952)
Director: “One Cab’s Family” (1952)
Director: “Rock-a-Bye Bear” (1952)
Director: “Little Johnny Jet” (1953)
Director: “T.V. of Tomorrow” (1953)
Director: “The Three Little Pups” (1953)
Director: “Billy Boy” (1954)
Director: “Dixieland Droopy” (1954)
Director: “Drag-A-Long Droopy” (1954)
Director: “Homesteader Droopy” (1954)
Director: “The Farm of Tomorrow” (1954)
Director: “The Flea Circus” (1954)
Director: “Cellbound” (1955)
Director: “Deputy Droopy” (1955)
Director: “Field and Scream” (1955)
Director: “The First Bad Man” (1955)