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The Screwy Truant

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The Screwy Truant
Title card
Directed byTex Avery
Story byHeck Allen
Produced byFred Quimby
Starring
Music byScott Bradley
Animation by
Layouts byClaude Smith
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • January 13, 1945 (1945-01-13)
[1]
Running time
7 minutes
LanguageEnglish

The Screwy Truant is a 1945 Screwy Squirrel cartoon directed by Tex Avery and released by MGM.[2]

Summary

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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

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Cameo

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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

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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

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  1. ^ "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer—One Reel 1943–44". Harrison's Reports. New York City: C. February 17, 1945. Retrieved 2023-01-27 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 134–135. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  3. ^ ""Hello All You Happy Tax Payers": Tex Avery's Voice Stock Company |". CartoonResearch.com. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  4. ^ "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer—One Reel 1944–45". Harrison's Reports. New York City: C. August 18, 1945. Retrieved 2023-01-27 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ All This and Tex Avery Too! LaserDisc, ASIN 6302292700
  6. ^ The Compleat Tex Avery [Laserdisc, Box Set], ASIN 6302575338
  7. ^ Daly, Steve (March 19, 1993). "The Compleat Tex Avery". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
  8. ^ 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.
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