Born in Taylor on February 26, 1908, Frederick Bean “Tex” Avery became one of animation’s most important figures, directing cartoons at Warner Brothers and MGM from 1935 to 1955. He developed such legendary characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Droopy, and Chilly Willy, and he pioneered a fast-paced slapstick style that introduced many of the basic comedic elements still found in cartoons today. Avery spent his childhood in Taylor, growing up in homes on 8th and Hackberry streets, attended high school in Dallas, and moved to California after graduation. In 1935, he took a job at Warner Brothers, led the innovative “Termite Terrace” crew, and introduced Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny; searching for the perfect expression for Bugs Bunny’s carefree attitude in A Wild Hare (1940), he recalled a phrase popular among students at North Dallas High School: “What’s up doc?” After seven years at Warner Brothers, he moved to MGM in 1942, where he perfected his unique style of rapid-fire, logic-defying gags. Considered a creative genius by his peers, Avery spent a lifetime reinventing the American cartoon, and when he died in Los Angeles in 1980, his films still enjoyed critical and popular acclaim and his influence on animation and American popular culture was difficult to overstate.