| Hysterical History | |
|---|---|
 Title card in the Harvey Films print | |
| Directed by | Isadore Sparber Animation director: Al Eugster (uncredited) |
| Story by | Irv Spector |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Jackson Beck |
| Music by | Winston Sharples |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Hysterical History is a 1953 American animated short film directed by Isadore Sparber, in the Kartunes series. [1]
The incomplete story of the history of the United States is told through several historical anecdotes, loaded with anachronisms.
The cartoon starts when Christopher Columbus discovers America, arrives at the new land, and is immediately greeted by native Americans recording a newsreel for Paramount and interviewing Columbus. The Pilgrim story of The Courtship of Miles Standish follows; when John Alden delivers Myles Standish's proposal to Priscilla Mullins, she counters why Alden didn't propose on his own behalf; Alden explains that he is more interested in Dorothy Lamour. Then the tale of John Smith and Pocahontas is told; as Smith is being burned at the stake, Pocahontas begs Chief Powhatan to spare Smith's life, but when Pocahontas is revealed to be morbidly obese, Smith panics and puts himself back onto the stake. Peter Stuyvesant is then portrayed with a peg leg that, when he is attacked by natives with bows and arrows, returns fire like a machine gun. Through the efforts of these early pioneers, the East Coast is transformed into the thirteen original states (though Rhode Island is initially squeezed out before forcing itself back into place).
Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment is depicted. The experiment initially fails, before Franklin uses the key to re-enter his house and is immediately struck by lightning. The cartoon skips forward to the California Gold Rush; upon James W. Marshall's discovery of gold, the Internal Revenue Service arrives in a helicopter to seize the nugget. Finally, Alexander Graham Bell is seen building the first telephone, but upon using it, learns his new device is a payphone when the operator asks for fifty cents.
The cartoon closes with the Statue of Liberty, which comes to life and instructs the audience to sing-along to "The Yankee Doodle Boy". Fireworks, which transform into the Paramount logo in the uncut version, close out the cartoon.
John Alden was an English politician, settler, and cooper, best known for being a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. He was hired in Southampton, England as the ship's cooper, responsible for maintaining the ship's barrels. He was a member of the ship's crew and not initially a settler, yet he decided to remain in Plymouth Colony when the Mayflower returned to England. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.
Fleischer Studios was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s.
Pocahontas was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of a network of tributary tribes in the Tsenacommacah, encompassing the Tidewater region of what is today the U.S. state of Virginia.
Pocahontas is a 1995 American animated musical historical drama film loosely based on the life of Powhatan woman Pocahontas and the arrival of English colonial settlers from the Virginia Company. The film romanticizes Pocahontas's encounter with John Smith and her legendary saving of his life. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures.
Opechancanough was paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in present-day Virginia from 1618 until his death. He had been a leader in the confederacy formed by his older brother Powhatan, from whom he inherited the paramountcy.
Cool World is a 1992 American live-action/animated hybrid fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi and written by Michael Grais and Mark Victor. Starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne and Brad Pitt, it tells the story of a cartoonist who finds himself in a cartoon-like universe, where he is seduced by one of the characters, a femme fatale who wants to become human.
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Ben and Me is an American animated two-reel short subject produced by Walt Disney Productions and released theatrically on November 10, 1953. It was adapted from the book of the same name written by author/illustrator Robert Lawson and first published in 1939. Though both book and film deal with the relationship between a mouse and American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, the book, with illustrations by Lawson, focused more heavily on actual historical events and personages, and included incidents from Franklin's French career at Versailles.
Rosemary Shirley DeCamp was an American radio, film, and television actress.
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Pocahontas is the titular character of Walt Disney Animation Studios' 1995 film Pocahontas, and the seventh addition to the Disney Princess franchise.
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Yankee Doodle Bugs is a 1954 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon short, written by Warren Foster and directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on August 28, 1954, and stars Bugs Bunny.
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The Courtship of Miles Standish, also known as The Courtship of Myles Standish, is a 1923 American silent epic historical romantic drama film about Myles Standish produced by and starring Charles Ray, Enid Bennett, and E. Alyn Warren. Directed by Frederic Sullivan, nephew of the famous composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, and scripted by Albert Ray, the film is based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1858 poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. No prints of the film are known to exist and it is now presumed lost.
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