Hi, how are you doing? My name is Hippie John and welcome to my creative corner. If this is the first time you’re reading this column, the idea of the corner is a place where I cover obscure forms of media (IE: movies ,books, comics ,stand up comedians, cartoon characters, etc.) that I feel more people should check out or at least know of their existence.

This time around, I will be exploring the short lived 1940s theatrical cartoon star created by the late, great, Tex Avery, Screwy Squirrel.

The basic idea of Screwy Squirrel is that he is a anthropomorphic orange squirrel who laughs  in the face of laws of physics and basically does what ever he wants.

The plot of most of the shorts are the same. Screwy is chased by a dim witted dog and he gets the better his adversary every time. There is an exception, like in Big-Heel Watha, where Screwy finds himself at odds with some Native Americans.

A perfect example of this extreme craziness is in The Screwy Truant, where Screwy is chased by a dog truant officer, Screwy puts down tacks for the dog to step on, when the dog does his right foot blows out like a tire forcing him to get his spare from his backside. This cartoon took the wackiness and craziness of such characters as Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Woody Woodpecker, and Goofy and bumps it to 11, creating a fast paced fever dream of a cartoon that I can’t remember almost anything about but know that I want to see it again.

A fair warning before you go looking into these cartoons. They were all made during the 1940s. Where our understanding of other races and what was and contained images and humor which are racially insensitive.so there are some offensive jokes here and there, especially in  Big-Heel Watha ,where he is pursued by some unflattering stereotypes of Native Americans.So if you are easily offended I suggest you avoid that one.

But if you can look past the sometimes questionable jokes and focus on the amazing animation from legend  Tex Avery (Best known for Droopy and Red Hot Riding Hood) and the fast paced comedy. I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

There is only one other problem with this series. At the time of its creation, the character was not that popular so only 5 shorts were made during Avery’s lifetime: Screwball Squirrel, Happy-Go-Nutty, Big-Heel Watha, The Screwy Truant, and Lonesome Lenny.

Screwy was brought back for Droopy, Master Detective, a Saturday morning cartoon from 1993 to 1994 where he does battle with a park attendant named Dweebie and his dog Rumply, but I have not seen it so I can’t tell you if it is good or bad.

The very short run of Screwy Squirrel is saddening because there was so much possibility with the character since there was really no limit to what they could do since they showed the laws of nature the door.

So if you are bored on a rainy day and want to check out a vintage cartoon character but do not know where to start. I suggest you check out this wacky orange squirrel. You can find the shorts on the internet, most on Daily Motion, but I had to go onto a website in what I think was in Chinese to find the last short Lonesome Larry.

next time when I will be covering one of the best comedians to never get his deserved time in the sun, the late, great John Pinette.