Count Screwloose is a character in the comic strip ''Count Screwloose from Tooloose'' by
Milt Gross
Milt Gross (; March 4, 1895 – November 29, 1953) was an American cartoonist and animator. His work is noted for its exaggerated cartoon style and Yiddish-inflected English dialogue. He originated the non-sequitur "Banana Oil!" as a phrase defl ...
, introduced on February 17, 1929. The count is portrayed as a mentally ill man who frequently leaves Nuttycrest Sanitarium, the
insane asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
where he resides, to go out into the rest of the world. There he often meets people who act crazier than he did and thus he always goes back, telling his dog Iggy: "Iggy, keep an eye on me", which became a national
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recogni ...
at the time. The series was discontinued in 1935.
In 1937, the comic strip was adapted into a short-lived cartoon series by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
. Two cartoons were released in 1939.
History
The
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to ...
brought in established newspaper cartoonist
Milt Gross
Milt Gross (; March 4, 1895 – November 29, 1953) was an American cartoonist and animator. His work is noted for its exaggerated cartoon style and Yiddish-inflected English dialogue. He originated the non-sequitur "Banana Oil!" as a phrase defl ...