Silly Symphonies is a series of animated short subjects, 75 in total, produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939, while the studio was still located at Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles. Unlike the Mickey Mouse series, to which it is a sister series, Silly Symphonies did not usually feature continuing characters (an exception being the characters in The Three Little Pigs which had three sequels). Donald Duck got his start in a Silly Symphonies cartoon (The Wise Little Hen, 1934), and Pluto's first appearance without Mickey Mouse was also in a Silly Symphonies cartoon (Just Dogs, 1932). Characters such as Donald Duck were separated from the Silly Symphonies group to have their own cartoon series.
The Skeleton Dance (1929) · El Terrible Toreador (1929) · Springtime (1929) · Hell's Bells (1929) · The Merry Dwarfs (1929) · Summer (1930) · Autumn (1930) · Cannibal Capers (1930) · Frolicking Fish (1930) · Arctic Antics (1930) · Midnight in a Toy Shop (1930) · Night (1930) · Monkey Melodies (1930) · Winter (1930) · Playful Pan (1930) · Birds of a Feather (1931) · Mother Goose Melodies (1931) · The China Plate (1931) · The Busy Beavers (1931) · The Cat's Out (1931) · Egyptian Melodies (1931) · The Clock Store (1931) · The Spider and the Fly (1931) · The Fox Hunt (1931) · The Ugly Duckling (1931) · The Bird Store (1932) · The Bears and the Bees (1932) · Just Dogs (1932) · Flowers and Trees (1932) · King Neptune (1932) · Bugs in Love (1932) · Babes in the Woods (1932) · Santa's Workshop (1932) · Birds in the Spring (1933) · Father Noah's Ark (1933) · Three Little Pigs (1933) · Old King Cole (1933) · Lullaby Land (1933) · The Pied Piper (1933) · The Night Before Christmas (1933) · The China Shop (1934) · The Grasshoper and the Ants (1934) · Funny Little Bunnies (1934) · The Big Bad Wolf (1934) · The Wise Little Hen (1934) · The Flying Mouse (1934) · Peculiar Pinguins (1934) · The Goddess of Spring (1934) · The Tortoise and the Hare (1935) · The Golden Touch (1935) · The Robber Kitten (1935) · Water Babies (1935) · The Cookie Carnival (1935) · Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935) · Music Land (1935) · Three Orphan Kittens (1935) · Cock 'o the Walk (1935) · Broken Toys (1935) · Elmer Elephant (1936) · Three Little Wolves (1936) · Toby Tortoise Returns (1936) · Three Blind Mousketeers (1936) · The Country Cousin (1936) · Mother Pluto (1936) · More Kittens (1936) · Woodland Café (1937) · Little Hiawatha (1937) · The Old Mill (1937) · The Moth and the Flame (1938) · Wynken, Blynken and Nod (1938) · Farmyard Symphony (1938) · Merbabies (1938) · Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938) · The Practical Pig (1939) · The Ugly Duckling (1939)
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Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.
Blue Ribbon version of Merrie Melodies opening title
Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, and the newly renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons continued production until 1963. Merrie Melodies were outsourced to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises from 1964 to 1967, and Warner Bros. Cartoons re-assumed production for the series' final two years.
Schlesinger had already produced one cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, based on music, and its success prompted him to try to sell a sister series to Warner Bros. His selling point was that the new cartoons would feature music from the soundtracks of Warner Bros. films and would thus serve as advertisements for Warner Bros. recordings. The studio agreed, and Schlesinger dubbed the series Merrie Melodies.
Walt Disney Productions had already scored with their Silly Symphonies. Since cartoon production usually began with a soundtrack, animating a piece of music made it easier to devise plot elements and even characters.
The origins of the Merrie Melodies series begin with the failure of a live action series of musical shorts called Spooney Melodies, which featured popular songs of the day. These shorts were basically an early type of music video that included segments with a popular artist singing along with appropriate background sequences. The Warner Bros. wanted to promote this music because they had recently acquired (in 1930) the ownership of Brunswick Records along with four music publishers for US $28 million. Because of the success of their Looney Tunes series, Warner Bros. decided to develop a new series of animated musical shorts called Merrie Melodies. Rudy Ising and Hugh Harman led the development. It was meant to be a series of musical cartoons that featured hit songs of the day, especially those then owned by Warner Bros. and featured in their musical films. In 1931, many of the shorts featured the orchestra of Abe Lyman, one of the most famous band leaders of his day.
The Big Cartoon Database entry for Merrie Melodies
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Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.
Blue Ribbon version of Merrie Melodies opening title
Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, and the newly renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons continued production until 1963. Merrie Melodies were outsourced to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises from 1964 to 1967, and Warner Bros. Cartoons re-assumed production for the series' final two years.
Schlesinger had already produced one cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, based on music, and its success prompted him to try to sell a sister series to Warner Bros. His selling point was that the new cartoons would feature music from the soundtracks of Warner Bros. films and would thus serve as advertisements for Warner Bros. recordings. The studio agreed, and Schlesinger dubbed the series Merrie Melodies.
Walt Disney Productions had already scored with their Silly Symphonies. Since cartoon production usually began with a soundtrack, animating a piece of music made it easier to devise plot elements and even characters.
The origins of the Merrie Melodies series begin with the failure of a live action series of musical shorts called Spooney Melodies, which featured popular songs of the day. These shorts were basically an early type of music video that included segments with a popular artist singing along with appropriate background sequences. The Warner Bros. wanted to promote this music because they had recently acquired (in 1930) the ownership of Brunswick Records along with four music publishers for US $28 million. Because of the success of their Looney Tunes series, Warner Bros. decided to develop a new series of animated musical shorts called Merrie Melodies. Rudy Ising and Hugh Harman led the development. It was meant to be a series of musical cartoons that featured hit songs of the day, especially those then owned by Warner Bros. and featured in their musical films. In 1931, many of the shorts featured the orchestra of Abe Lyman, one of the most famous band leaders of his day.
The Big Cartoon Database entry for Merrie Melodies