The House of Tomorrow

"The House of Tomorrow" is a great Tex Avery short which focuses in on the wonderful inventions certain to be part of our lives in the near future. Many of the gags are very clever and original. The machine designed to answer all of your children's questions is my favorite. Though, I give this short high marks, it still gets into a major rut. That being, the overuse of the Mother-in-law jokes. Those segments can only be called predictable, a word you'd almost never use to describe the work of Mr. Avery.

Here's one of Tex Avery's cartoons on a theme, to wit: the latest and proposed advanced in the details and technology for living at home.

The gags are as good as Avery's usual, and the pacing likewise. It is, however, the narration which sets the pace, and makes them seem more deliberate that slows it down. I am certain there are as many gags as usual, the artwork is up to standard -- it would shortly begin to go downhill under the pressure of shrinking budgets -- but the narration, while perhaps necessary, makes them seem less spontaneous than usual.

Which makes this merely a fine, funny cartoon.

In postwar America, many cars and household items would have a futuristic appeal to them, and can still look cutting edge today. This short shows how, in humorous fashion, the homes americans will be living in soon are completely modern. The short begins by showing a small cube which miraculously unpacks into a full sized house, complete with two upper platforms on either side containing a swimming pool and a tennis court. Inside the house, things get even more bizarre. The narrator says if the house needs more moisture, all you have to do is push a button and a small cloud is dispatched from a door in the ceiling, which proceeds to rain all over the living room. The house also features a cutting edge chair that transforms into different forms to suit the different members of the family. For the mother-in-law, it turns into an electric chair. The bathroom contains a strange device that claims to be able to give anyone a perfect shave in seconds, but testing it on some guy just shears off every part of his face (except eyes). In the kitchen, a new appliance claims to make the arduous efforts of housewives manually cooking food obsolete. Pressure cookers of tomorrow boast the magical ability to make a complete meal just by putting the required ingredients in them. However, after doing so, it blows up and takes the kitchen with it. These are just a selection of the things shown in this cartoon, but all of them seem to have the same mocking tone; I feel like this was made to satirize people wanting everything to be futuristic, and how old, tried and true things work better. Because america had come out of World War 2 so much wealthier than going into it, it was easy for people in the late 40s and 50s to want to see the country do something with its new potential, namely futuristic cars and items that would wow any visitors or neighbors. While things like these would be nice to have, vanity and showing off won't get you far. When you look at this short from this angle, it would make sense why it has an element of comedy to it. It's still enjoyable enough regardless.

I have to admit that I only loosely know Tex Avery's work (namely that it was the inspiration for "The Mask"), but "The House of Tomorrow" is still a treat. A look at how people in 1949 imagined that future dwellings would be - think "The Jetsons" - there are some things that might eat at us in the 21st century, namely the fact that the cartoon envisions housewives staying home cooking and cleaning while their husbands go to work.

But, as long as we understand that this cartoon was a product of its era, we can accept it for what it is. And I think that everyone can agree about the mother-in-law; it looks like they were talking about Endora on "Bewitched". In conclusion, this cartoon will always remain a classic! And about that woman on dad's TV: meow meow...

The narrator holds out a tiny box which opens up to be the house of tomorrow. It's a lot of wacky futuristic innovations as they walk through the house. Every scene holds some sight gags.

It's a Tex Avery MGM cartoon. It's a series of inventive sight gags. It's fun. The in-law joke does get repetitive. It's one gag after another. There isn't much to the flow or pacing. What it does need is a recognizable character as the lead. It needs a family of known characters. As it stands, it has a standard 50's non-descript nuclear family. It's perfectly fine, but it needs a better narrative. Maybe a thief can break into the House of Tomorrow.