Happy Harmonies | |
---|---|
Directed by | |
Produced by |
|
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates | September 1, 1934 – March 12, 1938 |
Running time | 7–10 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Happy Harmonies is a series of thirty-seven animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938. [1]
Produced in Technicolor, these cartoons were very similar to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies and Warner Brothers’ Merrie Melodies musical series. They occasionally featured Bosko, a character who starred in the first Looney Tunes shorts that the duo produced for Leon Schlesinger. After the first two cartoons, the design of Bosko changed from an "inkblot" to a more realistic African-American boy. [2]
The two final titles in the series were originally produced by Harman and Ising as Silly Symphonies cartoons. Disney originally had Harman and Ising create three shorts for Disney, but when they only kept one of their three shorts ( Merbabies ), the copyrights to the other two (Pipe Dreams and The Little Bantamweight) were sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies. [3]
No. | Title | Directed by | Notes | Release date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Discontented Canary | Rudolf Ising |
| September 1, 1934 |
2 | The Old Pioneer | Rudolf Ising |
| September 29, 1934 |
3 | Tale of the Vienna Woods | Hugh Harman |
| October 27, 1934 |
4 | Bosko's Parlor Pranks | Hugh Harman |
| November 24, 1934 |
5 | Toyland Broadcast | Rudolf Ising |
| December 22, 1934 |
No. | Title | Directed by | Notes | Release date |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 | Hey-Hey Fever | Hugh Harman |
| January 9, 1935 |
7 | When the Cat's Away | Rudolf Ising |
| February 16, 1935 |
8 | The Lost Chick | Hugh Harman |
| March 9, 1935 |
9 | The Calico Dragon | Rudolf Ising |
| March 30, 1935 |
10 | Good Little Monkeys | Hugh Harman |
| April 13, 1935 |
11 | The Chinese Nightingale | Rudolf Ising |
| April 27, 1935 |
12 | Poor Little Me | Hugh Harman |
| May 11, 1935 |
13 | Barnyard Babies | Rudolf Ising | May 25, 1935 | |
14 | The Old Plantation | Rudolf Ising |
| September 21, 1935 |
15 | Honeyland | Rudolf Ising |
| October 19, 1935 |
16 | Alias St. Nick | Rudolf Ising |
| November 16, 1935 |
17 | Run, Sheep, Run! | Hugh Harman |
| December 14, 1935 |
No. | Title | Directed by | Notes | Release date |
---|---|---|---|---|
18 | Bottles | Hugh Harman |
| January 11, 1936 |
19 | The Early Bird and the Worm | Rudolf Ising |
| February 8, 1936 |
20 | The Old Mill Pond | Hugh Harman |
| March 7, 1936 |
21 | Two Little Pups | Rudolf Ising |
| April 4, 1936 |
22 | The Old House | Hugh Harman |
| May 2, 1936 |
23 | The Pups' Picnic | Rudolf Ising |
| May 30, 1936 |
24 | To Spring | William Hanna |
| June 4, 1936 |
25 | Little Cheeser | Rudolf Ising |
| July 11, 1936 |
26 | The Pups' Christmas | Rudolf Ising |
| December 12, 1936 |
No. | Title | Directed by | Notes | Release date |
---|---|---|---|---|
27 | Circus Daze | Hugh Harman |
| January 16, 1937 |
28 | Swing Wedding | Hugh Harman |
| February 13, 1937 |
29 | Bosko's Easter Eggs | Hugh Harman |
| March 20, 1937 |
30 | Little Ol' Bosko and the Pirates | Hugh Harman |
| May 1, 1937 |
31 | The Hound and the Rabbit | Rudolf Ising |
| May 29, 1937 |
32 | The Wayward Pups | Rudolf Ising |
| July 10, 1937 |
33 | Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals | Hugh Harman |
| August 28, 1937 |
34 | Little Buck Cheeser | Rudolf Ising |
| December 15, 1937 |
No. | Title | Directed by | Notes | Release date |
---|---|---|---|---|
35 | Little Ol' Bosko in Bagdad | Hugh Harman |
| January 1, 1938 |
36 | Pipe Dreams | Hugh Harman |
| February 5, 1938 |
37 | The Little Bantamweight | Rudolf Ising |
| March 12, 1938 |
The only official home release to date containing a significant number of the Happy Harmonies shorts is the Happy Harmonies Cartoon Classics LaserDisc box set. The LaserDisc set was released in 1994 by MGM/UA Home Video, [7] which predated the merger of Turner Broadcasting System with Time Warner in 1996. The four-disc set contains 17 of the 37 Happy Harmonies shorts while the remaining 25 shorts include one side of six Barney Bear cartoons, the 1939 short Peace on Earth and the 1940 animated short The Milky Way . [8] In 1999, MGM paid Time Warner $225 million to end its lease of distributing content owned by Turner Entertainment Co. prior to 1996 (the cartoons are part of MGM's pre-May 1986 library in which Turner had purchased 13 years ago). While the copyrights remain with Turner, distribution rights are now with Warner Bros., Turner's current parent company. [9]
Looney Tunes is an American animated franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It began as a series of short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, along with its spin-off series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.
Silly Symphony is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the Silly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time. The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck making his first appearance in the Silly Symphony cartoon The Wise Little Hen in 1934. Seven shorts won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
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Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was the star of thirty-nine Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros. He was voiced by Carman Maxwell, Bernard B. Brown, Johnny Murray, and Philip Hurlic during the 1920s and 1930s and once by Don Messick during the 1990s.
Isadore "Friz" Freleng, credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total he created more than 300 cartoons.
Hugh Harman was an American animator. He was known for creating the Warner Bros. Cartoons and MGM Cartoons studios and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the Golden Age of American animation.
Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team and company known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios. In 1929, the studio was founded under the name Harman-Ising Productions, producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Leon Schlesinger from 1930 to 1933. From 1934 to 1938, Harman-Ising produced the Happy Harmonies series, with William Hanna as their employee.
Rudolf Carl "Rudy" Ising was an American animator best known for collaborating with Hugh Harman to establish the Warner Bros. and MGM Cartoon studios during the early years of the golden age of American animation. In 1940, Ising produced William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's first cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, a cartoon featuring characters later known as Tom and Jerry.
Bosko the Doughboy is a one-reel 1931 short subject animated cartoon, part of the Bosko series. It was directed by Hugh Harman, and first released on October 17, 1931 as part of the Looney Tunes series from Harman-Ising Productions and distributed by Warner Bros.
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Willie Whopper is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. The Whopper series was the second from the Iwerks Studio to be produced by Pat Powers and distributed through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 14 shorts were produced in 1933 to 1934.
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Bosko's Parlor Pranks is a 1934 Happy Harmonies cartoon produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring their character Bosko. It is the first Bosko cartoon produced in color, and the first made at MGM following the Harman-Ising studio ending its deal to produce Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros. and Leon Schlesinger. Warner Bros. would later own Happy Harmonies and the MGM cartoon studio through its Turner Entertainment Co. banner.
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