It's that time of year again. This is when I use this humble blog of mine to acknowledge the brith date of the biggest animation genius the world has ever seen......... Tex Avery. If medical science had advanced far enough that we were able to preserve the life and prevent the death of anyone at any age, Tex would've turned 113 today. I'd like to think he'd be celebrating by sharing many beers with his friends and fans alike.
Since I've started this blog I've talked about many aspects of Tex's life, films, and career. Whenever this time of year comes, I can always find something about him to blog about. Well, this year, of course there's something of his that's extra special and is definitely a huge part in building and securing his legacy. I'm referring to, of course, Tex's washing machine that he bought in 1931.
Ha HA! Fooled ya............... and yes, McGee, it was funny.
What I AM referring to are the bluray disks that were released in 2020.
Tex Avery's MGM "Screwball Classics" Vol 1 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand 2. I've got them both and they are excellent. There's a great selection of cartoons to watch on both volumes and they all look crisp and clean on my TV. Observe:
There are 19 cartoons on Vol 1 and there are 21 cartoons on Vol 2. By my count, there are 23 of Tex's MGM cartoons not on Bluray. So that means Vol 3 could be the final release and would thus make Tex's entire MGM filmography available to the public, and that would be a great thing.
However, there are two cartoons that the Warner Archives would have to tiptoe around. If you've heard of the Censored 11, these would be Tex's "Censored 2". They are the cartoons Uncle Tom's Cabana and Half Pint Pygmy. If you haven't seen those cartoons at all, I'm sure you can tell by the titles alone as to why they'd be a problem. They shouldn't be left off entirely of course. Fans want a complete collection and film preservation is very important for respecting ones culture.
What Disney has done with cartoons they consider "problematic" is to put them in a "From The Vault" section. A similar treatment could be done for the cartoons mentioned above.
Hey, speaking about preserving ones culture, I'd like to use this blogpost to pitch something that I think would be equally as good as a bluray release of his filmography. It's something I've talked about online for many years and I think it's high time it happened. I think a Tex Avery biographical movie should be made. It would be much like that one about Walt Disney called Walt Before Mickey:
Although, I hope the Tex biopic won't be so full of glaring errors. (One of those many errors is the portrayal of Friz Freleng. The actor was fine but the writers got his persona all wrong. But that's a whole other blogpost for a whole other day).
The online discussions I had with people about a Tex biopic were simply about who would play which person. Could Jack Black play Tex Avery? Could Matt Damon play Chuck Jones? Maybe Jim Belushi could portray Leon Schlesinger or Fred Quimby? But that's all moot. We don't need big stars to play these parts. We just need young capable actors who can be given the correct overview of Tex's and others' personality and portray it well. However, I can think of one celebrity that might be persuaded into producing it:
Jack Nicholson. Yes, THAT Jack Nicholson. I say this because he has a nostalgic affection for that era of Hollywood animation. He started his career as a young lad working as an assistant in the MGM animation department.
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| A caricature of young Jack can be seen on the far right. |
He would do lots of menial tasks for Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera while they kept cranking out their Tom & Jerrys. I'm not sure if he did anything for Tex Avery at all, but I have read that Tex did pull young Jack into his office just to pitch a gag idea and see if it was funny enough. I think that might entice Mr. Nicholson onboard. He could easily have a say in who would portray a young him (probably not Christian Slater though).
Anyway, happy 113th birthday, Tex. Whether this biopic idea of mine comes to fruition or not, I will definitely continue to enjoy all of the blurays and I hope everyone reading this will do the same.
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