# Cellbound > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cellbound > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cellbound.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellbound > Source revision: 1342735657 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1955 film Cellbound Directed by Tex Avery Michael Lah Story by Heck Allen Produced by Fred Quimby Starring Paul Frees William Hanna (both uncredited) Music by Scott Bradley Animation by Kenneth Muse Ed Barge Irvin Spence Michael Lah Layouts by Ed Benedict (uncredited) Backgrounds by Vera Ohman Production company MGM Cartoons Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Release date November 25, 1955 (1955-11-25) Running time 6:25 Language English ***Cellbound*** is a 1955 [MGM Cartoon](/source/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer_cartoon_studio) featuring [Spike](/source/Butch_(animated_character)) and directed by [Tex Avery](/source/Tex_Avery) and [Michael Lah](/source/Michael_Lah).[1] The story was by [Heck Allen](/source/Heck_Allen), and [Paul Frees](/source/Paul_Frees) voiced all the characters. Its title is a pun on "spellbound." ## Background This cartoon was the last cartoon directed by Tex Avery for MGM, before he left to return to [Walter Lantz Productions](/source/Walter_Lantz_Productions) in 1953, where his career in animation began.[2][3] Due to his animation unit being disbanded by MGM that same year, Avery and co-director [Michael Lah](/source/Michael_Lah) had to utilize the [Hanna](/source/William_Hanna)-[Barbera](/source/Joseph_Barbera) unit for its animation, alongside the 1955 [Droopy](/source/Droopy) cartoon [Deputy Droopy](/source/Deputy_Droopy). It was also the last 1950s MGM cartoon that was not filmed in CinemaScope. This cartoon and *[Good Will to Men](/source/Peace_on_Earth_(film)#Remake)* were the last two to be produced by [Fred Quimby](/source/Fred_Quimby) before his retirement. ## Plot Spike plays a prisoner doing 500 years at [Sing Song Prison](/source/Sing_Sing). However, he has come up with an escape plan and starts digging a tunnel under his cell floor using a teaspoon, only temporarily stopping whenever a guard or the warden walks by. 20 years (and 6,500,004,385,632 teaspoons) later, Spike finally digs up through the outside of the prison wall. He returns to his cell to get his disguises but stops all escape activity when the warden comes walking by again. When Spike mentions to the warden it is his 20th anniversary in prison, the warden suddenly remembers it's his wedding anniversary and runs out to get his wife a gift. This prompts Spike to grab his disguises, and run through and out of the tunnel. Finally free, he gets into a train boxcar, where he guts out a television set to hide in it. Seconds later, the TV is hauled onto a truck and taken to Sing Song Prison. As Spike talks about the many places he plans on visiting, he suddenly sees the warden at his desk on the phone and goes into a panic; it turns out that the TV is the anniversary gift for the warden's wife. After the warden finishes his phone call, he goes over to the TV to check it out using the listings from the newspaper. Spike realizes he must play out everything the warden wants to watch, using his disguises and careful positioning on the TV screen to do it; first is a Western movie, followed by a boxing match. The warden wants to watch horse racing next, but Spike uses a watering can to pour water across the screen and posts a sign: RACES CALLED OFF: RAIN. So the warden decides on a musical program instead, with Spike playing a "one-man band" that he greatly enjoys. After this, the warden turns the TV off, satisfied that his wife will enjoy it. An exhausted Spike, not wanting to go through any more, breaks through the bottom of the set and starts digging through the ground just as the warden picks the TV up and heads home with it. Shortly thereafter, Spike reaches the end of his path, only to end up back inside the same TV set, now in the warden's living room. The warden proceeds to show his wife how well it works, but when he "turns it on", Spike pops up, prompting the warden to say to his wife, “I saw him today, you’ll like this guy; he’s crazy.” Realizing that he must do the same routine from this point on, Spike screams and subsequently goes into a [mental breakdown](/source/Mental_breakdown). ## Voice Cast - [Paul Frees](/source/Paul_Frees) as [Spike](/source/Butch_(animated_character)) / The Warden / The Warden's Wife / Two Prisoners saying "Good Morning, Warden" (offscreen) [4][5] - [Gus Bivona](/source/Gus_Bivona) plays Spike's [harmonica](/source/Harmonica) solo at the beginning [4][5] ## Aftermath In the same year that the cartoon was released, he began his career in television at Cascade Studios, which Lah introduced him to, working on commercials for [Raid](/source/Raid_(insecticide)) and [Kool-Aid](/source/Kool-Aid) (advertisements for the latter featured Bugs Bunny, who Cascade was unaware Avery had created).[6][7] In 1978, the studio shut down, and Avery began working at [Hanna-Barbera](/source/Hanna-Barbera) a year later; it would be his final job before his death. ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Lenburg, Jeff (1999). *The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons*. Checkmark Books. pp. 146–147. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8160-3831-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8160-3831-7). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [“Pretty Long Wait, Wasn’t It?”: TEX AVERY’S VOICE ACTORS (Volume 3)](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/pretty-long-wait-wasnt-it-tex-averys-voice-actors-volume-3/) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Don Markstein's Toonpedia: Tex Avery](https://www.toonopedia.com/avery.htm) 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CartoonResearch_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CartoonResearch_4-1) Scott, Keith. [""Pretty Long Wait, Wasn't It?": TEX AVERY'S VOICE ACTORS (Volume 3)"](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/pretty-long-wait-wasnt-it-tex-averys-voice-actors-volume-3/). *Cartoon Research*. Retrieved November 21, 2025. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CartoonVoices_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CartoonVoices_5-1) Scott, Keith (2022). [*Cartoon Voices: of the Golden Age, 1930-1970 - Volume Two: Selected Filmographies with Voice Credits*](https://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Voices-Golden-Age-Vol/dp/B0BFNYS7B8/ref=sr_1_2?crid=27FV8T5UTPZXZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7UprpJXfbCIehYM7OPypEA0w7TEQSbgY80huNIunnJQQznfvefrO2i9QQ5UudyqrTfj8GG2FfsgwfsuIAwazLp2q35ALBmvpO6T5OQiMPOX3wimpQ7gUFXcRgyPz88kUMZWEymyqlbjv13IdPa6-bdaHsr239vd1VVSGBB4IG3kqV3oKld2iYg9AY2RUhqpDHLypkv_OFriwa_w9Rh_31B-rT0dG2ne8aek6i8hUCkA.XVCijLO00jrbW1nkgizWcc5RVeEeasxcQX8DP47wwfg&dib_tag=se&keywords=cartoon+voices+of+the+golden+age&qid=1734321026&sprefix=cartoon+voices+of+the+golden+ago%2Caps%2C328&sr=8-2). Orlando: BearManor Media. p. 142. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [979-8-88771-010-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/979-8-88771-010-5). Retrieved November 21, 2025. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** *Tex Avery: King of Cartoons* (Documentary). [Turner Entertainment](/source/Turner_Entertainment). 1988. Event occurs at 43:00-44:14. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-awn_7-0)** [Of Fords And Fritos: Animation's Forgotten Ad Studios](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/fords-and-fritos-animations-forgotten-ad-studios) ## External links - [*Cellbound*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047927/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e Films directed by Tex Avery Short subjects by studio Walter Lantz Towne Hall Follies (1935) The Quail Hunt (1935) I'm Cold (1954) Crazy Mixed Up Pup (1955) The Legend of Rockabye Point (1955) Sh-h-h-h-h-h (1955) Warner Bros. Gold Diggers of '49 (1935) Plane Dippy (1936) Miss Glory (1936) The Blow Out (1936) I'd Love to Take Orders from You (1936) I Love to Singa (1936) Porky the Rain Maker (1936) The Village Smithy (1936) Milk and Money (1936) Don't Look Now (1936) Porky the Wrestler (1937) Picador Porky (1937) I Only Have Eyes for You (1937) Porky's Duck Hunt (1937) Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937) Ain't We Got Fun (1937) Egghead Rides Again (1937) A Sunbonnet Blue (1937) Porky's Garden (1937) I Wanna Be a Sailor (1937) Little Red Walking Hood (1937) Daffy Duck & Egghead (1938) The Sneezing Weasel (1938) The Penguin Parade (1938) The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938) Cinderella Meets Fella (1938) A Feud There Was (1938) Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas (1938) Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938) The Mice Will Play (1938) Hamateur Night (1939) A Day at the Zoo (1939) Thugs with Dirty Mugs (1939) Believe It or Else (1939) Dangerous Dan McFoo (1939) Detouring America (1939) Land of the Midnight Fun (1939) Fresh Fish (1939) Screwball Football (1939) The Early Worm Gets the Bird (1940) Cross Country Detours (1940) The Bear's Tale (1940) A Gander at Mother Goose (1940) Circus Today (1940) A Wild Hare (1940) Ceiling Hero (1940) Wacky Wild Life (1940) Of Fox and Hounds (1940) Holiday Highlights (1940) The Crackpot Quail (1941) The Haunted Mouse (1941) Tortoise Beats Hare (1941) Hollywood Steps Out (1941) Porky's Preview (1941) The Heckling Hare (1941) Aviation Vacation (1941) All This and Rabbit Stew (1941) The Bug Parade (1941) The Cagey Canary (1941) Wabbit Twouble (1941) Aloha Hooey (1942) Crazy Cruise (1942) Paramount Pictures Down on the Farm (1941) In a Pet Shop (1941) In the Zoo (1941) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Blitz Wolf (1942) The Early Bird Dood It! (1942) Dumb-Hounded (1943) Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) Who Killed Who? (1943) One Ham's Family (1943) What's Buzzin' Buzzard (1943) Screwball Squirrel (1944) Batty Baseball (1944) Happy-Go-Nutty (1944) Big Heel-Watha (1944) The Screwy Truant (1945) The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945) Jerky Turkey (1945) Swing Shift Cinderella (1945) Wild and Woolfy (1945) Lonesome Lenny (1946) The Hick Chick (1946) Northwest Hounded Police (1946) Henpecked Hoboes (1946) Hound Hunters (1947) Red Hot Rangers (1947) Uncle Tom's Cabaña (1947) Slap Happy Lion (1947) King-Size Canary (1947) What Price Fleadom (1948) Little 'Tinker (1948) Half-Pint Pygmy (1948) Lucky Ducky (1948) The Cat That Hated People (1948) Bad Luck Blackie (1949) Señor Droopy (1949) The House of Tomorrow (1949) Doggone Tired (1949) Wags to Riches (1949) Little Rural Riding Hood (1949) Out-Foxed (1949) The Counterfeit Cat (1949) Ventriloquist Cat (1950) The Cuckoo Clock (1950) Garden Gopher (1950) The Chump Champ (1950) The Peachy Cobbler (1950) Cock-a-Doodle Dog (1951) Daredevil Droopy (1951) Droopy's Good Deed (1951) Symphony in Slang (1951) Car of Tomorrow (1951) Droopy's Double Trouble (1951) Magical Maestro (1952) One Cab's Family (1952) Rock-a-Bye Bear (1952) Little Johnny Jet (1953) The T.V. of Tomorrow (1953) The Three Little Pups (1953) Drag-a-Long Droopy (1954) Billy Boy (1954) Homesteader Droopy (1954) The Farm of Tomorrow (1954) The Flea Circus (1954) Dixieland Droopy (1954) Field and Scream (1955) The First Bad Man (1955) Deputy Droopy (1955) Cellbound (1955) Millionaire Droopy (1956) Cat's Meow (1957) Characters Big Bad Wolf Bugs Bunny Butch Cecil Turtle Chilly Willy Daffy Duck Droopy Elmer Fudd George and Junior Porky Pig Red Screwy Squirrel Willoughby Related Casper's First Christmas The Kwicky Koala Show The Tex Avery Show The Wacky World of Tex Avery Tex Avery Screwball Classics --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cellbound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellbound) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellbound?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.