| Farmer Al Falfa | |
|---|---|
 Farmer Al Falfa in "The Iron Man" (1930) | |
| Created by | Paul Terry |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Farmer Alfalfa and Farmer Gray (alternative names) |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Farmer |
Farmer Al Falfa, also known as Farmer Alfalfa, [1] is an animated cartoon character created by American cartoonist Paul Terry.
The character first appeared in Down On the Phoney Farm (1915), a short Terry cartoon distributed by the Thanhouser Company. Next came a series of shorts produced by Terry for Bray Studios, starting with Farmer Al Falfa's Cat-Tastrophe (1916). [2]
After leaving Bray, Terry retained the character, making new shorts for Edison and Paramount over the few years following. Terry then used Farmer Al Falfa frequently during the 1920s for his Aesop's Film Fables series, the character's most prolific period. By this time, the Farmer had been redesigned to allow simplified animation, necessary as the Fables were released by Pathé on a weekly basis. The Farmer's head and arms could be drawn on a separate cel while the rest of his body was drawn on another, a technique anticipating the limited animation of TV cartoons. When Terry made the transition to sound, so did the Farmer. The first publicly released sound cartoon, Dinner Time , featured Farmer Al Falfa as an irritable butcher who had to fend off a pack of hungry hounds. The short failed to grasp the public's interest like Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie , released one month later.
In 1929, Terry left his producer, Amadee J. Van Beuren to open his own studio, with distribution covered by Educational Pictures. The farmer was revived in 1930, beginning with French Fried, and continuing until 1937, after which the character would appear only irregularly until 1955. [3]
For roughly a year, the farmer continued to appear in Van Beuren's cartoons, now being made by former Terry associates John Foster and Mannie Davis (both of whom would rejoin Terry a few years later). Terry threatened legal action against his former producer, as the character was established as his own property, not Van Beuren's; the farmer stopped appearing in Van Beuren's films. As Terry's studio began to grow and develop, Farmer Al Falfa wore out his welcome and was subsequently all but retired. The Farmer never entirely disappeared, though; he was featured as a supporting player in the first two Heckle and Jeckle cartoons, released in 1946, and starred in Uranium Blues (1956) ten years later.
In the fall of 1958, the white-bearded protagonist starred in the syndicated television program Farmer Al Falfa and his Terrytoon Pals, a compilation of the earlier black and white Terry shorts. Though no longer for sale in the mainstream television market, most of the early cartoons, the silents in particular, have surfaced on public domain compilations including, most notably, Video Yesteryear's Cartoonal Knowledge VHS series from the 1980s.
In the early 1950s, the character was unofficially rechristened "Farmer Gray", probably by Fred Sayles, the host of a children's program called Junior Frolics on station WATV in Newark, New Jersey. Sayles certainly named some of the subsidiary characters (presumably previously nameless), such as "Bumpy" the donkey, "Casper" and "Bad Mike", the cats, and "Marty" and "Millie", the mice.
In mid-1950s Terrytoons comics, the character was also briefly rechristened "Farmer Gray", presumably in an effort to capitalize on "Junior Frolics", but the renaming in comics did not last. It was done inconsistently (sometimes changing from month to month), and by the late 1950s, the character's original name was back permanently.
Farmer Al Falfa was going to have a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit , alongside other Terrytoons characters such as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, and others, but rights to the character could not be obtained in time.[ citation needed ]
Terrytoons was an American animation studio headquartered in New Rochelle, New York that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973. It was founded by Paul Terry, Frank Moser, and Joseph Coffman, and operated out of the "K" Building in downtown New Rochelle. The studio created many cartoon characters including Fanny Zilch, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Little Roquefort, the Terry Bears, Dimwit, and Luno; Terry's pre-existing character Farmer Al Falfa was also featured often in the series.
Talkartoons is a series of 42 animated cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures from 1929 to 1932.
Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the Fleischer brothers, Walter Lantz, Paul Terry, Shamus Culhane and Grim Natwick among others.
The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow-billed magpies who usually cause problems to others and for themselves with their bizarre antics. Heckle speaks in a tough New York style manner, while Jeckle has a more polite British accent. They were voiced at different times by Dayton Allen (1946–66), Sid Raymond (1947), Roy Halee, and Frank Welker (1979).
Aesop's Fables is a series of animated short subjects, created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. Produced from 1921 to 1934, the series includes The Window Washers (1925), Scrambled Eggs (1926), Small Town Sheriff (1927), Dinner Time (1928), and Gypped in Egypt (1930). Dinner Time is the first cartoon with a synchronized soundtrack ever released to the public.
Dinner Time (1928) is an American animated short subject produced by Amadee J. Van Beuren, directed by Paul Terry, co-directed by John Foster, and produced at Van Beuren Studios. Josiah Zuro arranged and conducted the "synchronized" music score. The film is part of a series entitled Aesop's Fables and features the Terry creation Farmer Al Falfa who works as a butcher, fending off a group of pesky dogs.
The Little King is an American gag-a-day comic strip created by Otto Soglow, which ran from 1930 to 1975. Its stories are told in a style using images and very few words, as in pantomime.
Paul Houlton Terry was an American cartoonist, screenwriter, film director and producer. He produced over 1,300 cartoons between 1915 and 1955 including the many Terrytoons cartoons. His studio's most famous character is Mighty Mouse, and also created Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose and Dinky Duck.
Rainbow Parade is a series of 26 animated shorts produced by Van Beuren Studios and distributed to theaters by RKO between 1934 and 1936. This was the only color cartoon series produced by Van Beuren, and the final series of the studio.
Barker Bill's Cartoon Show was the first network television weekday cartoon series, airing on CBS from 1953 to 1955. The 15 minute show was broadcast twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 5pm Eastern, although some local stations showed both episodes together as a single 30 minute show.
Dinky Duck is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1939 animated short The Orphan Duck. Unlike fellow Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, silly Gandy Goose and the magpie duo Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky never became popular, appearing in a total of only 15 cartoons between 1939 and 1957.
Gandy Goose is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1938 short Gandy the Goose. He is frequently paired with Sourpuss, a cat, beginning in the 1939 short Hook Line and Sinker. Sourpuss' first appearance was in the 1939 The Owl and the Pussycat, and had appearances without Gandy in the shorts How Wet Was My Ocean (1940), Fishing Made Easy (1941), and A Torrid Toreador (1942). Originally voiced by composer and orchestral arranger Arthur Kay from 1939 to 1941, Gandy spoke in a lyrical vocal parody of radio comedian Ed Wynn while Sourpuss vocally impersonated an impatient Jimmy Durante. Their surreal adventures often showcase extended dreams, bookended by coarse bedroom arguments.
Puddy the Pup is a Terrytoons cartoon character who featured in a theatrical short film series from 1935 to 1942. He also appeared as Farmer Al Falfa's sidekick in other Terrytoon shorts, such as Tin Can Tourist and Farmer Al Falfa's Prize Package. The character is a white dog with a black ear, a design similar to generic dogs in various Terrytoons.
Kiko the Kangaroo is a fictional kangaroo appearing in theatrical cartoons produced by Terrytoons. He is featured in ten cartoons made between 1936 and 1937.
Scrambled Eggs is a 1926 silent short animated film created by Fables Studios. It is among the cartoons of the Aesop's Fables with the appearance of Farmer Al Falfa, both created when its originator Paul Terry was still involved. One of the reissues of this cartoon, the Commonwealth TV reissue, made in the 50s, titles this cartoon as Closer than a Brother, the same name as a 1925 cartoon, which is also part of Aesop's Fables.
Swooning the Swooners is a 1945 short animated film produced by Terrytoons and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is among the Terrytoons films made during the studio's color era.
Dingbat Land is a 1949 short animated film produced by Terrytoons and distributed by 20th Century Fox starring Gandy Goose and Sourpuss. This short is one of the few Terrytoons shorts to be in the public domain.
Events in 1887 in animation.