Tex Avery

Tex Avery – Life, Career, and Animation Legacy

Discover Tex Avery’s biography, groundbreaking approach to cartoons, signature style, and his lasting influence on animation. Dive into his life story, creative philosophy, and famous lines.

Introduction

Frederick Bean “Tex” Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was one of the most inventive and influential animators and cartoon directors of America’s Golden Age of Animation.

Avery’s cartoons shattered conventions. While many of his contemporaries pursued realism, he embraced exaggeration, absurdity, and kinetic gags that pushed animation to its boundaries. He helped define the personalities of timeless cartoon characters and pioneered a comedic style still echoed in modern animated works.

Below is a deep dive into his life, career, creative philosophy, and impact.

Early Life and Family

Tex Avery was born in Taylor, Texas, on February 26, 1908.

As a teenager, Avery showed interest in cartooning and art. During a summer, he enrolled in a short course at the Chicago Art Institute (originally planned for three months), though he left after a month. This informal training, combined with his passion for cartoons, laid early groundwork for his later innovations.

Early Career: From Inker to Animator

After moving to California around 1929, Avery entered animation via menial jobs and inking positions. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, doing inking, painting, and then shifting to animation.

While at Lantz / Universal, Avery advanced in skill and began contributing gags and story ideas.

By the mid-1930s, Avery was pushing for more creative control. He began handing out story and layout tasks to others, effectively fulfilling roles of direction and storyboard artistry even before official credit.

Rise at Warner Bros: Termite Terrace & Looney Tunes

In 1935, Avery joined Leon Schlesinger’s studio (which produced Warner Bros. cartoons). “Termite Terrace” (due to termite infestation). Over time, “Termite Terrace” became a nickname for the entire Warner cartoon backlot.

There, Avery helmed cartoons that diverged from the more musical or narrative‐driven shorts of the era. He emphasized fast pacing, caricature, sight gags, and a flexible disregard for realism. His cartoons often broke the fourth wall and played with cinematic conventions.

Some contributions and innovations during this period:

• He helped shape or develop the personalities of Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, and Bugs Bunny.

• In 1937’s Porky’s Duck Hunt, Avery introduced Daffy Duck with his manic, unpredictable persona.

• With A Wild Hare (1940), Avery cemented Bugs Bunny’s persona and coined the famous line “What’s up, doc?” — a phrase drawn from local parlance at his high school.

However, in 1941, Avery’s relationship with Schlesinger soured over creative disagreements — particularly over the ending of The Heckling Hare. He was suspended and eventually left Warner Bros.

MGM Years: Full Creative Freedom

Later in 1941, Avery signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and formed his own animation unit under supervisor Fred Quimby.

Notable in his MGM era:

• He created Droopy (originally “Happy Hound”) in Dumb-Hounded (1943). Droopy’s slow, deadpan persona contrasted sharply with the manic energy of other Avery characters.

• He made Red Hot Riding Hood (1943), a more adult-toned, risqué take on the Little Red Riding Hood tale, blending sultry character design and bold comedic timing.

• Other distinctive shorts include Bad Luck Blackie, Magical Maestro, King-Size Canary, Cellbound, Lucky Ducky, Ventriloquist Cat.

• He gradually abandoned overly realistic backgrounds and styles, favoring stylized, exaggerated aesthetics more suited to his comedic sensibility.

In 1953, MGM terminated Avery’s unit and he was let go.

Later Years: Lantz, Commercials & Television

After MGM, Avery briefly returned to Walter Lantz Productions and directed a few cartoons, including Crazy Mixed Up Pup, Sh-h-h-h-h-h, I’m Cold, and The Legend of Rockabye Point (which featured the penguin Chilly Willy).

He then worked in animated television commercials, notably for Raid (insects shouting “Raid! Boom!”) and for Frito Bandito.

In the late 1970s until his death, Avery wrote gags for Hanna-Barbera productions such as Kwicky Koala.

Tex Avery passed away on August 26, 1980, in Burbank, California, due to esophageal cancer. His last words, as reported by Chuck Jones, 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.”

He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.

Style, Innovation & Creative Philosophy

Tex Avery’s approach to animation broke many molds. Some of his defining traits:

• Exaggeration & Extreme Stretching
  His cartoons embraced “squash and stretch” to extremes—characters morphing, stretching, breaking, and returning in physically impossible ways. This liberated motion beyond realism.

• Rapid pacing & gag density
  Avery’s shorts packed in gag after gag—little time wasted. The tempo was often frenetic.

• Self-reflexivity & breaking the fourth wall
  Characters often addressed the audience or recognized they were within a cartoon, playing with meta humor.

• Playing with cinematic language
  Avery used techniques like iris wipes, camera zooms, delayed reaction holds, repeated jumps, and more to toy with the medium itself.

• Freedom over continuity
  Avery favored gag-driven shorts over narrative consistency or character continuity. He often made one-shot cartoons focused on delivering laughs, rather than building recurring plots.

• Adult humor elements
  His cartoons sometimes included risqué or suggestive content more than the typical “children’s cartoon” of the era. This gave his work a more irreverent edge.

A maxim often associated with Avery is:

“In a cartoon, you can do anything.”

That encapsulates his philosophy—animation is a space of limitless possibility.

Legacy & Influence

Tex Avery’s influence on animation is profound and wide:

• Many animators cite him as a core inspiration (e.g., Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Joe Barbera, and later generations).

• The aesthetic of wild exaggeration and meta humor appears in Ren & Stimpy, Animaniacs, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, SpongeBob SquarePants, and more.

• His MGM cartoons have been preserved and restored in collections like Tex Avery Screwball Classics.

• The Texas Historical Marker in Taylor, Texas, honors him.

• In animation scholarship, Avery is often held up as the authoritarian of timing and comedic design. His legacy manifests in how modern animators think about pacing, exaggeration, and the boundaries of the medium.

Though he didn’t always focus on enduring characters, his vision and approach endure in how cartoons are conceived, pushed, and celebrated.

Memorable Quotes & Words Attributed to Tex Avery

Tex Avery didn’t leave behind a large compendium of famous quotes, but a few lines have become iconic or often repeated:

• “In a cartoon, you can do anything.”

• Upon his death, as relayed by Chuck Jones:

  “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.”

These reflect his love for boundless imagination and the ongoing dialogue he felt between creator and medium.

Lessons from Tex Avery

From Avery’s life and work, a few lessons stand out, relevant for animators, creators, or anyone seeking innovation:

1. Push the medium’s limits
   Don’t be constrained by realism or convention—explore what only animation can do.

2. Prioritize timing and rhythm
   Gags live or die by timing. Avery’s mastery of pacing gives each joke maximum impact.

3. Embrace risk and visual surprise
   Some of his greatest moments emerge from sudden, unexpected visual turns.

4. Focus on singular moments
   A short cartoon or a brief gag can have lasting memory; you don't always need long narratives.

5. Stay bold and distinct
   Avery’s style was unmistakable. He didn’t aim to mimic — he forged new ground.

Conclusion

Tex Avery wasn’t just a cartoonist—he was a radical re-inventor of what cartoons could do. With his irreverent humor, fearless creativity, and mastery of timing, he reshaped animation’s vocabulary. From Bugs Bunny’s swagger to Droopy’s deadpan persistence, from wild visual stunts to meta jokes, Avery’s influence pervades generations of animated works.

To truly appreciate his craft, watch his masters like Red Hot Riding Hood, Magical Maestro, and The Heckling Hare (in its original form), and observe how each frame pulses with energy, surprise, and daring. His legacy challenges creators still: What wild thing could your medium allow that no other could?