| George and Junior | |
| Series: | MGM Cartoons |
| First Major: | Henpecked Hoboes |
| First Date: | October 26, 1946 |
| Last Major: | George and Junior's Christmas Spectacular |
| Last Date: | July 23, 1995 |
| Creator: | Tex Avery |
| Voice: | Dick Nelson (1946–1947)[1] Tex Avery (1946–1948) Wally Maher (1948) |
| Species: | Bears |
| Gender: | Male |
| Designer: | Irven Spence[2] |
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).[3]
The cartoons would usually follow the misadventures of two bears inspired by George and Lennie from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men:[4] George, the short, short-tempered, intelligent one (voiced by Dick Nelson[1]) and Junior, the tall, dim-witted, strong one (voiced by Tex Avery[1]). George would usually come up with a plan to fix their current situation. Junior would accidentally mess it up somehow, then George would get angry and say "Bend over, Junior", and, when Junior does so, George delivers a hard kick to his rear end.
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, respectively. A gray-purple version of George made a headshot cameo appearance during the final scene of the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (the octopus from Half-Pint Pygmy also made a cameo as a bartender at The Ink and Paint Club). Junior was planned to have a cameo in the film, but was later dropped for unknown reasons. They would later make appearances in Dark Horse Comics with Tex Avery's Wolf and Red and Screwy Squirrel.
Lucky Ducky was originally planned to feature George and Junior.[5]
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. In the show, George is voiced by Ben Diskin, while Junior is voiced by Stephen Stanton.
| 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[6] [7] | |
| 6 | George and Junior's Christmas Spectacular | July 23, 1995[8] |
In 2020, Warner Archive released the cartoons Hound Hunters and Red Hot Rangers uncut and digitally restored as part of the Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-Ray.