The Screwy Truant
| The Screwy Truant | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Directed by | Tex Avery |
| Story by | Heck Allen |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by | |
| Layouts by | Claude Smith |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7 minutes |
| Language | English |
The Screwy Truant is a 1945 Screwy Squirrel cartoon directed by Tex Avery and released by MGM.[2]
Summary
[edit]The cartoon centers around an adolescent version of Screwy Squirrel, who skips school to go fishing, which causes truant officer Meathead Dog (here seen with a different color palette but otherwise the same) to go around attempting to arrest Screwy, with various failures. At the end, Meathead finally catches Screwy and demands to know why he is not in school. Screwy tells him the reason is because he has measles, much to the horror of Meathead, who has now contracted measles from him.
Voice cast
[edit]- Wally Maher as Screwy Squirrel (uncredited)
- Pinto Colvig as Meathead, Screwy laughing (uncredited)
- Patrick McGeehan as Wolf (uncredited)[3]
- Billy Bletcher performing laughing sounds (uncredited)
- William Hanna performing screaming sounds (uncredited)
Cameo
[edit]Tex Avery's versions of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf (from Swing Shift Cinderella) make a cameo appearance. In the middle of the cartoon, the two characters interrupt one of Screwy's antics with "Wolfie" chasing Little Red Riding Hood across the screen, only for Screwy to interrupt that action by showing the wolf the title of the cartoon and informing him that he is in the wrong "picture". Swing Shift Cinderella would not premiere until seven months after the release of The Screwy Truant,[4] so it could be inferred that its script was still being written at the time and Avery wanted to provide theater audiences with a "teaser" for that upcoming short.
Home media releases
[edit]The Screwy Truant was released on LaserDisc by MGM Home Entertainment as part of All This and Tex Avery Too! in 1992[5] and The Compleat Tex Avery in 1993.[6][7] It was released on Blu-ray by Warner Archive Collection as part of Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 on February 18, 2020.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer—One Reel 1943–44". Harrison's Reports. New York City: C. February 17, 1945. Retrieved 2023-01-27 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 134–135. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
- ^ ""Hello All You Happy Tax Payers": Tex Avery's Voice Stock Company |". CartoonResearch.com. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
- ^ "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer—One Reel 1944–45". Harrison's Reports. New York City: C. August 18, 1945. Retrieved 2023-01-27 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ All This and Tex Avery Too! LaserDisc, ASIN 6302292700
- ^ The Compleat Tex Avery [Laserdisc, Box Set], ASIN 6302575338
- ^ Daly, Steve (March 19, 1993). "The Compleat Tex Avery". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ Amidi, Amid (January 21, 2020). "The Tex Avery Blu-Ray Will Be Out February 18. Here's What's on It". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
External links
[edit]
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- 1945 films
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films
- 1940s American animated films
- Animated films about squirrels
- Films directed by Tex Avery
- Films scored by Scott Bradley
- Films with screenplays by Henry Wilson Allen
- Films produced by Fred Quimby
- Films about the education system in the United States
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio short films
- Red (animated character) films
- Tex Avery's Big Bad Wolf films
- 1945 animated short films
- Short animated film stubs