Happy Harmonies

Happy Harmonies
Directed by	Hugh Harman Rudolf Ising William Hanna
Produced by	Hugh Harman Rudolf Ising
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Harman-Ising Productions
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 twenty-six 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]

List of cartoons

1934

No.	Title	Directed by	Notes	Release date
1	The Old Pioneer	Rudolf Ising	Reuses footage from Moonlight for Two (1932). First cartoon to label the name Happy Harmonies on the title card. Not shown on TV due to Native American stereotyping. Extra on the DVD of Manhattan Melodrama (1934).	September 29, 1934
2	Tale of the Vienna Woods	Hugh Harman	Extra on the DVD of Treasure Island (1934).	October 27, 1934
3	Bosko's Parlor Pranks	Hugh Harman	Reuses footage from Bosko's Soda Fountain (1931), Battling Bosko (1932), Bosko in Person (1933), Bosko's Knight-Mare (1933) and Bosko the Musketeer (1933). First appearance of Bosko, Honey, and Bruno in a color cartoon. Final appearance of Wilbur (his only appearance in a color cartoon). Final appearance of the original Honey design. Extra on the DVD of Midnight Mary (1933).	November 24, 1934
4	Toyland Broadcast	Rudolf Ising	Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers, Kate Smith, The Boswell Sisters, Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallée, Ethel Waters, Rubinoff and other early radio stars are caricatured. Modern TV showings cut out any scenes involving minstrel show performances in blackface. This leads to an abrupt ending via cutting out the last minute or so of the cartoon on TV. Reuses footage from The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1932). Extra on the DVD of Sadie McKee (1934).	December 22, 1934

1935

No.	Title	Directed by	Notes	Release date
5	Hey-Hey Fever	Hugh Harman	Final appearance of the original Bosko design. Extra in the DVD of A Tale of Two Cities (1935), along with Honeyland.	January 9, 1935
6	When the Cat's Away	Rudolf Ising	Extra in the DVD of Night Flight (1933).	February 16, 1935
7	The Lost Chick	Hugh Harman	Additional voices are provided by Elmore Vincent. [4]	March 9, 1935
8	The Calico Dragon	Rudolf Ising	Extra in the DVD of Roberta (1935).	March 30, 1935
9	Good Little Monkeys	Hugh Harman	First appearance of the "Good Little Monkeys".	April 13, 1935
10	The Chinese Nightingale	Rudolf Ising	Not shown on American television due to Chinese characterizations.	April 27, 1935
11	Poor Little Me	Hugh Harman	Extra on the DVD of David Copperfield (1935).	May 11, 1935
12	Barnyard Babies	Rudolf Ising		May 25, 1935
13	The Old Plantation	Rudolf Ising	First cartoon in three-strip Technicolor not released by Disney. Not shown on American television due to African-American characterizations.	September 21, 1935
14	Honeyland	Rudolf Ising	Extra in the DVD of A Tale of Two Cities (1935), along with Hey-Hey Fever.	October 19, 1935
15	Alias St. Nick	Rudolf Ising	First appearance of "Little Cheeser". Extra on the DVD of Sylvia Scarlett (1935).	November 16, 1935
16	Run, Sheep, Run!	Hugh Harman	First appearance of the new Bosko design by Harman as a young African-American child. First appearance of the new Bruno design.	December 14, 1935

1936

No.	Title	Directed by	Notes	Release date
17	Bottles	Hugh Harman	Extra in the DVD of San Francisco (1936).	January 11, 1936
18	The Early Bird and the Worm	Rudolf Ising	The two lazy crows are voiced by (as well as caricatures of) then-famous blackface team Moran and Mack. Their dialogue is directly lifted from their hit 1927 comedy recording, Two Black Crows. [5] Additional voices are provided by Bernice Hansen. Singing vocals are provided by The Rhythmettes. [6] Extra in the DVD of After the Thin Man (1936).	February 8, 1936
19	The Old Mill Pond	Hugh Harman	First appearance of the Jazz Frogs. Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Bill Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Stepin Fetchit, Ethel Waters and The Mills Brothers are caricatured. Re-released in abbreviated form by Soundies Distributing Corporation on March 2, 1942 under the title Hot Frogs. Extra on the DVD of Born to Dance (1936).	March 7, 1936
20	Two Little Pups	Rudolf Ising	First appearance of the "Two Little Pups".	April 4, 1936
21	The Old House	Hugh Harman	Featuring Bosko, Honey, and Bruno. First appearance of the new Honey design as a young African-American child. Honey sings "There Ain't No Spooks in There!".	May 2, 1936
22	The Pups' Picnic	Rudolf Ising	Featuring the "Two Little Pups".	May 30, 1936
23	To Spring	William Hanna	William Hanna's directorial debut. Only Happy Harmonies cartoon to have fallen in the public domain in the United States. Extra on the DVD of Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935).	June 4, 1936
24	Little Cheeser	Rudolf Ising	Featuring "Little Cheeser". Extra on the DVD of Romeo and Juliet (1936). Extra on the Blu-Ray of Libeled Lady (1936).	July 11, 1936
25	The Pups' Christmas	Rudolf Ising	Featuring the "Two Little Pups".	December 12, 1936

1937

No.	Title	Directed by	Notes	Release date
26	Circus Daze	Hugh Harman	Featuring Bosko and Honey. Last cartoon billed as a Happy Harmonies.	January 16, 1937

Non-officially Happy Harmonies cartoons

In addition, the following list includes additional short films that are not officially part of the Happy Harmonies series but are considered part of it and are therefore included in this list. The first of these shorts, The Discontented Canary, was labeled as A Metro Color Cartoon and the rest were released as one-shot cartoons. The last two shorts on the list were produced for Disney as part of the Silly Symphony series but were eventually rejected by Disney and later sold to MGM and released as one-shot cartoons.

Title	Directed by	Notes	Release date
The Discontented Canary	Rudolf Ising	The first cartoon produced for MGM. Oldest MGM cartoon to be owned by Warner Bros. via Turner Entertainment Co. Extra on the DVD of Evelyn Prentice (1934).	September 1, 1934
Swing Wedding	Hugh Harman	Featuring the "Jazz Frogs". Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Bill Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Stepin Fetchit, Ethel Waters and The Mills Brothers are caricatured.	February 13, 1937
Bosko's Easter Eggs	Hugh Harman	Featuring Bosko. Final appearance of Honey.	March 20, 1937
Little Ol' Bosko and the Pirates	Hugh Harman	First of three "Little Ol' Bosko and the Jazz Frogs" shorts. Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Bill Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Stepin Fetchit, Ethel Waters and The Mills Brothers are caricatured.	May 1, 1937
The Hound and the Rabbit	Rudolf Ising	Extra in the DVD of Double Wedding (1937).	May 29, 1937
The Wayward Pups	Rudolf Ising	Final appearance of the "Two Little Pups". Extra in the DVD of The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).	July 10, 1937
Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals	Hugh Harman	Second of three "Little Ol' Bosko and the Jazz Frogs" shorts.	August 28, 1937
Little Buck Cheeser	Rudolf Ising	Final appearance of "Little Cheeser". Extra on the DVD of Captains Courageous (1937).	December 15, 1937
Little Ol' Bosko in Bagdad	Hugh Harman	Third of three "Little Ol' Bosko and the Jazz Frogs" shorts. Final Bosko cartoon.	January 1, 1938
Pipe Dreams	Hugh Harman	Featuring the "Good Little Monkeys". Originally produced for Disney, but released by MGM. Rarely shown on television due to showings of tobacco.	February 5, 1938
The Little Bantamweight	Rudolf Ising	Originally produced for Disney, but released by MGM.	March 12, 1938

Home media

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]

References

1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 89. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved June 6, 2020.
2. "Happy Harmonies". www.bcdb.com, February 2, 2012
3. Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film and Television's Award-Winning and Legendary Animators
4. Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences (1900-1999) (Second ed.). McFarland & Company Inc. p. 210. ISBN   978-0-7864-4985-9.
5. Baxter, Devon (October 4, 2017). "Harman-Ising's 'The Early Bird and the Worm' (1936)". Cartoon Research.
6. Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences (1900-1999) (Second ed.). McFarland & Company Inc. p. 101. ISBN   978-0-7864-4985-9.
7. "LaserDisc Database - Happy Harmonies: MGM Cartoon Classics #1 [ML104688]".
8. "LaserDisc Database - Happy Harmonies: MGM Cartoon Classics #1 [ML104688]".
9. "MGM Buys Its Way Out of Pact for $225 Million". Los Angeles Times . March 16, 1999.