Merrie Melodies is an American animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. As with its brother series, Looney Tunes, it featured cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Elmer Fudd. Between 1934 and 1943, the Merrie Melodies series were distinguished from the black-and-white, Buddy or Porky Pig–starring Looney Tunes shorts by an emphasis on one-shot stories in color featuring Warner Bros.–owned musical selections. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout recurring star of Merrie Melodies, and Looney Tunes went to color in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series more randomly.
Sinkin' in the Bathtub is the first Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon short as well as the first of the Looney Tunes series. The cartoon features Bosko, and the title is a pun on the 1929 song Singin' in the Bathtub. The short debuted in April 1930, at the Warner Bros. Theater in Hollywood.
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop is a 1937 drama film directed by William Clemens. It stars Donald Woods as Perry Mason and Ann Dvorak as Della Street, his secretary. Edward McWade plays the role of stuttering Bishop William Mallory. It is the sixth and final film in the Warner Bros. Perry Mason series. It is based on the novel The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936) by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Bubbles is a 1930 American Vitaphone Varieties short film released by Warner Bros. in Technicolor. It was filmed in December 1929 at the First National Pictures studio with Western Electric apparatus, an early sound-on-film system, Rel. No. 3898. Bubbles is one of the earliest surviving recordings of Judy Garland on film, at 8 years old.
The “Vitaphone Color Parade” was a series of documentary short films produced by Warner Bros.
The name “Technicolor Adventure” was used by Warner Bros. to define its one-reel film shorts that were not part of the Sports Parade, also shot in Technicolor in the 1940s. Most were travelogues or human interest documentary films. Gordon Hollingshead produced most of them, with music scores provided by Howard Jackson.
The Sports Parade was a short film series of Warner Bros. that was regularly shown before the main studio feature, along with another Warner-Vitaphone short, Joe McDoakes comedy and/or Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The average running time of each film was between nine and eleven minutes.
The Sport Slants and its follow-up “Sports Thrills” were a series of documentary film shorts produced by Warner Brothers and hosted by the top sports caster of the 1930s, Ted Husing.
Vitaphone Varieties is a series title used for all of Warner Bros.', earliest short film "talkies" of the 1920s, initially made using the Vitaphone sound on disc process before a switch to the sound-on-film format early in the 1930s. These were the first major film studio-backed sound films, initially showcased with the 1926 synchronized scored features Don Juan and The Better 'Ole. Although independent producers like Lee de Forest's Phonofilm were successfully making sound film shorts as early as 1922, they were very limited in their distribution and their audio was generally not as loud and clear in theaters as Vitaphone's. The success of the early Vitaphone shorts, initially filmed only in New York, helped launch the sound revolution in Hollywood.
Technicolor Special was a common term used for Hollywood studio produced color short films of the 1930s and 1940s that did not belong to a specified series.
The Big V Comedies were two-reel comedy film shorts produced by Warner Bros. and Vitaphone between 1931 and 1938, contemporary of the more famous Hal Roach, Mack Sennett and Columbia Pictures comedies.
Broadway Brevities are two-reel musical and dramatic film shorts produced by Warner Bros. between 1931 and 1943. The series continued as Warner Specials in later years.
The Melody Masters were a series of first-rate big band musical film shorts produced by Warner Brothers, under the supervision of Samuel Sax at their Vitaphone studio in New York between 1931 and 1939, and in Burbank, California with producer Gordon Hollingshead in charge between 1940 and 1946.
Big Time Vaudeville was a series of black-and-white 9- to 10-minute short films resembling the Vitaphone Varieties and also produced by Warner Brothers and Vitaphone. These consisted of four to six vaudeville acts and are historically interesting with many performers rarely seen on film.
The Naggers was a series of 18 film short films produced by Warner Brothers at the Vitaphone studio in Brooklyn, New York. These featured Jack Norworth and Dorothy Adelphi as an arguing husband and wife in a variety of domestic settings. This basic premise predated the popular radio series The Bickersons and many future TV marital comedies.
Warner Featurettes were an imprint for featurettes released by Warner Brothers.
Domestic Troubles is a lost 1928 American comedy film directed by Ray Enright and starring Clyde Cook, Louise Fazenda and Betty Blythe. It was produced and released by Warner Brothers with a Vitaphone musical track.
The Little Wildcat is a 1928 American comedy drama film directed by Ray Enright and starring Audrey Ferris, James Murray and Robert Edeson.
The Egg Collector is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on July 20, 1940, and stars Sniffles.
The Swell Head is a 1928 American romantic musical short starring Eddie Foy Jr. and Bessie Love, directed by Foy's brother Bryan. Variety mused that "this may be the first backstage sound short."
