Tex Avery's Oscar record is 6-0, Can you believe it?

[houserunner]

Tex Avery nominated Academy Awards short animation category six times. But never won. Can you believe it? Chuck Jones won several Oscars and won lifetime achievement awards, too. Friz Freleng won several Oscars. Robert Clampett never nominated Oscars, but he won emmys. Of course, Disney won lot of Oscars even tom and Jerry won several Oscars. But, Avery never won any kind of award for his incredible career.

Here are Avery's nominated shorts and those year's winner.

[1939]
Detouring America - Avery
The pointer
Peace on Earth
The Ugly Duckling - winner

Well, that year's winner must been Peace on Earth. Even I'm Avery fan and like both Disney shorts, Peace on Earth looks like definitive winner to me.

[1940]
A Wild Hare
Puss Gets the Boot
The Milky Way - winner

Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry both debuted Academy Awards same year. Even I like other two shorts as well, A Wild Hare must win that year. First true Bugs Bunny cartoon has historical importance but cartoon itself, A Wild Hare is a great short. But, Avery loses two year in a roll. Ah, well...

[1942]
Blitz Wolf
Pigs in a Polka
Der Fuehrer's Face - winner

It's close race between Der Fuehrer's Face and Blitz Wolf. Both are incredibly funny and inventive shorts. Maybe co-winner is a great choice, I think.

Come on, people. Between 1943-1951 Avery cartoon not even nominated once. This is a shame. In Avery's heyday, not single cartoon nominated Academy Awards? All MGM executive actually thought Tom and Jerry is much better work than Avery's cartoon? Unbelievable.

[1952]
Little Johnny Jet
Madeline
Johann Mouse - winner

Well, after ten year's absense Avery return to Academy field and he lose one more time. His track record is now 4-0.

[1954]
Crazy Mixed Up Pup
Pigs is Pigs
When Magoo Flew - winner

Yes, When Magoo Flew is a great short. But, I think Crazy Mixed Up Pup is better constructed cartoon and Avery really shows his genius in full gear for this memorable cartoon. This is one of Avery's best and winning the Academy Award first time in his career looks like right result to me.

[1955]
The Legend of Rock-a-bye Point
Good Will to Men
No hunting
Speedy Gonzales - winner

Look at the other three nominations, then Speedy Gonzales is a winner? Don't get me wrong, I love many Freleng works but this isn't right. If Academy Awards made right decisions Avery retired animation field with two back to back Oscar trophies in his hand. (I think A Wild Hare is also rightful winner that year) Tex Avery and Michael Maltese created definitive classic The Legend of Rock-a-bye Point, it's certainly one of the funniest cartoons ever made. For sheer belly laughs, it's incredibly made cartoon. How can this classic loses to Speedy Gonzales, I don't know.

Tex Avery is an animation legend, his influence still lives on with many present-day cartoon comedy. No other cartoon comedy director gave me more laughs than Avery. But, he never won any kind of honor and award. That's really sad.

[oceansoul]

A Wild hare, Blitz Wolf and The Legend of Rock-a-bye Point cartoons are true masterpieces (even on Avery's level), at least those should have got the Oscar.

Btw. Der Fuehrer's Face, while great cartoon, is a bit overrated.

[Duck Dodgers]

Oscars, for live action features as well as cartoons, not always end in the hands of the "real winners".
"Knighty Knighty Bugs" won an Oscar. "What's Opera, Doc?" did not even get a nomination.
Why "Ben and Me" was in the "Best Documentary" section anyway???:eek:

"Book Revue", "One Froggy Evening" did not even get the nomination.

It would be fun to rewrite OUR list of Oscars, writing what we consider to be the greatest (not our favorite) cartoons for each year:p

I do not consider "Flowers and Trees" (Ok, it got the award only for the Technicolor novelty...but is stinks as a cartoon!), "Three Orphan Kittens", "The Little Orphan" and many others worth the Uncle Oscar prize.

[houserunner]

Of course, many classic cartoons not even nominated, but Chuck Jones won Oscars, Clampett not won Oscars but won Emmys instead:) Freleng won many Oscars, too. Not to mention Disney. Only Avery never won any kind of honor in his career. If Jones deserved lifetime achievement awards, I believe Avery deserved that honor much more. Without his guidance, WB house style may never existed. Without his MGM style cartoon making, cartoon comedy may never reached todays position.

[millsie]

A lot of time the Academy Award went not to the best cartoon, just the one that the Academy members like the most. In the 30s and early 40s the Academy really like Disney so they got the Oscars. In the 40s and early 50s the Academy liked Tom & Jerry so they got the Oscars.

I agree that a lot of great cartoons missed out on Oscars while some really great ones weren't even nominated. I find it amazing that Betty Boop cartoons such as Minnie the Moocher, Snow White or Poor Cinderella never even received any nominations in the early 30s as those caroons are brilliant. (Although I don't think they would have beaten the Disney films The Three Little Pigs and The Tortoise & The Hare, that won in 1933 & 1934 when these Boop cartoons would have been eligible.)

Of the cartoons that you pointed out that beat the Avery cartoons, I prefer The Ugly Duckling and Peace On Earth to Detouring America. For the 1940 Oscar I would have gone for Puss Gets The Boot, as it is another cartoon that I dearly love. (Sorry) While I love Blitz Wolf, Der Fuehrer's Face has a very memorable theme song that always sticks in my head for days after I watch that short. Johann Mouse is another short that I love, while I can't comment on Little Johnny Jet as I haven't seen it for so many years. (WHV really do need to release that Avery box set just to jog my memory)

I perhaps agree that The Legend of Rock-a-bye Point should have beaten Speedy Gonzales, but that probably has more to do with the fact that I'm not a big fan of the rodent.

It's a shame that cartoons like Red Hot Riding Hood or Northwest Hounded Police were never nominated.


:) Mathew:)

[Dafffy Duck]

even tom and Jerry won several Oscars.

Even Tom and Jerry?

All MGM executive actually thought Tom and Jerry is much better work than Avery's cartoon? Unbelievable.

No... it just isn't.

[houserunner]

I'm not an English spoken person. So, my English writing skill may have many faults. Please understand that, thanks.

[Javeman]

You guys need to remember that not every short was Oscar-eligible. I believe each studio could only submit one or two shorts that the Academy would consider. Note that never more than two shorts from the same studio would be nominated the same year (only exceptions being 1956 where all 3 nominees were UPA shorts. (Rigged, I say. RIGGED!) and 1961 with 3 WB nominees).

So if you think the short you consider "best" wasn't nominated, it's most likely because the studio didn't submit it for consideration.

[houserunner]

But, between 1943-1951, Avery's MGM shorts never nominated. Those years is without a doubt Avery's heyday, he made some of the greatest cartoons of all time. So, almost all of MGM nomination opportunity goes to Tom and Jerry shorts between 1943-1951 is really wrong and disturbing decision MGM made.

[Dafffy Duck]

I'm not an English spoken person. So, my English writing skill may have many faults. Please understand that, thanks.

There was nothing wrong with you're writing. I wasn't pointing out gramatical or spelling errors, I was disagreeing with what you were actually saying. It seemed you insulted Tom and Jerry twice in your post and I was just disagreeing with it, sorry for the confusion.

[Matt the Y]

I've mused about Tex Avery's complete Oscar loss many, many times. As I pointed out myself, Tex Avery always received two Oscar nomations for every individual studio he worked for (WB, MGM, and Lantz, respectively) but each time he was nominated and never won.

I've always complained about how "A Wild Hare" should've won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Short. Why? Because it would have permanently cemented Bugs Bunny's reputation at the studio because a) It would've been the first time a WB cartoon won an Oscar, b) It would've been the first time a cartoon studio other than Disney won the Oscar for Best Short, and c) After years of trying to establish Bugs as a solid cartoon character, the first cartoon that succeeded in perfecting the wascally wabbit's persona would've won an OSCAR for Heaven's sake. But, no.... "The Milky Way", an incredibly bland and dull MGM short, had to win the Oscar for Best Short that year. Truly a damn shame.

In terms of Avery's MGM shorts, some of his shorts I would've selected for Oscar nominations would include "Who Killed Who?", "King Size Canary", "Doggone Tired", and "Magical Maestro" among others. A man who played such an important part in defining the standards of the animated medium truly deserved the Oscar at least once in his stunning career.

[nickramer]

I do not consider "Flowers and Trees" (Ok, it got the award only for the Technicolor novelty...but is stinks as a cartoon!), "Three Orphan Kittens", "The Little Orphan" and many others worth the Uncle Oscar prize.

I disagree about "Flowers and Trees" not deserving the Oscar. I think it was lot better than Cy Young's Spring Song, which predates this similar picture by a year. At least this one had a plot and besides, I rather have "Flowers and Trees" to win an award than WB's own "It's Got Me Again" (sure the song is pretty catchy, but that's about it).
I do admit though I like the other Disney cartoon that was nominated that same year ("Mickey's Orphans") a little more than "Flowers and Trees", but than I have trouble thinking of what's my favorite cartoon.

[Leviathan]

It's a cold, hard, grim fact of life that many great cartoons were beaten at the Oscars by much more mediocre ones (Look at how Ferdenand the Bull beat both Mother Goose Goes Hollywood AND The Brave Little Tailor in 1938).

Accept that the Oscars is a sharm and totally irrelevant when gouging the merit of a short, and the better off you'll be.

[Mr. Semaj]

Tex Avery never even gained a lifetime achievement Oscar.

When you think about, it all boils down to poor taste. A lot of ordinary or unremakrable cartoons get nominations (Chip n' Dale, Sandy Claws), while many prominent characters get nothing at all (Daffy Duck).

[Matt the Y]

It's a cold, hard, grim fact of life that many great cartoons were beaten at the Oscars by much more mediocre ones (Look at how Ferdenand the Bull beat both Mother Goose Goes Hollywood AND The Brave Little Tailor in 1938).

Accept that the Oscars is a sharm and totally irrelevant when gouging the merit of a short, and the better off you'll be.

I agree with that 100% (Although I did rather like "Ferdinand the Bull").

I'm still completely puzzled about how "Speedy Gonzales" won the Oscar for Best Short of 1955. I don't dislike Speedy and the cartoon itself is quite funny but, when pitted against other shorts that year like "Legend of Rock-a-Bye Point" and "No Hunting" (one of my favorite Disney shorts), there is no way it should have won.

I do agree with some of the Oscar's choices tho. "Mouse Trouble" won Best Cartoon of 1944 and that is my favorite Tom & Jerry cartoon. I also agree with "Der Fuehrer's Face" winning the Oscar for 1942. That's about it, though.

(I've also always been secretly disappointed that "Beep Prepared" didn't win the Oscar for 1961. A Road-Runner cartoon even being nominated is quite a feat but it would've been even better if the cartoon had won that year!).

[Gossamer]

One, Avery wouldn't have actually gotten the Oscar-the Oscar actually goes to the producer, so anything won by an Avery short would officially have gone to the studio's producer, not the director.

Two, remember that, with so few nominees (in most years, only five or fewer) there's a very real prospect of two very good shorts knocking one another off, splitting the vote and allowing another nominee to win. It doesn't just happen in Animated Short.

Over the 75 years the Animated Short award has been givin, the Academy has probably gotten the winners right most of the time, though when they miss, it's usually a howler.

May this find you happy and healthy.


Robert Reynolds
Tucson AZ

[Douglas E.]

What puzzles me is that Bob Clampett never got nomitated once. The Same for Daffy Duck.

-Doug

[Spike]

Is it my opinion or are the TOM AND JERRY oscar winners not held in high regard in this forum??:tomcat::jerry:

[Matt the Y]

Is it my opinion or are the TOM AND JERRY oscar winners not held in high regard in this forum??:tomcat::jerry:

They are by me. "Mouse Trouble", the Oscar-winning cartoon for 1944, is, as stated before, my all-time favorite Tom & Jerry cartoon. I also quite like "Yankee Doodle Mouse" (1943 winner) and "Quiet! Please" (1945 winner). "The Cat Concerto" (1946 winner) isn't bad but would be much better had it not been an obvious knock-off of WB's "Rhapsody Rabbit" (which should have received the nomination) and "The Little Orphan" (1948 winner) has its' moments. I don't much care for "The Two Mousketeers" (1951 winner; its' ending with Tom's execution is just much too dark) or "Johann Mouse" (1952 winner; probably the most boring and uninteresting Tom & Jerry cartoon ever made, although hearing Hans Conried's narration is certainly a treat).

[ChillyDown]

I agree that it's a shame that Avery never won any statues. But this poor judgment extends to all of the Academy's decisions. Charlie Chaplin never won for any of his films. "Star Wars" lost out to "Annie Hall" in 1977. "Forrest Gump" won in 1994, but "Pulp Fiction" and "The Shawshank Redemption" are both more highly regarded films from that year. The list goes on and on. At any rate, it doesn't seem like the Academy is singling out animation for its bad choices.

Also, the Academy tends to award technical innovation. Since Disney was always innovating, that's why he often won, as in the case with "Flowers and Trees." That doesn't make it right, necessarily, but maybe at least a little more understandable.

The wins for "Speedy Gonzales" and "Knighty Knight Bugs" are admittedly baffling. They're pleasant enough, but with so much other better work getting ignored (the aforementioned "What's Opera Doc?" as well as "Duck Amuck," "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery," and so on), it just doesn't make any sense.

While I also love the Tom & Jerry shorts, I do agree that it would be nice if Avery won sometimes, rather than the Academy's knee-jerk wins that it handed out to Disney and H-B. Who knows? Maybe Avery could have carved out a name for himself on TV as well, rather than dying in relative obscurity.

For what it's worth, "Magical Maestro" is on the National Film Registry's list of films that need to be preserved for all time, while many of the nominated cartoons are not. So it seems like Avery is finally somewhat getting his due.

[HisBoyElroy]

One thing to keep in mind is the procedure of how films, today, animated or live action, are nominated in the first place. I believe that for awhile now -- and please correct me if I'm wrong -- that items that are initially nominated to be considered for an Oscar is done so by those in the industry who actually work in that specified niche, not by the Academy members as a whole group. For instance, nominations for, say, sound design for a live action film, are recommended by those Academy members who work in sound design for film (and/or possibly something close to it, such as sound editors.) These are then given to the Academy higher-ups who announce the list for that respective category . I imagine, or would really really hope, that this would also be the case for the topic of this thread, the animated short film. Then, the Academy members as a whole group vote from that list of nominees. Now, I don't believe (again, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think so) that the above procedure was always the case.

In regard to the topic of this thread, (Tex Avery's, Clampett, Tom & Jerry, and also animated films by others) mentioned, we cannot even be sure that all Academy voters even saw some of the films that were finally nominated. This holds true for live action as well, not just for animation.

Here's why I think that is so. My father was a member of the Academy (Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists). Back then, Academy members never received dvds or video cassettes of nominations -- until the late 70's-80's, or whenever they first began to send them out -- that would have been an anachronism; they simply didn't exist before then. What we did receive at our house was phonographs records, ya know, vinyl at 33 1/3rpm, and usually only for live action films, and if I recall only for those which had music up for an award: "Windmill of Your Mind" from the (original) The Thomas Crown Affair" is one I remember coming to our mailbox. In that era, the only options to view films for consideration were to go to a theater where the film was playing (an Academy member could use their membership card to gain complimentary entry at select theaters), or pay to see it on one's own, or to attend the members-only screenings that the Academy held. We did all three and I remember when we'd go to the Academy screenings for animation they would show them all back-to-back in one evening. There would be a lot of people in the audience, the majority being those in the animation field, but hardly the whole voting membership. Not ever close, before when we went practically everyone knew everyone else -- they were all cartoonist!

Anyway, my point is, is that I'd wager there were plenty of people casting final votes in the Animation category in the Golden Age for films they never actually saw. Avery's or whomever. These days, however, I guess they get a dvd with all the nominations. I wouldn't assume to know that the same holds true for live action films, except my guess would be that the law of averages/percentages of viewers works better for those, in that far more than enough people see them to make the final vote true enough. (Caveat: I'd read not too long ago that the Academy was getting pissed-off because some members were abusing the privilege of getting advance copies of movies.)

[Buttmunker]

In 1989, the world celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Bugs Bunny, which would indicate that somebody important thinks that Bugs Bunny debuted in 1939.

In 1990, the world celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Tom & Jerry, which would be correct since they came out in 1940.

The only Bugs cartoons prior to 1940 are what are called "Happy Rabbitt" cartoons:


Porky's Hare Hunt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porky%27s_Hare_Hunt) (1938)
Prest-O Change-O (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prest-O_Change-O) (1939)
Hare-um Scare-um (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare-um_Scare-um) (1939)
Elmer's Candid Camera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer%27s_Candid_Camera) (1940)
Patient Porky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Porky) (1940) (cameo)
Weird.

[Der Captain]

[QUOTE=ChillyDown] "Star Wars" lost out to "Annie Hall" in 1977.

As it should have. Of course when it comes to Oscar choices, everyone has their individual opinions. Like everyone else, I think they nominate a lot of junk and ignore a lot of quality.

Of course when it comes to the animation Oscars, I do love the award winning Tom and Jerry's even though they were honored at the expense of Avery being excluded from nomination and Warners losing out. An Oscar for "King Size Canary" would have been justice.

[Matt the Y]

The only Bugs cartoons prior to 1940 are what are called "Happy Rabbitt" cartoons:


Porky's Hare Hunt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porky%27s_Hare_Hunt) (1938)
Prest-O Change-O (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prest-O_Change-O) (1939)
Hare-um Scare-um (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare-um_Scare-um) (1939)
Elmer's Candid Camera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer%27s_Candid_Camera) (1940)
Patient Porky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Porky) (1940) (cameo)
Weird.

Just FWIW, I'm glad you mentioned "Patient Porky" as having a cameo by the prototype Bugs Bunny. There is no way Clampett intended for that rabbit to be the Bugs Bunny we know and love today (even though the cartoon was released a month after "A Wild Hare"); the rabbit in the scene is much more akin to the "Porky's Hare Hunt" and "Hare-Um Scare-Um" style rabbits.

Sorry, I just had to say that. :D