Color Rhapsody

Color Rhapsody
Production company	Screen Gems
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	November 11, 1934 – June 30, 1949
Country	United States
Language	English

Color Rhapsody is a series of usually one-shot animated cartoon shorts produced by Charles Mintz's studio Screen Gems for Columbia Pictures. ^[1] They were launched in 1934, following the phenomenal success of Walt Disney's Technicolor Silly Symphonies and Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies . Because of Disney's exclusive rights to the full three strip Technicolor process, Color Rhapsody films were produced in the older two-tone Technicolor process until 1935, when Disney's exclusive contract expired.

The Color Rhapsody series is most notable for introducing the characters of The Fox and the Crow in the 1941 short The Fox and the Grapes. Two Color Rhapsody shorts, Holiday Land (1934) and The Little Match Girl (1937), were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). ^[2]

Columbia begin reissuing cartoons as Columbia Favorites from 1947 until the late 1960s, and extended past Screen Gems, with cartoons from UPA (which succeeded the original Screen Gems) and Hanna-Barbera's Loopy de Loop later on. ^{[3] [4]}

Filmography

1930s

No.	Title	Release date [5]	Director	Character(s)	Notes
1	Holiday Land	November 9, 1934	Sid Marcus	Scrappy
2	Babes at Sea	November 30, 1934	Arthur Davis
3	The Shoemaker and the Elves	January 20, 1935
4	Make Believe Revue	March 22, 1935	Ben Harrison
5	A Cat, a Mouse and a Bell	May 10, 1935	Arthur Davis
6	Little Rover	June 28, 1935	Sid Marcus
7	Neighbors	August 15, 1935			Lost cartoon
8	Monkey Love	September 12, 1935	Arthur Davis		Soundtrack exists
9	The Bon Bon Parade	October 10, 1935	Ben Harrison
10	Doctor Bluebird	February 5, 1936		Scrappy
11	Football Bugs	April 29, 1936	Arthur Davis
12	Glee Worms	June 24, 1936	Ben Harrison
13	The Untrained Seal	July 26, 1936	Arthur Davis
14	The Novelty Shop	August 15, 1936	Sid Marcus
15	In My Gondola	September 3, 1936		Scrappy
16	Merry Mutineers	October 2, 1936	Ben Harrison
17	Birds in Love	October 28, 1936
18	Two Lazy Crows	November 26, 1936	Ub Iwerks
19	A Boy and His Dog	December 23, 1936	Sid Marcus	Johnny
20	Gifts from the Air	January 1, 1936		Ben Harrison
21	Skeleton Frolics	January 29, 1937	Ub Iwerks
22	Merry Mannequins	March 19, 1937
23	Let's Go	April 10, 1937	Ben Harrison
24	Mother Hen's Holiday	May 7, 1937	Sid Marcus
25	The Foxy Pup	May 21, 1937	Ub Iwerks
26	The Stork Takes a Holiday	June 11, 1937	Ben Harrison		Lost cartoon
27	Indian Serenade	July 16, 1937	Sid Marcus
28	Spring Festival	August 6, 1937	Ben Harrison
29	Scary Crows	August 20, 1937	Sid Marcus	Johnny
30	Swing, Monkey, Swing	September 10, 1937	Ben Harrison
31	The Air Hostess	October 22, 1937	Sid Marcus [6]
32	The Little Match Girl	November 5, 1937
33	Hollywood Picnic	December 18, 1937
34	Bluebird's Baby	January 21, 1938	Ben Harrison	Johnny
35	The Horse on the Merry-Go-Round	February 17, 1938	Ub Iwerks
36	The Foolish Bunny	March 26, 1938	Sid Marcus
37	Snow Time	April 14, 1938	Ub Iwerks
38	The Big Birdcast	May 13, 1938	Ben Harrison
39	Window Shopping	June 3, 1938	Sid Marcus
40	Poor Little Butterfly	July 4, 1938	Ben Harrison
41	Poor Elmer	July 22, 1938	Sid Marcus
42	The Frog Pond	August 12, 1938	Ub Iwerks
43	Hollywood Graduation	August 26, 1938	Arthur Davis		Lost cartoon
44	Animal Cracker Circus	September 23, 1938	Ben Harrison	Johnny
45	Little Moth's Big Flame	November 3, 1938	Sid Marcus
46	Midnight Frolics	November 24, 1938	Ub Iwerks
47	The Kangaroo Kid	December 23, 1938	Ben Harrison
48	Peaceful Neighbors	January 26, 1939	Sid Marcus
49	The Gorilla Hunt	February 24, 1939	Ub Iwerks
50	The Happy Tots	March 31, 1939	Ben Harrison	The Happy Tots
51	The House That Jack Built	April 14, 1939	Sid Marcus
52	Lucky Pigs	May 26, 1939	Ben Harrison
53	Nell's Yells	June 30, 1939	Ub Iwerks
54	Hollywood Sweepstakes	July 28, 1939	Ben Harrison
55	Jitterbug Knights	August 11, 1939	Sid Marcus
56	Crop Chasers	September 22, 1939	Ub Iwerks
57	Dreams on Ice	October 20, 1939	Sid Marcus
58	Mountain Ears	November 3, 1939	Manny Gould
59	Mother Goose in Swingtime	December 18, 1939	Manny Gould

1940s

No.	Title	Release date [5]	Director	Character(s)	Notes
60	A Boy, a Gun, and Birds	January 12, 1940	Ben Harrison
61	The Happy Tots' Expedition	February 9, 1940		The Happy Tots
62	Blackboard Revue	March 15, 1940	Ub Iwerks
63	The Greyhound and the Rabbit	April 19, 1940	Sid Marcus
64	The Egg Hunt	May 31, 1940	Ub Iwerks
65	Ye Olde Swap Shoppe	June 28, 1940
66	The Timid Pup	August 1, 1940	Ben Harrison
67	Tangled Television	August 30, 1940	Sid Marcus
68	Mr. Elephant Goes to Town	October 4, 1940	Arthur Davis
69	The Mad Hatter	November 3, 1940	Sid Marcus
70	Wise Owl	December 6, 1940	Ub Iwerks
71	A Helping Paw	January 7, 1941	Sid Marcus	Cornelius Van Goon
72	The Way of All Pests	February 28, 1941	Arthur Davis
73	The Carpenters	March 14, 1941	Paul Fennell		Produced by Cartoon Films Ltd. and later reissued as a Columbia Favorite. [7]
74	The Land of Fun	April 18, 1941	Sid Marcus
75	Tom Thumb's Brother	June 12, 1941		Tom Thumb
76	The Cuckoo I.Q.	July 3, 1941		Cornelius Van Goon
77	Who's Zoo in Hollywood	November 17, 1941			Lost cartoon
78	The Fox and the Grapes	December 5, 1941	Frank Tashlin	The Fox and the Crow
79	Red Riding Hood Rides Again	December 5, 1941	Sid Marcus
80	A Hollywood Detour	January 23, 1942	Frank Tashlin
81	Wacky Wigwams	February 22, 1942	Alec Geiss
82	Concerto in B Flat Minor	March 20, 1942	Bob Wickersham
83	Cinderella Goes to a Party	May 3, 1942	Alec Geiss
84	Woodman, Spare That Tree	July 2, 1942	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
85	Song of Victory	September 4, 1942
86	Tito's Guitar	October 30, 1942		Tito, Burrito and Rosita
87	Toll Bridge Troubles	November 27, 1942		The Fox and the Crow
88	King Midas Junior	December 18, 1942	John Hubley Paul Sommer
89	Slay it with Flowers	January 8, 1943	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
90	There's Something About a Soldier	February 26, 1943	Alec Geiss		Lost cartoon
91	Professor Small and Mr. Tall	March 26, 1943	John Hubley Paul Sommer	Professor Small and Mr. Tall
92	Plenty Below Zero	May 14, 1943	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
93	Tree for Two	June 21, 1943
94	He Can't Make It Stick	July 25, 1943	John Hubley Paul Sommer		Partially lost
95	A-Hunting We Won't Go	August 23, 1943	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
96	The Rocky Road to Ruin	September 16, 1943	John Hubley [8] Paul Sommer
97	Imagination	October 29, 1943	Bob Wickersham
98	The Herring Murder Mystery	December 30, 1943	Dun Roman	Igor Puzzlewitz
99	The Disillusioned Bluebird	May 26, 1944	Howard Swift
100	Dog, Cat and Canary	January 5, 1945		Flippy
101	Fiesta Time	April 4, 1945	Bob Wickersham	Tito, Burrito and Rosita
102	Rippling Romance	June 21, 1945			Soundtrack exists
103	Hot Foot Lights	August 2, 1945	Howard Swift
104	Carnival Courage	September 6, 1945		Willoughby Wren
105	River Ribber	October 4, 1945	Paul Sommer	Professor Small and Mr. Tall
106	Polar Playmates	April 25, 1946	Howard Swift
107	Picnic Panic	June 20, 1946	Bob Wickersham	Tito, Burrito and Rosita
108	Loco Lobo	January 9, 1947	Howard Swift
109	Cockatoos for Two	February 13, 1947	Bob Wickersham
110	Big House Blues [9]	March 6, 1947	Howard Swift	Flippy
111	Mother Hubba-Hubba-Hubbard	May 29, 1947	Bob Wickersham
112	Up N' Atom	July 10, 1947	Sid Marcus
113	Swiss Tease	September 11, 1947
114	Boston Beanie	December 4, 1947
115	Flora	March 18, 1948	Alex Lovy
116	Pickled Puss	September 2, 1948	Howard Swift
117	Lo, the Poor Buffal	November 4, 1948	Alex Lovy
118	The Coo-Coo Bird Dog	February 3, 1949	Sid Marcus
119	Grape Nutty	April 14, 1949	Alex Lovy	The Fox and the Crow
120	Cat-Tastrophy	June 30, 1949	Sid Marcus

Accolades

Film	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
Holiday Land	7th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons	Nominated	[10]
The Little Match Girl	10th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons	Nominated	[11]
Imagination	16th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons	Nominated	[12]
Dog, Cat and Canary	17th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons	Nominated	[13]
Rippling Romance	18th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons	Nominated	[14]

References

1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 66–67. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
2. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 170–171. ISBN   9781476672939.
3. "112 Shorts for Col With 24 in Color". Variety . September 12, 1947.
4. Yowp (2013-11-28). "Tralfaz: A Columbia What?!". Tralfaz. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
5. Maltin, Leonard (1980). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (1987 Revised ed.). New York City: Plume. pp. 414–419. ISBN   0-452-25993-2 . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
6. "Totally Tooned In – 1". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
7. "The Five Best Columbia/Screen Gems Cartoons of the 1940s". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 2025-08-08.
8. "MichaelBarrier.com -- Interviews: John Hubley". www.michaelbarrier.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2025-08-08.
9. Lewis, Charles E. (n.d.). Showmen's trade review. MBRS Library of Congress. pp. 68, 128, 180, 442, 538, 592, 644, 860, 906.
10. "The 7th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. 1935. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
11. "The 10th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. 1938. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
12. "The 16th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. 1944. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
13. "The 17th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. 1945. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
14. "The 18th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. 1946. Retrieved March 7, 2023.