George and Junior
George and Junior are cartoon characters, two anthropomorphic bears created by Tex Avery for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. All of the George and Junior shorts were directed by Tex Avery in the 1940s. They appeared in four cartoons: Henpecked Hoboes (1946), Hound Hunters (1947), Red Hot Rangers (1947), and Half-Pint Pygmy (1948).[2]
| George and Junior | |
|---|---|
| MGM Cartoons character | |
 George and Junior, seen in Red Hot Rangers | |
| First appearance |
|
| Created by | Tex Avery |
| Designed by | Irven Spence (1946-1947) Louie Schmitt (1948) |
| Voiced by | Dick Nelson (1946–1947)[1] Patrick McGeehan (1948) John Rubinow and Tony Pope (1995) |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Bears |
| Gender | Male |
The cartoons would usually follow the misadventures of two bears inspired by George and Lennie from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men:[3] George, the short, short-tempered intelligent one (voiced by Dick Nelson[1]) and Junior, the tall, dim-witted one (also voiced by Nelson[1]). George would usually come up with a plan to fix their current situation. Junior would accidentally mess it up somehow resulting with an angry George saying "Bend over, Junior", and, when Junior does so, George delivers a hard kick to his rear end.
Appearances
The characters' looks and voices were altered for their fourth appearance. Later they were brought back to life by Pat Ventura on the Hanna-Barbera anthology franchise What a Cartoon! in the 1990s voiced by John Rubinow and Tony Pope. A grey-purple version of George made a cameo appearance in a headshot during the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (the octopus from Half-Pint Pygmy also made a cameo as the bartender at The Ink and Paint Club). Later they would make appearances in Dark Horse Comics with Tex Avery's Wolf and Red and Screwy Squirrel.
Lucky Ducky was a originally planned to feature George and Junior.[4]
In 2019, both George and Junior make an appearance as zoo catchers in the fourth season of The Tom and Jerry Show episode called "Shadow of a Doubt". They also make various cameos in the series.
Cartoons
| # | Title | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henpecked Hoboes | October 26, 1946 |
| 2 | Hound Hunters | April 12, 1947 |
| 3 | Red Hot Rangers | May 3, 1947 |
| 4 | Half-Pint Pygmy | August 7, 1948 |
| 5 | Look Out Below | April 9, 1995[5][6] |
| 6 | George and Junior's Christmas Spectacular | July 23, 1995[7] |
Voice actors
- Dick Nelson (1946–1947)[1]
- Patrick McGeehan (Half-Pint Pygmy)
- John Rubinow and Tony Pope (What a Cartoon!)
Comics
List of comics appearances
- Tex Avery's Screwball Squirrel #1 (plus Wolf and Red) (1995) (Dark Horse Comics)
- Tex Avery's Screwball Squirrel #3 (plus Wolf and Red) (1995) (Dark Horse Comics) (Junior only)
- Comics and Stories #2 Featuring Tex Avery's Screwball Squirrel (1996) (Dark Horse Comics)
Home media
- Henpecked Hoboes is on the DVD of Till the Clouds Roll By
- Hound Hunters is on the DVD of Fiesta (1947 film)
- Red Hot Rangers is on the DVD of Tycoon
See also
References
- "Didn't Tex Avery do a lot of the voices in his cartoons?". News From ME. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 84. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- "George and Junior". Big Cartoon Database. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
- Adamson, Joe, Tex Avery: King of Cartoons, 1975, De Capo Press
- Winfery, Lee (27 December 1994). "From Hanna-barbera, 8 New Cartoons For Cable The Cartoon Network's New Stable Of Stars Includes Two Ducks, Two Bears, And Even Dino Of "Flintstones" Fame. - philly-archives". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
- "George and Junior in "Look out below"". United States Copyright Office. 9 April 1995. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
- Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 116. ISBN 9781476672939.