Animation History
January 14, 2025 posted by Jerry Beck

IN HIS OWN WORDS: Tex Avery At Chapman College, 1974

Last summer, helping my friend Svea Macek (widow of my late business partner Carl Macek) go through things left behind regarding our company Streamline Pictures, I came across an odd comic book among his possessions. It was actually a clever little program/flyer/calendar for a seven-week Summer Animation Festival at a nearby Orange County university, Chapman College (now Chapman University) in 1974.

It’s crudely drawn – but cool, in an underground comix way – certainly worthy of scanning and preserving on this blog. It has a slick color cover and four pulp newsprint pages inside; drawn in comic strip style, each panel tells of each screening, panel, tribute of this event. And look at the programming (all films shown in 16mm): A night of British animated films, The 7th Tournee of Animation, a Chuck Jones tribute with Chuck in person; retrospectives of silent animation, stop-motion, student animated films, Zagreb and Czech cartoons; a Fleischer Studios marathon, Bob Clampett tribute (with Clampett in person), George Pal retrospective (w/Pal in person), Disney shorts, Looney Tunes, Jean Image’s Johnny The Giant Killer, UPA with Stephen Bosustow in person, Hanna Barbera with Tom & Jerry, one night of Terrytoons, Arthur Davis in person with Fox & Crow cartoons, Experimental animation, Fritz The Cat and Heavy Traffic double feature, Harman-Ising Bosko cartoons, Walter Lantz in person screening his cartunes – and the finale was Dumbo (and a bunch of Disney shorts). Holy SH-T!!! Take a look (click to enlarge):

The back cover


My friend James Curtis (author, Buster Keaton, A Filmmakers Life and W.C. Fields: A Biography, among others) attended Cal State Fullerton (as did Carl Macek) around this time and attended many film events at Chapman – and recalled this animation festival. When I was able to show him the program/calendar, which he hadn’t seen in decades, it brought back many memories of the event.

“The late Dr. Paul Frizler was in charge of all the film programming at Chapman. He was an adventurous programmer, but not too particular about print quality. Nor projection for that matter.

Tex Avery circa 1974

“I remember at the time that Paul was advised not to expect Tex Avery to attend, that he was reticent about making public appearances. I was producing a weekly TV show, kind of a magazine format put together by students at KOCE. I wanted to see if we could get him to sit for a brief interview if he showed up, and were prepared with an old 16mm mag-sound news camera we borrowed for the night. (I think I paid for the film we ran through it.)

“It was a great evening; not only did he show up but he took the stage and fielded questions for about 40 minutes. Alas, I doubt if anyone taped his comments — I don’t think they even gave him a microphone.

“Afterwards, he graciously consented to join us in the balcony where we were set up. I’m sending the audio from that sequence to you. Unfortunately, the actual film was discarded by the station. I should have thought to reclaim it, but didn’t. When we were finished, I remember telling him that Screwy Squirrel was my favorite character. (Still is.) I remember he seemed pleased. He said: “We tried, but we just couldn’t make a go of him.”

(click to enlarge)

“The interviewer was one of our on-camera people, whose name was Jeff Yoncich. He was a good guy but didn’t know anything about Tex Avery, so I gave him the questions to ask and wrote his intro. I was also the cameraman on this one. The sequence was for a series called “Peoplewatch,” which aired on Friday nights on KOCE, channel 50.

“You might also want to credit Paul Frizler, a longtime English professor at Chapman who died about 20 years ago.

“We needed some B-roll for editing purposes, so I brought a drawing pad and soft pencil and asked Tex if he’d mind sketching something for us. I moved the camera behind him and shot over his shoulder as he sketched a Droopy. From behind the camera I said, “Can you sign it?” and he did. Needless to say, I kept that page, had it de-acidified about 25 years ago, and it now hangs on the wall outside my office. I don’t want to take it out of its frame, but here’s a shot of it I took with my camera (at left).

“The word that comes immediately to mind if I’m asked to describe him is grandfatherly. Not at all the wild-eyed maniac you’d expect from his work. The date of this interview was whatever it says in the comic book (8/17/74). The audio was taken from an air check.”


I handed this audio to our Devon Baxter to add a few visuals to track – and he went above and beyond, enhancing the recording by compiling clips, stills and comic art and editing the whole thing into a brilliant video tribute.

Here then, is the world premiere of a new Cartoon Research video: In His Own Words: Tex Avery at Chapman College, 1974.

21 Comments

  • That comic really does have a underground feel to it; that pose of Mickey on the back reminded me of Robert Armstrong’s Mickey Rat. Amusingly, the artist perfectly captured Pal’s Puppetoon style.

  • Oh my goodness, this is a wonderful surprise! I love when Avery goes into his droopy impression. You could tell the spark was kind of still there. I know that he never wanted his characters to live past one cartoon, but he certainly liked to speak of the characters at this point. Maybe this should go on as a special feature on a possible fourth volume of the Tex Avery cartoons that were overlooked? Just a thought. Thanks for this.

  • A great treasure from the past. It’s like an opportunity to get to know Tex in person. Thanks, Jerry, for the amazing foresight to preserve this interview, and thanks, Devon, for enhancing it with such great visuals. Everything is crisp and clear. The sound quality is very decent, and the cartoon clips are dazzling.

    Avery brings up an important point, which is my personal soapbox. Cartoons were not originally aimed at kids. I really believe the backlash against violence in cartoons that erupted in the late 60’s/early 70’s regarding children’s programming–was based on the fact that much of what was offered on Saturday mornings at the time consisted of old theatrical shorts that were originally intended to entertain adults. Those well-meaning adult “censors” who viewed the cartoons in those days doubtless considered cartoons as being strictly for kids, and were thus confounded (and offended) by some of the outrageous slapstick of the classic shorts, never once considering that this wasn’t meant to be “kid stuff” in the first place! However, that said, some wonderful things came out of that restrictive era, thanks to some incredibly versatile and creative cartoonists. “Conjunction Junction,” anybody?

    Thanks again for this uplifting and inspiring post!

    • Yeah, “Schoolhouse Rock” was a nice little bright spot which helped me learned the multiplication table and other significant knowledge. After all, Chuck Jones helped introduce it in his short-lived series, “The Curiosity Shop”.

  • “I’m so happy!” – what a great treasure. Thanks to all involved !

  • What a memory jogger, Jerry. I knew Paul Frizler pretty well back in ’74. He used a lot of my 16mm prints for that animation festival. I’ve forgotten who drew the program book, but Paul mother-henned it through print. Paul also set up a class for me to teach at Chapman college on animated cartoons. The only thing I can remember about the class was the very long commute out there in my little Volkswagen. The class lasted for a year. I also loved the “Floating Campus” at Chapman, with their yacht equipped as classrooms out on the ocean nearby. I haven’t heard from Paul in many years and now I know why. It’s interesting that Tex doesn’t mention radio as a source for voice ideas and voice talent, such as Wally Maher and Bill Thompson. He must have been as avid a radio listener as he was a movie observer. Very good video you and Devon Baxter put together, great to hear Tex’s gentle Texas drawl again.

    • So glad to have the audio of Tex. His thoughts on voices were well expressed, and I quoted some of his comments at Chapman in my book Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age. And you are certainly right about radio…he talked of it in the great Joe Adamson interviews, and also in other ones. And Bob Clampett once confirmed he and Tex listened to radio for voice ideas and went across the lot to watch radio comedies being performed at KFWB. Happy new year to you.

  • I loved this so much! Thank you Jerry. Wonderful.

  • I looked over the pages of that comic book with my eyes protruding, my tongue hanging out, and an overwhelming urge to smash furniture over my head to be sure I wasn’t only dreaming. What a program! That must have been the greatest animation festival in the entire history of animation festivals. For those who were lucky enough to attend, it must have been an unforgettable experience. I consider myself lucky just to be able to hear Tex Avery’s remarks fifty years later, set in a video that so artfully places them in the context of his life’s work. Thanks so much for sharing this. You know what? I’m happy!

  • Best post of the New Year. Thanks to all!

  • Great stuff, Jerry! What a wonderful surprise to have this glimpse of one of Hollywood animation’s all-time greats. While we can only lament the material that was lost, I’m grateful for what we do have and for Devon’s excellent work in enriching it to make this a truly watchable video.

  • The lineup alone makes me wish I had a time machine! A Chuck Jones tribute with Chuck Jones in attendance, a Bob Clampett Q&A, and Tex Avery sketching Droopy?

    • I’d kill to know if somebody brought up the Jones-Avery Letter with everyone there.

      • No need to kill anyone, Pete. Chuck Jones didn’t write that letter until December 1975.

  • It’s funny that Tex says that “to have a good gag you must have […] full animation” when looking at his late 40s-50s work, the animation got streamlined so much that there is very little fluff left in there: the fast paced scenes are stripped down to the bare essentials, even getting rid of in-betweens altogether to alternate between two poses in rapid succession. Wild takes at times literally consist of one single cel moved slightly between each frame to create that jittery effect. These were another big factor in making Tex Avery’s cartoon so funny besides the gags themselves. Hell, even some of Tex Avery’s best had limited animation. Timing is key.

    • I suppose what Avery meant was full animation where the entire figure moves from frame to frame, as opposed to the Hanna-Barbera method of having the body stationary on one cel with a set of mouth or arm cells cycled through frame by frame. You certainly couldn’t pull of one of Avery’s ‘takes’ in a typical Yogi Bear cartoon.

  • These are really cool, Jerry! I always love these old amateur publications. I wish they still existed for my generation.

  • All the audio still exists from my Avery interviews in TAKOC —

  • Tex’s voice has been sped — !

  • It sounds like that festival had a one big smorgasbord of a line-up. Pretty much the whole history of animation up to that time.

  • The Tex Avery interview was a nice interview, also in that underground interview I saw some interesting things I found like showing eastern european cartoons mostly from zagreb from july 20. So i’m aware american people are aware that the stuff animated in there during the 70s. The art style looks like the public domain vhs covers before they existed but I thought it seemed interesting that people knew they existed.

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