Description: This is a Vintage POSTCARD featuring HALF PINT PIGMY from 1947 by TEX AVERY featuring a a MISDIRECTING INFORMATION OCTOPUS. PLEASE NOTE NOW ---- TOP OF POSTCARD HAS HEAVY DAMAGE>. ( it is till kinda cool ) I bought this in a Downtown Paris American POP CULTURE Store in 1992 Now here's a truly weird cartoon even by Tex Avery's standards. "Half-Pint Pygmy" (release date: 8/17/1948) is one of Avery's less known and rarely seen works, and it marks the fourth and final appearance of George and Junior. These characters inspired by George and Lennie from John Steinbeck's depression-era novel "Of Mice and Men" have previously appeared in three very good and entertaining cartoons: Then for some unknown reason, Avery decided to take away nearly all of George and Junior's specific traits. The relationship between characters in "Mice and Men" style has almost completely vanished. The voices were changed too. Most significantly, Irv Spence's excellent and very funny character design was scraped in favor of a new design by Louie Schmitt that depicts George and Junior as relatively bland and generic cartoon bears. Tex Avery's best cartoons are brilliantly structured and constructed, but "Half-Pint Pygmy" plays almost as an abstract collection of random crazy gags that barely have a connection with each other. There's an odd and somewhat detached feeling about it that I don't have when watching any other Avery's MGM cartoon. However, there are many positive things to recommend about "Half-Pint Pygmy". The animation is top notch, with some especially nice and clear examples of anticipation. Also, many of the gags are very inventive, unusual and bizarre. In a way, this might be one of the ultimate chase cartoons. Due to heavy racial stereotypes, this cartoon has been banned from TV for the last few decades, and it was also omitted from French Tex Avery DVD box set (together with "Uncle Tom's Cabana"). For this overview, let's start with Junior & George the bears, in their very last cartoon Half-Pint Pygmy (1948). They head off to pygmy country in Africa to find the world's smallest pygmy to sell for $10,000. The script reveals not the slightest clue that selling Africans for profit just might occasionally very possibly you-just-never-know be construed as slavery. George & Junior find a miniature village & spot the smallest pygmy of the tribe, about the size of a hamster, thick-lipped lad with a bone through his hair. They almost catch him with a watermelon trap, but he's way too clever for the bears. Several chase & escape gags follow one after another. The bears encounter an Asian tiger, Australian kangaroos, Arabic camel, as well as African animals during the chases. The gags are trivial & cliche but it has a shaggy-dog-story pay-off at the end which was predictable but kinda funny even so. The itty bitty pygmy getting the better of the would-be slavers makes him almost a heroic figure but the big lips caricatures with bone through hair is just so tiresome. Tex Avery has done so much better than this unfortunate film. RARE Postcard is about 4 x 5 1/2 ITEM in RUFF as seen Condition. THE TOP OF POSTCARD IS VISIBLY DAMAGED BOTTOM BACKSIDE IS ALSO UNFORTUNATELY DAMAGED - ugh PLEASE CHECK OUT PICS FOR BAD BAD CONDITION. Multiple FLAT PURCHASES can combine for ONE MAILING FEE.
Price: 9.99 USD
Location: Kailua Kona, Hawaii
End Time: 2024-11-04T22:37:00.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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Illustrator: Tex Avery
