mrneoluddite/cartoons

Funny, I grew up watching this stuff and never made the jazz connection.

From the page: "Tex Avery and All That Jazz
By Dave Sikula
Tue, February 26, 2008

Almost as soon as animated cartoons learned to talk, they combined that talk with jazz. The Fleischer Brothers featured Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway. Warner Bros. composer Carl Stalling was influenced by bandleader Raymond Scott, and every studio referenced such names as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Fats Waller, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby.

With that in mind, it's somehow appropriate that today we note not one, but two anniversaries. Not only was the first jazz recording -- "Livery Stable Blues" by the Original Dixieland Jass (yes, "jass") Band -- made on this day in 1917, but it's also the 100th birthday of director Tex Avery. Avery, who worked mainly at Warner and MGM, was known for his broad physical comedy and sight gags, and was instrumental in the development of such characters as Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny (to whom he lent his signature phrase of "Whatâ€s up, Doc?"), Droopy, and The Wolf.

So why not put some 78s on the Victrola, kick back with a big glass of Jumbo Gro, and toast Tex and the ODJB?"