ANIMATION : ****Excellent***Good**Ordinary*Poor

**** “Tex Avery’s Screwball Classics.” MGM/UA. $14.95. Eight works by the director whose anarchic, freewheeling style continues to influence cartoons today. Jessica Rabbit is largely modeled after Red, the sexy nightclub chanteuse who appears in “Swing Shift Cinderella” (1945). “Bad Luck Blackie” (1949), “Who Killed Who” (1943) and “Magical Maestro” (1952) rank among Avery’s best work, which means among the funniest cartoons ever made, and this tape is a must for every animation fan’s collection. (With any luck, a second volume will bring us “King-Sized Canary,” “Red Hot Riding Hood” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabana.”)