
Tex Avery was an animation genius who rebelled against many traditions, creating in Screwball Squirrel a deliberately unlovable character who was intended to be a satire of cute, sentimental cartoon characters such as were often seen in Disney productions. Also known as Screwy Squirrel, this rodent was aggressively chaotic and obnoxious, and appeared only in five theatrical shorts between 1944 and 1946 before being discontinued as Avery himself grew to find the character annoying, and disliked him! This was not an affable, cutesy, or nice squirrel…

Screwy was really manic and wild, and so you might say that there were elements of Daffy Duck and the much later Roger Rabbit in him, but without any redemptive or likeable features. Screwy would actively torment a dim-witted dog called Meathead, and bring about the unseen but clearly implied destruction of other characters that he found offensive…

(“Disney-esque” squirrel versus “Screwy…”)
Screwball Squirrel meets his apparent death in a 1946 cartoon when he is crushed to death by a hug from a spoiled, dim, and emotionally-needy dog called Lenny. Since death is seldom permanent in cartoon characters, however, Screwy who “don’t move no more” appears at the end of the feature holding up a sign reading, “Sad ending, isn’t it?” The aggressively chaotic character would much later be seen in the 1990’s TV series “Droopy, Master Detective” and “Tom and Jerry...”
















– – Maxwell the Geico pig continues to evolve; he doesn’t appear to exclaim “Wheee!” anymore, plays with electronics, and apparently can even drive a car. He could use some coaching on relationships with the opposite sex, however, passing up an ideal lover’s lane opportunity with a girl who appears to be hot for his porky body.- -Maxwell, it would seem, is more of a techie than a lover!
– – Me-ouch! Call me old fashioned, but I’m not too keen on the idea of turning a deceased cat into a mini-helicopter, finding the idea unsettling and perhaps gruesome; I like bizarre and creepy, but in a good way. PETA likewise dislikes the notion, with a spokesman calling the postmortem transformation
— My better half brought home a little statue of an angel the other day; you know the type I’m talking about. They’re white resin imitating marble, widely sold at places like K-Mart, and this one stands about ten or twelve inches tall. The angel in it has unfurled wings clearly visible, curly hair, and bare feet. In its hand the angel holds a bird regarding it, the bird (probably a dove) in turn looking at the angel. I laughed hysterically for several minutes after seeing the statue, which admittedly is not a normal reaction. It did, however, reflect the way that my mind works!
You must be logged in to post a comment.