Tex Avery: The Mgm Years, 1942-1955 [Hardcover]

John Canemaker (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Walt Disney's animation strove to duplicate reality, but Tex Avery's steered clear of the limitations of lifelike action, and today's cartoons owe far more to Avery's over-the-top style than to Disney's staidness. Since his 1980 death, Avery has been getting his belated critical due, culminating in this lavish art book. Avery was instrumental in developing Bugs Bunny and the other Warner Brothers cartoon stars, but this retrospective focuses on his artistic pinnacle at MGM in the 1940s and 1950s. There, his vivid comic imagination flowered in maniacally paced masterpieces full of wild gags and zany characters. Welcomely light on text--though Canemaker's commentary is informed and insightful--the volume is loaded with well-reproduced animation cels, storyboards, and other artwork. So classy a tribute to an anarchic, rowdy artist like Avery may seem somehow inappropriate, but with producers of crude made-for-TV-cartoons like Hanna-Barbera getting coffee-table treatment these days, heck, Avery deserves a banquet-table tome. Gordon Flagg

Product Details

• Hardcover: 221 pages
• Publisher: Turner Pub; 1St Edition edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570362912
• ISBN-13: 978-1570362910
• Product Dimensions: 13 x 9.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book Tex Avery fans have been waiting for, July 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Tex Avery: The Mgm Years, 1942-1955 (Hardcover)

For us long-time fans of legendary cartoon director Tex Avery, we enjoyed the earlier Joe Adamson tribute, but were disappointed at the poor quality black and white photos included in it. Now at last the famous Avery shorts get the treatment they deserve, in this full-color, oversized coffee table edition straight from their proprietor Turner/MGM. Loads of famous scenes, model sheets and background designs are reproduced here, capturing the vivid color and style that we remember these cartoons for. Canemaker covers his subject mostly from a historical perspective, so you won't find any of the amusing anecdotal references here as in the Adamson book. Nonetheless, Canemaker covers Avery's cartoons with appropriate insight and reverence. If you haven't yet discovered the inimitatable style and hilarity of Tex Avery cartoons, you simply don't know what you're missing. And if you already know and appreciate the genius of Avery, your home shouldn't be without this book. It's a treasure.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We are all mad here, December 18, 2002

By 

dave-o (boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tex Avery: The Mgm Years, 1942-1955 (Hardcover)

To view individual cels from a Tex Avery cartoon is like a brief stop into an insane asylum. Fortunately, this book is chock full of film stills from vintage MGM cartoons such as Screwy Squirrel, Red Hot Riding Hood and lesser known but just as noteworthy cartoon shorts from the Golden Age of American Animation. The text by John Canemaker is just as light as it needs to be with some helpful intros. Avery changed how directors think about pacing, sight gags, and characterization while knocking off layers of the sugar-sweet Disney-stigma and this book does a fitting job paying tribute to that.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars King of Comic Animation!, July 22, 2000

By 

Luis Hernandez (New York, New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tex Avery: The Mgm Years, 1942-1955 (Hardcover)

Tex Avery was and probably will be the king of the most wackiest animation the world has ever seen. Being the inspiration for future generations of cartoonists, Avery brought us such funny characters as Droopy, Spike the bulldog, Screwy Squirrel, and several Looney Tunes characters.

This book, originally published by the now defunct publishing branch of Turner Enterprises (now part of AOL-Time Warner) is an excellent tribute to the man who gave the cartoon world new ways to express comedy and feelings. From exploding cigars to eyeballs that pop out of their sockets, Avery gave many comedians and animators inspiration (the film "The Mask," with Jim Carrey and his facial expressions are a great example of this).

Most of the cartoons in this book are now owned by Ted Turner (president and CEO of Turner Enterprises, and now one of the executives at AOL-Time Warner) and Turner's preservation of Avery's works will give future generations access to some of the most wackiest cartoons ever made. Overall, an excellent book with beautiful animation cels and a wonderful history of Avery's life and contributions.