Flip the Wolf

What’s the difference between Tex Avery at Warner Bros. and Tex Avery at MGM? Well, in his first cartoon for Metro, “The Blitz Wolf,” he has his animators pull off stuff that I don’t recall seeing his Warners crew try, even though he had adept people like Bob McKimson, Virgil Ross and Rod Scribner.

There’s a nice-looking scene where Adolf Wolf (voice by Bill Thompson) does a reverse 270-degree turn in mid-air.

It starts with some standard ‘40s cartoon stuff—a pop culture reference (the Myrt line from radio’s “Fibber McGee and Molly”) and a hotfoot. Adolf hangs up the phone. He’s smug. There’s a nine-drawing hold on the wolf while the fire burns.



The wolf realises something (I’ve skipped posting two anticipatory blink drawings). Then a surprise look to the camera. Nice rubbery animation. These are on ones.










Adolf sees the fire.



Up he goes. Here are a few of the drawings to give you an idea. Notice the hands in perspective at the camera.







Avery’s timing couldn’t be better. The force of gravity slows down the wolf as he goes higher; the background drawing moves vertically at shorter increments. When the wolf reaches the apex, the background is only held for two frames but parts of the wolf are still moving.

Down he comes.









Ray Abrams did the flip part, according to an animator draft in the Mark Kausler collection. Irv Spence, Preston Blair and Ed Love also get screen credits. A fine crew.