The studios were looking for characters
able to be pretext to series.
With William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry, the
Metro had a remarkable seam (which enabled its
to win 7 Awards in 10 years !). This success undoubtedly offered Avery a greater independance to use
his creations.
Characters designed by Tex Avery and his team appear
according to the needs for the scenarios, without real systematism.
Thus Screwy Squirrel, however the greatest success
of Avery, dies at the end of Lonesome Lenny, after
only 5 cartoons. It is not rare to see only once a character
however very successful (for example the Flagada lion).
Used in the duration, the majority of these characters will
see changing their features. The wolf, the
absolute villain of the beginnings, loses gradually its sulfurous and
erotomaniac side until becoming the pain-killer and placid pound guard
in The Three Little Pups.
Under the influence of U.P.A.'s style, the Avery's characters
will also be simplified in their layout. This formal impoverishment,
that it is easy to follow on the character of Droopy, emphasizes even
more - with some rare exceptions -, the extraordinary quality of
the first years production.
Characters: The wolf | Screwy
Squirrel | The girls | Droopy |
Spike | George and Junior
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