Dumb-Hounded

The Wolf escapes from Swing Swing Prison. The police sends out the bloodhounds. Droopy is the self-declared hero of the piece. He is the slowest of the bloodhounds, but he is the most dogged. He relentless tracks The Wolf, no matter where he goes. Droopy is sure to follow.

This is a really good MGM Tex Avery cartoon. On top of that, this introduces a great original character in Droopy. He's drawn a little shaggy in this. It's an early rendition. He really should not be that energetic at the end. All that can be fixed. He's not quite refined, but the foundation is here. This is a classic first edition.

I love the opening to this cartoon; an introduction, if you will, to the great character named "Droopy." Here he was called "The Happy Hound" but that changed quickly into the name we Droopy fans are all familiar with.

Anyway, we see a bunch of dogs racing out of "Swing Swing Prison," chasing an escaped convict. Trailing the pack is a very slow hound, who turns to us with his very downcast voice, asks, "Hello, are you happy people? You know what? I'm the hero." Then, he just slowly saunters away. That's his introduction to us. Bill Thompson does a fantastic job with our hero's depressing-sounding voice.

One of the most endearing aspect of these cartoons is Droopy giving asides to us, the audience. They're almost always hilarious. An early example in here: he and another dog bark at each other and the other dog walks away. Droopy turns to us and explains, "Just dog talk" and moves on.

The gag in this story is the escaped convict being dogged by Droopy everywhere he tries to hide from the cops. The dog appears out of nowhere, even hundreds of miles away - in a flash. (You really have to see it to appreciate the humor.)

This isn't just a cartoon which provides sight gags. It has that, plus a lot of puns, funny "asides" to the the viewers, comments on people and society, a sexy woman who gives us a good song....just a ton of entertainment from start to finish. Even when the jokes are corny, they admit it on screen to us!

Droopy is omnipresent. He never says much or does much--he is just there. When the escaped convict wolf meets him, he doesn't need to do anything. His very presence is enough. Tex Avery pulls out all the stops here with his vibrating, eye popping animation.

He inspired Kricfalusi and some plots on "I Love Lucy" as well as making kids and adults giggle he gave us all our ration of unlimited animation may Red Hot Riding Hood forever jiggle! This is my all-time favorite of Avery's MGM period..one joke, over and over, with the most incredible takes in the entire animation field..watch and see who REALLY was responsible for the icons at Warner's. You don't need Freudian analysis to see the raw sex and violence in everything he did, it's right out in the open, screamingly funny, unbridled by the mores of his day or any other. Evergreen, timeless, and inspirational.

This short is an early look at Droopy. He's drawn a bit differently, but is recognizable all the same. In many ways this is the archetypical Tex Avery short-the visual gags are among his most outrageous ever, all the trademarks are here-signs, asides to the audience, the lot. Avery would re-visit this theme again, more than once. An incredible cartoon. Glad to see it's in print. A must-see for anyone interested in animation. Most highly recommended.