Screwball Squirrel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Screwball Squirrel.

Screwball "Screwy" Squirrel is a cartoon character, an anthropomorphic squirrel created by Tex Avery for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, generally considered the wackiest of the screwball cartoon characters of the 1940s, who include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Woody Woodpecker.

Among the most intangible and non-standard cartoon characters ever created, Screwy (voiced by Wally Maher) can do almost anything to almost anyone: he pulls objects out of thin air, doubles himself, and constantly breaks the fourth wall; all the while uttering a characteristic cackling laugh. The character was not a successful as Avery's Happy Hound (later Droopy Dog) was at this time, and Screwy was phased out after only appearing in five cartoons between 1944 and 1946.

The character was notable for being brash and erratic, and is considered by some to be annoying with few sympathic personality characteristics such as Bugs Bunny's nobility or Daffy Duck's pathos. Most of his cartoons revolve around him inflicting various forms of torture on his enemy (usually Meathead Dog, played by Dick Nelson) for seven minutes. In one cartoon, Screwy hits a dog across the head with everything he can find in a trunk labeled "Assorted Swell Stuff to Hit Dog on Head". When he finishes, the dog remarks, "Gee whiz! He hit me with everything but the kitchen sink!" Screwy, producing a kitchen sink and knocking the dog over the head with it, responds "Well, I don't want to disappoint ya, chum!"

The final cartoon in the series, ended with a joking reference to indicate that Screwy had been killed by his antagonist, who commented "I had a little friend once, but he don't move no more." Avery never used the character again during his lifetime.

Hanna-Barbera Cartoons resurrected Screwy for the Droopy: Master Detective Saturday morning cartoon on Fox Kids in 1993-1994. The Tex Avery originals have been frequently seen on Turner Broadcasting System-run networks such as the Cartoon Network and Boomerang. On April Fools' Day, 1997, Cartoon Network ran the 1944 Screwy Squirrel cartoon Happy-Go-Nutty repeatedly from 6 AM to 6 PM, as part of an April Fool's Joke that the cartoon character had taken over the network.

In 1993, Screwy was used as a template for Slappy Squirrel on Animaniacs, as a female version of the character who had aged 50 years and become a miserly and cranky character.

As of 2005, Screwy appears as one of the characters in idents for the Boomerang TV channel.