:Tex Avery

File:Tex Avery yearbook photo.png

Avery was born to Mary Augusta "Jessie" (née Bean; 1886–1931) and George Walton Avery (1867–1935) in Taylor, Texas. His father was born in Alabama and his mother was born in Chickasaw County, Mississippi.

Avery graduated in 1926 from North Dallas High School.{{cite web|last=Parks|first=Scott K.|title=North Dallas High murals pay homage to animated alumnus Tex Avery|newspaper=Dallas Morning News|date=February 21, 2010|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/022210dnmettexavery.3dc1d7c.html|access-date=February 22, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017215057/http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20100221-North-Dallas-High-murals-pay-homage-8664.ece|archive-date=October 17, 2012}}Barrier (2003), Warner Bros., pp. unnumbered pages A popular catchphrase at his school was "What's up, doc?",{{Cite news|last=Haile|first=Bartee|title=Nothing Funny About Sad Life Of Daffy Duck Creator|newspaper=The Lone Star Iconocast|date=January 20, 2010|url=http://lonestaricon.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=451|access-date=February 19, 2010}}{{dead link|date=April 2025}} which he later used for Bugs Bunny in the 1940s. Interested in becoming a newspaper cartoonist, he took a three-month summer course at the Chicago Art Institute but left after a month.{{Cite web|title=Twitter|url=https://twitter.com/dee_bax/status/1232698356306186241|access-date=June 28, 2020|website=Twitter|language=en}}

On January 1, 1928, Avery arrived in Los Angeles. He spent the next few months working in menial jobs. According to animation historian Michael Barrier, these jobs included working in a warehouse, working on the docks at night, loading fruits and vegetables, and painting cars. He began his animation career when hired by the Winkler studio (named after producer Margaret J. Winkler and later known as Screen Gems). He was an inker, inking cels for animated short films in the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series; the character had been created by Walt Disney. Avery then moved to a new studio, Universal Cartoon Studios (later known as Walter Lantz Productions). He was again employed as an inker, but moved rapidly up the studio's hierarchy. By 1930, Avery had been promoted to the position of animator.

Avery continued working at the Walter Lantz Studio into the early 1930s. He worked on most of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons from 1931 to 1935. He is shown as "animator" on the original title card credits on the Oswald cartoons. He later claimed to have directed two cartoons during this time.

During some office horseplay at the Lantz studio, a thumbtack or paper clip flew into Avery's left eye and caused him to lose sight in that eye. Some speculate it was his lack of depth perception that gave him his unique look at animation and bizarre directorial style, but it did not stop his creative career. The incident is described in some detail by Barrier, based in part on old interviews with Avery. Part of the typical crude horseplay at the Universal studio was using a rubber band or a paper spitball to target the back of a colleague's head. An animator called Charles Hastings decided to take the game one step further, by using a wire paper clip, instead. Avery heard one of his colleagues telling him to look out. He reacted by turning around. Instead of the back of his head, the paper clip hit Avery in his left eye. He instantly lost the use of his eye.

As an animator, Avery worked under director Bill Nolan. Nolan reportedly delegated work to Avery, whenever Avery had to animate a sequence. Nolan's instructions for a scene involving Oswald being chased by bees were reportedly simple. He would describe in which direction Oswald was running ("right to left") and for how many feet. The rest of the details were left up to Avery. Avery started handing out work to other animators working under Nolan.

Avery wanted still greater control over the creative process and served as a de facto director for a couple of films. Based on Avery's recollections, here is a description of how this happened. He was submitting sight gags for use in the short films. Some of them were used in the actual films, and some funny ones were left out. He wanted to somehow get all his gags in the finished film. So, he asked Nolan to let him create the entire storyboard for a film. Nolan instructed Avery to not only draw the storyboard, but also to work on the timing and the layout on his own. Avery completed two films using this process. An older Avery recalled that both films "were terrible", though they got accepted for release.

Avery was reportedly displeased with his salary and had started giving up on his work. After about six weeks of substandard work, his superiors let him go. In April 1935, Avery lost his job at the Universal studio.

Later in 1935, Avery applied for a job at Leon Schlesinger Productions (the company later known as Warner Bros. Cartoons). Avery reportedly managed to convince producer Leon Schlesinger that he was an experienced director, a false claim. In Avery's own words:

{{blockquote|quote='Hey, I'm, a director.' Hell! I was no more a director than nothing, but with my loud mouth, I talked him into it.}}

By 1935, when Avery was hired, the Schlesinger studio had only two full-time, regular film directors: Friz Freleng and Jack King. Avery became the third regular director. The staff of the Schlesinger studio had become too large to be housed in a single building, at the Warner Bros. backlot on Sunset Boulevard. The new Avery unit of the studio was granted their own building, a five-room bungalow. The unit staff dubbed their quarters "Termite Terrace", due to its significant termite population.[http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/2005_03_01_blogarch.html International Animated Film Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808033044/http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/2005_03_01_blogarch.html |date=August 8, 2007 }} "Termite Terrace" later became the nickname for the entire Schlesinger/Warner Bros. studio, primarily because Avery and his unit were the ones who defined what became known as "the Warner Bros. cartoon".

Avery was granted exclusive use of four animators: Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Sid Sutherland, and Virgil Ross. The first animated short film produced by this unit was Gold Diggers of '49 (1935), the third Looney Tunes film starring Beans. Beans was also featured in the film's title card, signifying that he was the intended protagonist. The film had a Western setting and cast Beans as a gold miner. Also featured in the film was a redesigned Porky Pig, making his second appearance. The Avery unit was assigned to work primarily on the black-and-white Looney Tunes instead of the Technicolor Merrie Melodies, but was allowed to make color Merrie Melodies beginning with Page Miss Glory from 1936. Avery was also noted to be the first to stray away from using song breaks in color cartoons starting with the 1937 short Uncle Tom's Bungalow, later saying that "We were forced to use a song, which would just ruin the cartoon. You'd try like a fool to get funny, but it was seldom you did."{{Cite web |last=Yowp |date=2021-11-27 |title=Tralfaz: Fedora! For Dora! |url=https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2021/11/fedora-for-dora.html |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Tralfaz}}

File:Tex Avery - Looney Tunes - Haunted Mouse, The (1941) (restored HD version).webm (1941)]]

Avery stopped using Beans following Gold Diggers of '49, but continued using Porky as a star character. According to Michael Barrier, Beans was more of a straight man. However, Porky had to be redesigned again. The early Porky was decidedly "piglike" in appearance. In Michael Barrier's description, Porky was very fat, had small eyes, a large snout, and pronounced jowls. He was like a porcine version of Roscoe Arbuckle. Starting with Porky the Rainmaker (1936), his fourth animated short starring Porky, Avery introduced a cuter version of Porky. The new design gave Porky more prominent eyes and a smaller snout. The jowls were replaced by chubby cheeks. Porky's body now had a rounder shape; its defining trait was not fatness, but softness. Barrier notes that the new design by Avery departed from the "Disneyish" realism in the previous drawing style. Porky became a less realistic pig and looked more like a cartoon character.

According to Martha Sigall, Avery was one of the few directors to visit the ink and paint department — where he would answer questions and was always in good humor — as he liked to see how his cartoons were developing. When some of the artists humorously criticized the wild action in his animated shorts, Avery would take time to explain his rationale.Sigall (2005), p. 48-49 He recalled that while working at Warner Bros., the animators had a great deal of liberty, and were subject to very little censorship.{{sfn|Cohen|2004|p=37}}

Avery, with the assistance of Clampett, Jones, and the new associate director Frank Tashlin, laid the foundation for a style of animation that rivaled The Walt Disney Studio as the leader in animated short films, and created a group of cartoon characters that are still known today. Avery, in particular, was deeply involved. He crafted gags for the shorts, and sometimes provided voices for them (including his trademark belly laugh) and held such control over the timing of the shorts that he would add or cut frames out of the final negative if he felt a gag's timing was not quite right.

Porky's Duck Hunt (1937) introduced the character of Daffy Duck, who possessed a new form of "lunacy" and zaniness that had not been seen before in animated cartoons. Daffy was an almost completely crazy "darn fool duck" who frequently bounced around the film frame in double-speed, screaming "Hoo-hoo!" in a high-pitched, sped-up voice provided by voice artist Mel Blanc, who, with this cartoon, also took over providing the voice of Porky Pig. Avery directed two more Daffy Duck cartoons: Daffy Duck & Egghead and Daffy Duck in Hollywood. Egghead was a character inspired by comedian Joe Penner and first appeared in Avery's Egghead Rides Again.{{Sfn|Sigall|2005|p=30}}{{sfn|Sigall|2005|p=35-37}}{{Cite book |title=Seven Minutes: The Life and Death of the American Animated Cartoon |last=Klein |first=Norman |publisher=Verso Books |year=1993 |isbn=978-1859841501 |pages=21}}

Little Red Walking Hood first introduced the early character of Elmer Fudd as a character mostly taking part of some running gag. Elmer in this early form had green clothes, a brown bowler hat, and a pink nose. He was also named "Elmer" on the lobby cards for "The Isle of Pingo Pongo" (1938), his second appearance, Cinderella Meets Fella (1938), his third appearance, and was fully called "Elmer Fudd" on screen in "A Feud There Was" (1938), also his fourth appearance. Elmer even appears on early merchandise and in the early Looney Tunes books in 1938 and 1939 and was later promoted as "Egghead's Brother" on the Vitaphone Release Sheet for Cinderella Meets Fella because Elmer was also voiced by Danny Webb in his Joe Penner voice that was also use for Egghead.{{cite web|last=Barrier|first=Michael|date=June 25, 2009|title=Summer Slumber|url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/WhatsNewArchivesJune09.htm#summerslumber|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901013816/http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/WhatsNewArchivesJune09.htm|archive-date=September 1, 2009|access-date=February 3, 2013|publisher=MichaelBarrier.com}}{{cite web | url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/advertising/vintage-ice-cream-packages-14033.html | title=Vintage Cartoon Ice Cream Packages | date=May 30, 2009 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/rare-1938-looney-tunes-book-found-5389.html | title=Rare 1939 Looney Tunes Book found! | date=April 3, 2008 }}

Ben Hardaway, Cal Dalton, and Chuck Jones directed a series of shorts that featured a Daffy Duck-like rabbit, created by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway. As is the case with most directors, each puts his own personal stamp on the characters, stories, and overall feel of a short. So, each of these cartoons treated the rabbit differently. The next to try out the rabbit, known around Termite Terrace as "Bugs' bunny" (named after Hardaway), was Avery. Since the recycling of storylines among the directors was commonplace, A Wild Hare was a double throwback. Avery had directed the short Porky's Duck Hunt featuring Porky Pig, which also introduced Daffy Duck.{{sfn|Sigall|2005|p=32}}

Hardaway remade it as Porky's Hare Hunt, introducing the rabbit. So, Avery went back to the "hunter and prey" framework, incorporating Jones's Elmer's Candid Camera gag for gag and altering the new design of Elmer Fudd, polishing the timing, and expanding the Groucho Marx smart-aleck attitude already present in Porky's Hare Hunt; he made Bugs a kind of slick Brooklynesque rabbit who was always in control of the situation. Avery has stated that it was very common to refer to folks in Texas as "doc", much like "pal", "dude", or "bud". In A Wild Hare, Bugs adopts this colloquialism when he casually walks up to Elmer, who is "hunting wabbits" and while carefully inspecting a rabbit hole, shotgun in hand, the first words out of Bugs's mouth is a coolly calm, "What's up, doc?" Audiences reacted riotously to the juxtaposition of Bugs's nonchalance and the potentially dangerous situation. "What's up, doc?" instantly became the rabbit's catchphrase.{{Cite book |title=The great cartoon directors |last=Lenburg |first=Jeff |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0306805219 |pages=130–131 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatcartoondire00lenb/}} Originally, Avery wanted Bugs Bunny to be called Jack E. Rabbit because he hunted for jack rabbits when he was a kid. Numerous suggestions for names came up, but publicist Rose Horsely liked the name that was on Thorson's model sheet, saying that it was cute and they will "play it two ways." Avery argued on his stance for the name "Jack E. Rabbit" saying that "Mine's a rabbit! A tall, lanky, mean rabbit. He isn't a fuzzy little bunny." He also said the name Bugs Bunny sounded like a Disney character. Nevertheless, Schlesinger settled on Bugs Bunny.{{Cite news|title=Remember Mortimer Mouse?|url=https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2024/Olean%20NY%20Times%20Herald/Olean%20NY%20Times%20Herald%201983/Olean%20NY%20Times%20Herald%201983%20A%20-%200218.pdf|page=12|access-date=December 27, 2021|work=Olean Times Herald|publisher=UPI}}{{Cite book|title=Cartoon monickers : an insight into the animation industry|last=Brasch|first=Walter|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=1983|isbn=0879722436|pages=83–84|url=https://archive.org/details/cartoonmonickers0000bras/}}

Avery ended up directing only four Bugs Bunny cartoons: A Wild Hare, Tortoise Beats Hare, The Heckling Hare, and All This and Rabbit Stew. During this period, he also directed a number of one-shot shorts, including travelogue parody (The Isle of Pingo Pongo, which is the second cartoon to feature an early character that evolved into Elmer Fudd); fractured fairy-tales (The Bear's Tale); Hollywood caricature films (Hollywood Steps Out); and cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny clones (The Crackpot Quail).{{cite book|title=Animated Short Films: A Critical Index to Theatrical Cartoons|author=Borowiec, P.|date=1998|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810835030|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFs5evuicXwC|page=47|access-date=October 10, 2014}}

Avery's tenure at the Schlesinger studio ended in late 1941 when the producer and he quarreled over the ending to The Heckling Hare. In Avery's original version, Bugs and the hunting dog were to fall off a cliff three times, making it an early example of the wild take. According to a DVD commentary for the cartoon, historian and animator Greg Ford explained that the problem Schlesinger had with the ending was that, just before falling off the third time, Bugs and the dog were to turn to the screen, with Bugs saying, "Hold on to your hats, folks, here we go again!", a punchline to a potentially risqué joke of the day.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vsZYihpCoHMC&q=%22the+mountaineer+and+his+wife%22&pg=PA59 |title=Rationale of the Dirty Joke: An Analysis of Sexual Humor - G. Legman - Google Books |date= November 1, 2007|access-date=March 14, 2018|isbn=9781416595731 |last1=Legman |first1=G. |publisher=Simon and Schuster }} However, Barrier uncovered a typewritten dialogue transcript of the cartoon that mentions the three falls at the end, but the "Hold on to your hats" line is absent, with the rest of the dialogue in the cartoon transcribed accurately. This inferred that Avery either misremembered or embellished the story and Schlesinger made the cut not because of any risqué content, but because he did not think that it was funny that Avery was killing Bugs three times, and the ending simply dragged on for too long.{{cite web|title=Merrie Melodies 1940-41: The Care and Feeding of a New Cartoon Star (Part 2)|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/merrie-melodies-1940-41-the-care-and-feeding-of-a-new-cartoon-star-part-2/|website=cartoonresearch.com|access-date=November 29, 2020|date=August 4, 2020}} The Hollywood Reporter reported on the quarrel on July 2, 1941. Avery was slapped with a four-week, unpaid suspension.{{Cite web|last=Young|first=Frank M.|date=October 21, 2019|title=Supervised By Fred Avery: Tex Avery's Warner Brothers Cartoons: The Heckling Hare: "Cartoon Man Walks Out"|url=https://texaveryatwb.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-heckling-hare-cartoon-man-walks-out.html|access-date=November 16, 2021|website=Supervised By Fred Avery}}

While at Schlesinger, Avery created a concept of animating lip movement to live-action footage of animals. Schlesinger was not interested in Avery's idea, so Avery approached Jerry Fairbanks, a friend of his who produced the Unusual Occupations series of short subjects for Paramount Pictures. Fairbanks liked the idea and the Speaking of Animals series of shorts was launched. When Avery left the Schlesinger studio in mid-1941, he went straight to Paramount to work on the first three shorts in the series before joining Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The series continued without him, lasting seven years.Sigall (2005), p. 48-49

File:Tex Avery - Jerky Turkey (1945) (restored HD version).webm (1945)]]

On September 2, 1941, the Reporter announced that Avery had signed a five-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he was to form his own animation unit and direct shorts in Technicolor.{{sfn|Cohen|2004|p=39}} By 1942, Avery was in the employ of MGM, working in their cartoon division under the supervision of Fred Quimby. Avery felt that Schlesinger had stifled him. When asked if he missed the Looney Tunes characters, he responded: "Sometimes, but I don't miss anything else. MGM is a heck of a better place to work, in every way, and the people here are just as great."Sigall (2005), p. 48-49

At MGM, Avery's creativity reached its peak. His cartoons became known for their sheer lunacy, breakneck pace, and penchant for playing with the medium of animation and film in general that few other directors dared to approach. MGM also offered him larger budgets and a higher quality production level than the Warner Bros. studio; plus, his unit was filled with talented ex-Disney artists such as Preston Blair and Ed Love. These changes were evident in Avery's first short released by MGM, Blitz Wolf, an Adolf Hitler parody of the "Three Little Pigs" story, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) in 1942. Avery's cartoons at MGM somewhat felt like Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons done during that same period at Warner Bros., albeit the Bros.' series gained more popularity than Avery's MGM cartoons.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWdVCAAAQBAJ&q=avery+%2B+warner+%2B+mgm+%2B+popular&pg=PT9 |title=Cartoon Carnival: A Critical Guide to the Best Cartoons from Warner Brothers ... - Michael Samerdyke - Google Books |date=August 28, 2014 |access-date=March 14, 2018 |isbn=9781312470071 |last1=Samerdyke |first1=Michael |publisher=Lulu.com |archive-date=April 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414210300/https://books.google.com/books?id=FWdVCAAAQBAJ&q=avery+++warner+++mgm+++popular&pg=PT9 |url-status=dead }}

Avery's best-known MGM character debuted in Dumb-Hounded (1943). Droopy (originally "Happy Hound") was a small, calm, slow-moving, and slow-talking dog who always won out in the end, whatever difficulties he faced. He also created a series of risqué cartoons, beginning with Red Hot Riding Hood (also 1943), featuring a sexy female star who never had a set name, but has been unofficially referred to as "Red" by fans. Her visual design and voice varied somewhat between shorts. Other Avery characters at MGM included Screwy Squirrel and the Of Mice and Men-inspired duo of George and Junior.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27iJCgAAQBAJ&q=avery+%2B+%22mice+and+men%22%2B+%22george+and+junior%22&pg=PA141 |title=Film Cartoons: A Guide to 20th Century American Animated Features and Shorts - Douglas L. McCall - Google Books |date= January 1, 2005|access-date=March 14, 2018|isbn=9780786424504 |last1=McCall |first1=Douglas L. |publisher=McFarland }}

Other MGM cartoons directed by Avery include Bad Luck Blackie, Cellbound, Magical Maestro, Lucky Ducky, Ventriloquist Cat, and King-Size Canary. Avery began his stint at MGM working with lush colors and realistic backgrounds, but he slowly abandoned this style for a more frenetic, less realistic approach. The newer, more stylized look reflected the influence of the up-and-coming UPA studio, the need to cut costs as budgets grew higher, and Avery's own desire to leave reality behind and make cartoons that were not tied to the real world of live action. During this period, he made a series of films that explored the technology of the future: The House of Tomorrow, The Car of Tomorrow, The Farm of Tomorrow, and TV of Tomorrow (spoofing common live-action promotional shorts of the time). He also introduced a slow-talking wolf character, who was the prototype for MGM associates Hanna-Barbera's Huckleberry Hound character, right down to the voice by Daws Butler.{{Cite web|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/avery-vol-2-well-imagine-that/|title = AVERY.... Vol. 2??? WELL, IMAGINE THAT! |}}

Avery took a year's sabbatical from MGM beginning in 1950 (to recover from overwork), during which time Dick Lundy, recently arrived from the Walter Lantz studio, took over his unit and made one Droopy cartoon, as well as a string of shorts featuring Barney Bear. Avery returned to MGM in October 1951 and began working again. Avery's last two original cartoons for MGM were Deputy Droopy and Cellbound, completed in 1953 and released in 1955. They were co-directed by the Avery unit animator Michael Lah. Lah began directing a handful of CinemaScope Droopy shorts on his own. On March 1, 1953, Avery's unit was terminated and he was fired from MGM. Fred Quimby spoke of bringing back the unit, but in December of that year, Walter Lantz announced that Avery would be working for him.Barrier (2003); The Iris Closes; pg. 543-545

Avery directed four cartoons for Walter Lantz Productions in 1954–55: Crazy Mixed Up Pup, Sh-h-h-h-h-h, I'm Cold, and The Legend of Rockabye Point, in which he defined the character of Chilly Willy the penguin. He brought his signature wild gags and fast pacing to the Lantz studio, and the Lantz cartoons received new energy and recognition. The Legend of Rockabye Point and Crazy Mixed Up Pup were nominated for Academy Awards.

Avery had agreed to a salary and a percentage of the profits. He did not realize that his share came out of the net profits: "I made about four cartoons for [Lantz], then I started thinking about the contract. I took it to an attorney, and he said, 'Oh, brother! You'll never get a dime out of this. You're getting charged for everything but the paving out in front of the studio.' I was getting my percentage off the bottom instead of off the top. By the time all the charges went in, why, my goodness, there was nothing left. So, I gave up there." Avery left behind three new Chilly Willy storyboards, which were later made into cartoons by director Alex Lovy.

File:Pepsodent commercial, c. 1950s.ogg

Avery turned to animated television commercials at Cascade Studios, including those for Raid (1950s through 1970s), in which cartoon insects, confronted by the bug killer, screamed "RAID!" and died flamboyantly, and Frito-Lay's controversial mascot, the Frito Bandito. Avery also produced ads for Kool-Aid fruit drinks starring the Looney Tunes characters he had once helped create during his Termite Terrace days. Funnily enough, the Cascade executives did not even know that he created the characters.{{Cite web|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/even-cartoon-characters-have-to-pay-the-bills/|title=Even Cartoon Characters Have To Pay The Bills|date=November 22, 2014|access-date=December 27, 2021|website=Cartoon Research}}{{Cite news|title=Of Fords And Fritos: Animation's Forgotten Ad Studios|url=https://www.awn.com/animationworld/fords-and-fritos-animations-forgotten-ad-studios|last=Mallory|first=Michael|date=October 1, 2000|access-date=December 27, 2021|work=Animation World Network}}

During the 1960s and 1970s, Avery became increasingly reserved and depressed due to the suicide of his son and the break-up of his marriage,{{cite web| url=http://michaelbarrier.com/Essays/JonesAveryLetter/JonesAveryLetter.html | title=Jones-Avery Letter | access-date=April 12, 2020|quote=...  Tex, on the few occasions when I saw him in the '70s, was from all appearances a desperately unhappy man—his son had just killed himself, and his long marriage had broken up—and I'm sure that Chuck tapped into that mood. ...'|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712053929/http://michaelbarrier.com/Essays/JonesAveryLetter/JonesAveryLetter.html|archive-date=July 12, 2018}} although he continued to draw respect from his peers. After Cascade, he briefly animated commercials for his own company, Tex Avery Cartoons, from June to July 1973.{{Cite web |url=https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2021/01/talking-about-tex.html |title=Talking About Tex |date=January 9, 2021}} Avery then went back to Cascade, and closed the cartoon department in 1978. He had an offer from Friz Freleng, to write for DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, but was not interested.{{Cite book |title=The great cartoon directors |last=Lenburg |first=Jeff |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0306805219 |pages=149|url=https://archive.org/details/greatcartoondire00lenb/}}

From 1979 until his death, his final employer was Hanna-Barbera Productions, where he wrote gags for Saturday morning cartoons such as Fred and Barney Meet the Thing{{Cite web |last=Bobbynash |date=2011-10-05 |title=ALL PULP: All Pulp Interviews - Will Meugniot |url=https://allpulp.blogspot.com/2011/10/all-pulp-interviews-will-meugniot.html |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=ALL PULP}} and the Droopy-esque Kwicky Koala. According to an interview by John Dunn in his diary, Avery did not like the late animation industry at the time, feeling that it lacked quality.[https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2017/07/60_years_of_hanna-barbera_cart.html Hanna-Barbera cartoons list: From 'Flintstones' to 'Powerpuff Girls,' a retrospective of 120 cartoons from your childhood][https://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/lessons-of-kwicky-koala-4849.html The Hard Lessons of Kwicky Koala]

Gary Morris described Avery's innovative approach:{{blockquote|Above all, [Avery] steered the Warner Bros. house style away from Disney-esque sentimentality and made cartoons that appealed equally to adults, who appreciated Avery's speed, sarcasm, and irony, and to kids, who liked the nonstop action. Disney's "cute and cuddly" creatures, under Avery's guidance, were transformed into unflappable wits like Bugs Bunny, endearing buffoons like Porky Pig, or dazzling crazies like Daffy Duck. Even the classic fairy tale, a market that Disney had cornered, was appropriated by Avery, who made innocent heroines like Red Riding Hood into sexy jazz babes, more than a match for any Wolf. Avery also endeared himself to intellectuals by constantly breaking through the artifice of the cartoon, having characters leap out of the end credits, loudly object to the plot of the cartoon they were starring in, or speak directly to the audience.{{cite web |url=http://brightlightsfilm.com/quickie-look-life-career-tex-avery/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150308075346/http://brightlightsfilm.com/quickie-look-life-career-tex-avery/ |url-status=dead|title=A Quickie Look at the Life & Career of Tex Avery - Bright Lights Film Journal |publisher=Brightlightsfilm.com |date= 1998-09-02|access-date=2018-03-14 |archive-date=2015-03-08 }}}}

Avery had developed a distinct, signature style at Warner Bros. Studio, which had breakneck pacing, outlandish, over-the-top acting from his characters, and seemingly nonstop jokes and gags.{{Cite book|last=Perlmutter|first=D.|title=The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2018|isbn=9781538103746|location=United States|pages=680|language=English}} Avery's style of directing encouraged animators to stretch the boundaries of the medium to do things in a cartoon that could not be done in the world of a live-action film. An often-quoted line about Avery's cartoons was, "In a cartoon, you can do anything."Adamson, Joe, Tex Avery: King of Cartoons, New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. He also performed a great deal of voice work in his cartoons, usually throwaway bits. He also occasionally filled in for Bill Thompson as Droopy.{{Cite web|title=Didn't Tex Avery do a lot of the voices in his cartoons?|url=https://www.newsfromme.com/iaq/iaq08/|publisher=News From ME|access-date=November 29, 2020}}{{cite web |title="Hello All You Happy Tax Payers": Tex Avery's Voice Stock Company|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/hello-all-you-happy-tax-payers-tex-averys-voice-stock-company/|website=cartoonresearch.com|accessdate=February 7, 2021}}

Two days after being fired from Universal in spring 1935, Avery married his girlfriend, Patricia Johnson. She was also employed at Universal Studios as an inker. The newlyweds spent a long honeymoon in Oregon, but had to return to Los Angeles when they ran out of money.

On Tuesday, August 26, 1980, Avery passed away from Gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, at the age of 72. At the time of his death, he was developing a character named "Cave Mouse" for a new Flintstones series.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45293855/obituary-for-fred-tex-avery-aged-72/|title = Obituary for Fred Tex Avery (Aged 72)|newspaper = The Daily Register|date = August 29, 1980|page = 4}} According to Chuck Jones, when watching a baseball game with another animator, Avery's last words were, "I don't know where animators go when they die, but I guess there must be a lot of them. They could probably use a good director, though."{{Cite web |url=https://www.animationartconservation.com/chuck-jones,-in-his-own-words.html |title=CHUCK JONES, in his own words: the director and the art conservator's cut |access-date=June 22, 2022}} He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills.{{Cite web |title=Find a Service, Grave or Obituary |url=https://sgo.forestlawn.com/?search=1&sradio=grave&fname=fred&slast=avery#sgo_results |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Forest Lawn |language=en-US}}

Avery's influence can be seen in modern cartoons such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Animaniacs, The Mask, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Cat Burglar.{{Cite news|title=Tex Avery's 'Crazy Cartoons'|url=https://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2021/Flushing%20NY%20Queens%20Tribune/Flushing%20NY%20Queens%20Tribune%201996/Flushing%20NY%20Queens%20Tribune%201996%2000456_2.pdf|page=43|access-date=December 30, 2021|work=Queens Tribune}}{{Cite news|title="When Cartoons Were Cartoony:" John Kricfalusi Presents|url=https://www.awn.com/animationworld/when-cartoons-were-cartoony-john-kricfalusi-presents|last=Goodman|first=Martin|date=September 1, 2004|access-date=September 9, 2021|work=Animation World Network}}{{Cite web | url=https://nickelodeonanimation-viacom.icims.com/jobs/9077/storyboard-artist-(spongebob-squarepants)/job?ss=1&mode=job&iis=Job+Board&iisn=Glassdoor&mobile=true&width=414&height=716&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-360&jun1offset=-300 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031174253/https://nickelodeonanimation-viacom.icims.com/jobs/9077/storyboard-artist-(spongebob-squarepants)/job?ss=1&mode=job&iis=Job+Board&iisn=Glassdoor&mobile=true&width=414&height=716&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-360&jun1offset=-300 | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 31, 2018 | title=Jobs - Nickelodeon Animation Studio - STORYBOARD ARTIST (SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS)}}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI_uAzA0F2o Mr. Lawrence - Talking Voices (Part 2)]{{Cite news |title='Cat Burglar': Bringing Tex Avery–Style Cartoons to the Interactive Gaming Era |last=MotaMayor |first=Rafael |date=2022-02-25 |url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/cat-burglar-tex-avery-animation-series-netflix-1234702037/ |access-date=2025-02-21}} An Avery-esque cowboy character bore his name in the otherwise unrelated series The Wacky World of Tex Avery. Avery's work has been featured on shows such as The Tex Avery Show and Cartoon Alley.{{cite web | url=https://collider.com/how-tex-avery-made-looney-tunes-funny-explained/ | title=How Tex Avery Made 'Looney Tunes' Funny | website=Collider | date=February 24, 2022 }}

In the mid-1990s, Dark Horse Comics released a trio of three-issue miniseries that were openly labelled tributes to Avery's MGM cartoons, Wolf & Red, Droopy, and Screwy Squirrel, in which other characters make appearances in the comics such as George and Junior, Spike, and the one-shot characters. Tex Avery, unlike most Warner Bros. directors, kept many original title frames of his cartoons; several were otherwise lost due to Blue Ribbon Reissues. Rare prints and art containing original titles and unedited animation from Avery's MGM and Warner Bros. cartoons are now usually sold on eBay or in the collections of animators and cartoon enthusiasts. In 2008, France issued three postage stamps honoring Tex Avery for his 100th birthday, depicting Droopy, the redheaded showgirl, and the Wolf.Stamps issued by France on March 3, 2008, memorializing Tex Avery's creative work, series FRO20-08, [https://www.wnsstamps.post/en/Stamps-Search?setId=416698#stamps-result Universal Postal Union data base.] [https://web.archive.org/web/20211230211105/https://www.wnsstamps.post/en/Stamps-Search?setId=416698 Archived] from the original on December 30, 2021

All of his MGM shorts were released in a North American MGM/UA laserdisc set called The Compleat Tex Avery. While two cartoons in the set were edited versions---the blackface gags in Droopy's Good Deed and Garden Gopher---others, including the controversial Uncle Tom's Cabaña and Half-Pint Pygmy were included intact (although they were removed from the Region 2 DVD release, now out of print). Several of his cartoons were released on VHS, in four volumes of Tex Avery's Screwball Classics, two VHS Droopy collections, and various inclusions on MGM animation collection releases, with many gags left in that had been edited out for television.

Avery's Droopy cartoons are available on the DVD set Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection.{{cite web|url=http://whv.warnerbros.com/WHVPORTAL/Portal/product.jsp?OID=19030|title=Warner Home Video product information for Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection (DVD)|publisher=WarnerHomevideo.com|access-date=June 15, 2007}} The seven Droopy cartoons produced in CinemaScope were included here in their original widescreen versions (letter-boxed), instead of the pan-and-scan versions regularly broadcast on television.

Also, some of his works could be found on home video releases (from VHS to Blu-ray) of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes shorts, and the same is true of his few Lantz Studio cartoons included in the DVD set The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection.{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/Woodpecker-Friends-Classic-Cartoon-Collection/dp/B000PC1PAW |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504061730/http://www.amazon.com/Woodpecker-Friends-Classic-Cartoon-Collection/dp/B000PC1PAW |archive-date=May 4, 2007 |url-status=dead |title=Amazon.com: The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Mel Blanc, Walter Lantz, Tex Avery: Movies & TV |website=Amazon |access-date=October 10, 2014 }}

Just like with the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, first awarded to Forrest J Ackerman in 1984{{Cite web |url=https://www.comic-con.org/awards/bob-clampett-humanitarian-award |title=Bob Clampett Humaniatrian Award - Comic Con International: San Diego |access-date=February 26, 2023 |archive-date=March 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324210951/https://comic-con.org/awards/bob-clampett-humanitarian-award |url-status=dead }} and the Friz Freleng Lifetime Achievement of Excellence, first award to Isadore Freleng himself in 1994,{{Cite news |title=Prized Animator : * Isadore 'Friz' Freleng, 88, will be honored for a lifetime of cartoon artistry, including creation of Bugs Bunny and the Pink Panther. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-18-va-35638-story.html |last=Biderman |first=Patrica |date=March 18, 1994 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times}} The Texas Avery Award, first awarded to Brad Bird in 2005, 25 years after Avery's death.{{Cite news |title=THE TEX AVERY AWARD |url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/old-brew/the-tex-avery-award-1418.html |last=Beck |first=Jerry |date=November 9, 2005 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |work=Cartoon Brew}} First presented by the Deep Ellum Film Festival, it is now presented by Reel FX. Notable recipients include Henry Selick,{{cite web | url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/2009/04/afi-dallas-bestows-tex-avery-award-on-selick/ | title=AFI Dallas Bestows Tex Avery Award on Selick | date=April 3, 2009 }} Pete Docter,{{Cite news |title=Up, Up and Away With 12 New Dallas Int'l Film Fest Titles and Avery Award Winner |url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/up-up-and-away-with-12-new-dallas-intl-film-fest-titles-and-avery-award-winner-7146526 |last=Wilonsky |first=Robert |date=March 4, 2010 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |work=Dallas Observer}} Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders for How to Train Your Dragon,{{Cite news |title=DIFF Announces Texas Avery Animation Award Winners |url=https://artandseek.org/2011/03/29/diff-announces-texas-avery-animation-award-winners/ |last=Becker |first=Stephen |date=March 29, 2011 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |work=Art and Seek}} John Kricfalusi for his contributions to the animation industry,{{Cite news |title=John Kricfalusi Accepts Texas Avery Award in Dallas [Video] |url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/animators/john-kricfalusi-accepts-texas-avery-award-in-dallas-video-98497.html |last=Amidi |first=Amid |author-link=Amid Amidi |date=April 13, 2014 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |work=Cartoon Brew}} and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.{{Cite news |title=Phil Lord & Christopher Miller Named 2015 Texas Avery Award Recipients |url=https://www.awn.com/news/phil-lord-christopher-miller-named-2015-texas-avery-award-recipients |last=Wolfe |first=Jennifer |date=April 17, 2015 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |work=Animation World Network}}

Avery is honored by Texas Historical Marker #17073, which was unveiled in his hometown of Taylor, Texas, in 2014.[https://williamsoncountytexashistory.org/tex-avery-historical-marker-taylor-texas-williamson-county-texas/ "TEX AVERY HISTORICAL MARKER, TAYLOR, TEXAS"]. Williamson County Texas History. Accessed February 22, 2023. The marker says Avery spent "a lifetime...reinventing the American cartoon."Amidi, Amid. [https://www.cartoonbrew.com/events/tex-avery-day-howard-texas-96629.html "Everything That Happened During Tex Avery Day"]. Cartoon Brew. Published February 28, 2014. Accessed February 22, 2023.

In February 2020, Warner Archive released Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1 on Blu-ray containing 19 of his MGM cartoons.{{cite web |title=Archived |url=https://wbshop.com/collections/warner-archive-pre-orders/products/tex-avery-screwball-classics-volume-1-bd |website=wbshop.com |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809004425/https://wbshop.com/collections/warner-archive-pre-orders/products/tex-avery-screwball-classics-volume-1-bd |archive-date=August 9, 2020}} According to Jerry Beck, most of MGM's pre-1951 cartoons had their original negatives destroyed in a 1978 George Eastman House fire, causing great difficulties in terms of restoration. However, using the best surviving archival elements, all 19 shorts on the set have been digitally restored in HD and are uncut.{{Cite web|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tex-avery-talk-with-jerry-beck/id310063354?i=1000465417564|title=Warner Archive Podcast: Tex Avery Talk with Jerry Beck on Apple Podcasts}} In March 2020, Warner Archive announced they were working on Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 2,{{Cite web|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-11th-birthday-to-us/id310063354?i=1000469759300|title = Warner Archive Podcast: Happy 11th Birthday to Us on Apple Podcasts}} which was released in December 2020 and contained 21 restored and uncut shorts as well as Tex Avery: The King of Cartoons, an archival documentary as a special feature.{{Cite web|url=https://warnerarchive.tumblr.com/post/633984739265675265/december2020|title=Warner Archive|access-date=November 7, 2020|archive-date=November 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105232845/https://warnerarchive.tumblr.com/post/633984739265675265/december2020|url-status=dead}} Volume 3 was released on October 5, 2021, with an additional 20 uncut restored cartoons with the Avery directed Merrie Melodies short, The Crackpot Quail, as a bonus feature restored with its original 1941 soundtrack.{{Cite web|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Tex-Avery-Screwball-Classics-Volume-3-Blu-ray/284090/|title=Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 3 Blu-ray (Warner Archive Collection)|via=www.blu-ray.com}}{{cite web|title=Some Advance Notes on "Tex Avery Screwball Classics" Volume 3|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/some-advance-notes-on-tex-avery-screwball-classics-volume-3/|author=Beck, Jerry|publisher=Cartoon Research|date=September 7, 2021| accessdate=September 7, 2021}}

{{Main|List of films directed by Tex Avery}}

Many of Avery's cartoons have been released on home video over the years:

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• {{citation | last1=Barrier | first1=Michael | title=Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age | chapter= Warner Bros., 1933-1940| year=2003 | publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn= 978-0199839223| chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=xt5k08yuAXIC&q=Nightmare&pg=PT656}}
• {{citation|last1=Cohen|first1=Karl F.|title=Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America|chapter=Censorship of Theatrical Animation|year=2004|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0786420322|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gIyH_DLYhoIC&pg=PA36 }}
• {{Cite book|last=Sigall|first=Martha|title=Living Life Inside the Lines: Tales from the Golden Age of Animation|chapter=The Boys of Termite Terrace|year=2005|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781578067497|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=diKnDBs0wrIC&pg=PA49 }}

• Adamson, Joe (1975). Tex Avery: King of Cartoons. New York: Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|0-306-80248-1}}.
• Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-516729-5}}.
• Benayoun, Robert (1988). Le mystère Tex Avery. Paris: Editions du Seuil. {{ISBN|2-02-009870-9}}.
• Canemaker, John (1996). Tex Avery: The MGM Years, 1942–1955. Atlanta: Turner Press. {{ISBN|1-57036-291-2}}.
• Larsen, Darl (2024): Moving Pictures: A History of American Animation from Gertie to Pixar and Beyond. Rowman & Littlefield.
• Morris, Gary (September 1998). [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090713071050/http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/22/texavery.html What's Up, Tex? A Look at the Life and Career of Tex Avery]. Bright Lights Film Journal.

• {{IMDb name}}
• {{Find a Grave}}
• {{The Interviews about|tex-avery}}
• [http://www.texavery.com Tex Avery Tribute]
• [https://www.archives.com/1940-census/fred-avery-ca-31429802 1940 census entry]

{{Tex Avery}}

{{Winsor McCay Award 1970s}}

{{Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies}}

{{Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoons}}

{{Modernism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avery, Tex}}

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