Screwball Squirrel

I'm interested in how we imagine as a society, so study movies. I'm increasingly convinced that many of the cleverest folding ideas were introduced first through shorts, specifically cartoons. They were cheaper to produce and wouldn't drag down the bill if they failed.

1944 is a bit late in the game for the history of folding, so the experiments have to be outrageous.

This is. Superficially, it is a chase cartoon where the plucky small creature outwits and pummels the bigger, dumber one. I understand that the form was mandated by funders. Ignore it.

Much more interesting is how Tex wrapped that in a selfaware perspective.

It starts with a fight for control of the cartoon, one character saying: "what kind of cartoon is this anyway?"

Midway in the chase, the little guy — the squirrel — asks what the next scene will be, and literally lifts the page to see the cartoon underneath.

Near the end, the big dumb guy says that he's had enough and the cartoon is over. That shrinking iris effect begins, but the little guy begs for some more time. He makes a promise which is of course broken.

At the real end of the thing, the little guy comes on stage to talk to the audience and reveals that he was able to perform all those tricks because he had a twin. The final joke is that the big dog had one too (about which the screwy squirrel was unaware.)

Important stuff. Funny, engaging.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Tex Avery preferred doing one-shot cartoons as opposed to using a regular character or characters. He was more interested in the gags than anything else. Studios, of course, want something recognizable to the audience, to developing continuing interest and thus sell more tickets. So Avery, because MGM wanted him to come up with a character to rival the Tom and Jerry shorts done by the other principle unit at the studio (Hanna and Barbera) came up with Screwball Squirrel.

While Screwy was a decent enough character, the trouble was that he was too limited, too much a one-note character. He was a walking sight gag. There were five cartoons done with Screwy before the series ended, in typical Avery style, with Lonesome Lenny. The Screwy cartoons are funny, but also too predictable. The first one, here, opens wonderfully with a lighthearted (or maybe not) shot at cutesy little animal cartoons that were staples at "other studios" for years and takes off from there. This is probably the best of the series. Well worth watching. Most highly recommended.

This was the first appearance of Screwy Squirrel, and like most of Tex Avery's animated shorts for Fred Quimby at M-G-M, filled with sight gags aplenty,along with the usual kinetic pacing that put Avery on the map. Screwy wasn't as popular as some of the other cartoon characters of the period (let's face it---Screwy is little more than Avery's answer to Bugs Bunny,like Woody Woodpecker was Walter Lanz's answer to Bugs). This short begins looking like it's going to be yet another 'Happy Harmony' short (M-G-M's answer to Disney's 'Silly Symphony' shorts,complete with cutsy woodland creatures & plots that can bring on diabetic shock),but this is flushed down the crapper fast, once Screwy makes his debut. Screwy manages to taunt a bloodhound (known as Meathead)for almost all of the short (with some pretty sadistic,but funny results). Toss in a sprinkle of Avery's use of surrealism, and you have yourself a laugh fest. Aired at various times on Cartoon Network's sister station, Boomerang, or on one of several early M-G-M Avery DVD's.

This is the first of several Screwball Squirrel cartoons. It's a real shame that this Tex Avery character never really took off, as I would have really loved to see more.

The cartoon begins with a cute little squirrel talking about the film and all his friends in the forest. Screwball then walks him away from the camera and beats the stuffing out of him and takes over the cartoon. He then phones and insults a bird dog so that through the rest of the film this hapless dog gets tortured repeatedly by Screwball. The film ends with the appearance of the same cute squirrel and BOTH Screwball and the dog pummel him!

The film is great because of all the Tex Avery touches--great over-the-top sight gags (such as catching the street car inside the tree) and the completely surreal aspects of the film. While it's not the best Avery cartoon (that might be SWINGSHIFT Cinderella), it is pure vintage Avery and fun for everyone but complete stick-in-the-muds.

Is it just me, or does squeaky clean Sammy Squirrel, who thinks this cartoon is going to be about him and his happy little friends, represent Walt Disney, or at least his cartoons? The salty Screwball takes him behind a tree and beats the daylights out of him, then provokes a dog named Meathead and beats him repeatedly too, all while being chased all over the place. There's a particular anarchy here and while Screwy lacks the charm of similarly characters (e.g. Bugs Bunny), I liked how the characters break the 4th wall and the alienation techniques Tex Avery used, e.g. The chase skipping when the record player begins to skip, or Screwy peeling back the image at a corner to see what he's going to be up to next. The gag with Meathead's entire face peeling off with flypaper was pretty amusing too. Not my favorite character, but worth seeing.