Sh-h-h-h-h-h

As we all know Tex Avery has made more than his share of great animated works. From "Symphony In Slang" to "Who Killed Who?" to one of the best of the Droopy cartoons "Three Little Pups". But those were all with MGM. Avery was canned after MGM's animation department was shut down, so he found employment for MGM rival Walter Lantz."Sh-h-h-h-h-h" is the undisputed Master of the Crazed Cartoon's brilliant masterpiece. It was also his last animated short.

Our story tells us about a Mr. Twiddle, a little man who works in a VERY noisy nightclub playing percussion while the horn section blows their trumpets right in his ears, making him a nervous wreck. He goes to see psychiatrist, Dr. I.M. Jittery (get it?), who tells him that his nerves are shot and unless he goes away so he can get some quiet rest he'll just blow up. So Mr. Twiddle goes to The Hush-Hush Lodge in the Swiss Alps, a place that prides itself on absolutely no sounds made whatsoever. Not long after Twiddle hits the hay, the people in the next room start to badly play a trumpet while howling with laughter. Twiddle tries to get them to stop but no avail. Each effort he makes is met by an even ruder response from these pests who seem to be enjoying torturing him. For example: Twiddle slips a note under the door saying to please stop the noise. The people in return instantly slip a note under the door telling him to "Aww shutup". And it goes on. That's the source of the cartoon's gags and sure, you get the usual Avery-styled barrage of them. But the main thrust is that Twiddle - along with us the viewers - never see who these sadistic noisemakers are. They are kept a complete mystery until being reveled in the cartoon's ingenuous twist ending (which I downright refuse to tell you here). We also see the unfortunate fate that befalls poor Mr. Twiddle.

This is also one of the most downright bizarre and weirdest cartoons ever made. For starters the cartoon's underlying atmosphere concerning Twiddle's ordeal seems dark and the ending, while it is great, itself feels macabre. There is also little dialog spoken throughout - for the most part all we get are a sparse array of sound effects. But mostly it's that laughter that gets to you. It goes on and on and on. Even as the cartoon fades out in it's final seconds we hear absolutely nothing but that crazed laughter. You're left with a very strange, and even creepy, feeling after Sh-h-h-h-h-h is over. And this is what makes this cartoon brilliant. Only Avery could take something plain like a laugh recording and frame a cartoon around it in such a way that he not only makes us smile with his trademark sight gags but chills our blood at the same time with a vivid weirdness. And to me this is the genius of Tex Avery, of his being able to easily twist the viewer around, to make us laugh but instead of leaving us smiling we're creeped out. And this was the last cartoon Avery ever made. After Sh-h-h-h-h-h was finished it was semi-retirement with some occasional television work for him until his death in 1980. He definitely saved his best short for last.

For those of you who have been trying like hell to see this one (it used to play occasionally on television among the other Walter Lantz cartoons, but now it's seldom - if ever - played anymore) it is on the Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection (Volume 1) DVD boxed set. So now you can watch Tex Avery's brilliantly comedic and macabre final film and see just what made this man the legend he has become.

A little man works as a percussionist in a nightclub. He sits in the middle of the horn section and gets blasted over and over. His doctor tells him to go somewhere quiet. He checks into a hotel where quiet is followed to the letter. Just as he is about to go to sleep, a hornblowing, laughing couple get the room next to him. As he tries to get them to be quiet, he is tormented by them. It's like those Droopy/Spike cartoons where everything he does backfires. This is dark but quite funny.

This is one of Tex Avery's later animated shorts that he produced for Walter Lanz, after M-G-M closed down it's animation department. This short features some of the usual deranged,kinetic humor that he was famous for (but also touches on some dark humor,too). The plot concerns a Jazz musician (Mr.Twiddle)who has a nervous breakdown being constantly exposed to loud horns. He is prescribed by his doctor to get some rest & quiet. He books a room in a Swiss hotel that is supposed to be super quiet. No sooner than he sacks in for the night, when the room next door is taken by a couple who spends the night laughing non stop & honking on a trombone (supplied here by 'The Okeh Laughing Record---a novelty record released in the 1920's). The rest of the short is Twiddle trying to get this barrage of noise stopped so he can get some peace & quiet. The surprise ending is a corker that will floor you. This was apparently,Avery's last animated short produced for theaters,as he would eventually move to television (as would most other animators of the era). Sadly,this animated short is rarely ever shown on TV,much less re-released in cinemas (why is Universal sitting on these screen treasures?)

Sh-h-h-h-h is one of Tex Avery's last cartoons and is an excellent effort. The plot here revolves around a Mr. Tweedle and his need for peace and quiet because of his nerves. His efforts to get some quiet-and their effect on him-offer the traditional complement of sight gags as well as verbal humor, something not always found in Avery cartoons. A wonderful piece of work done for Walter Lantz. Highly recommended.

Late in his career, Tex Avery somehow left MGM (where he made his best cartoon shorts) and moved to Universal Studios. Like you'd expect, when you mess with a successful formula, the results are less than stellar.

When the cartoon begins, you will immediately notice a HUGE quality difference over Avery's earlier output. The animation style is very cheap and ugly. Part of it was because of a trend in the 1950s to make cheaper and cheaper films--with lower cel counts, simpler drawings and even cheaper backgrounds. But even compared to most other studios of the day, this is a very ugly looking cartoon.

The story is about an over-stressed guy who is just trying to get some sleep...but the folks in neighboring apartments are driving him crazy with their noise. To provide a cheap way of doing this, they used the novelty Okeh Laughing Record to provide non-stop laughter during the film.

So is it any good? No. It's ugly, not particularly funny and represents the worst period in Avery's career. Only of interest to folks who are die-hard Avery fans and want to see all of his work.