Symphonie argotique

I had first seen this Tex Avery cartoon from M-G-M on the Tom & Jerry show on weekday afternoons during the late '70s. In this one, a man enters Heaven puzzling St. Peter and Noah Webster with his various slang terms when telling his life story. I'll just now say that the literal gags come fast and furious with each slang word the guy mentions and one would have to watch this cartoon more than once to get all of them! Anyway, this was one of the most hilarious of Avery's shorts I've ever seen! So on that note, Symphony in Slang is highly recommended.

Rich Hogan was hugely underappreciated as the hidden fuel to Tex Avery's fire. Here, he proves himself to be George Carlin's comedic father, with his schizoid tribute to our mangled "mother tongue". The images that come to mind every time I hear "She sent me a cable, so I sent her a wire"; or especially "I was up against it, but I carried on" will delight me forever. A visual triumph, but mostly because Hogan's turn of a phrase works so well. Indescribably essential viewing.

This is a great Tex Avery cartoon that suffers slightly from its age. That's because the film creates literal representations of all the "hip slang" that the main character says--and I mean LITERAL! The problem is that this guy died and is trying to explain his life to the guys at the Pearly Gates but they have absolutely no idea what he's saying. Phrases such as "chew the rug" and "cat got your tongue" are completely beyond these heavenly beings. And these hip phrases (for the early 1950s) come one after another after another. So much that you barely have time to even think about them because the next one comes so quickly. A few modern kids might be stumped at what these phrases actually mean, so I advise kids to watch this with an old person to act as translator!

This cartoon is typical of Tex Avery in that there are a lot of sight gags, but is atypical in that the running monologue is as important to the humor as the sight gags are. Avery cartoons tend to be more weighted towards visual gags and placed less emphasis on verbal humor, but the premise of the short-how slang would seem to someone who didn't understand what was meant-required a more verbally oriented approach. In less rational moments, I wonder what Avery would make of some modern expressions. Then I go lie down until the feeling goes away. Recommended.

Symphony in Slang is a clever MGM cartoon created by the surrealtic Tex Avery. Which also the short is also surrealistic. They find a dead guy on heaven tell his story to Noah Webster and they don't get his language (slang). Things like "I was with a silver spoon in my mouth" or "I was really in a pickle, the proprietor drew a gun on me, but I gave him the slip, and hid in the foot hills". It's very creative. Tex Avery has always been a great creator of animation.