Not That Screwy Squirrel

Two cartoon directors in Hollywood got screwed. One was Don Patterson, who showed his capabilities at the cost-conscious Walter Lantz studio, but never got another shot at directing after Tex Avery arrived. The other was Art Davis, whose unit was deemed superfluous and decimated at Warner Bros. Davis had a couple of good animators, two great storymen (who developed after they left the studio), and was able to revive a virtually dead Porky Pig and turn him back into an amusing character.

One of Davis’ lesser-known delights is “Porky Chops” where the pig takes on a heckling squirrel from Flatbush. It’s the cartoon where the squirrel removes the blade from Porky’s axe, and the pig responds with the line “Gee, you don’t have to fly off the handle like that.”

Here are a couple of drawings from one of the takes.



There’s even a better take by the squirrel later in the cartoon. It’ll appear in a future post.

Artie, you got screwed.

The credited animators are Emery Hawkins, Bill Melendez, Don Williams and Basil Davidovich.