Happy Harmonies

Happy Harmonies is the name of a series of thirty-six animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938.

Produced in Technicolor, these cartoons were very similar to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. They would occasionally feature Bosko, a character who starred in the first Looney Tunes shorts that the duo produced for Leon Schlesinger. After the first few releases, the design of Bosko changed from an ink blot to a realistic African American boy.

The two final titles in the series was originally produced by Harman and Ising as Silly Symphonies cartoons. But when Disney only bought one of their three shorts, Merbabies, the others were sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies.

List of cartoons

1934

Cartoon No. No.	Title	Featuring	Directed By	Notes	Release Date
1	The Discontented Canary	Canary, Parrot, Old Lady, Cat	Rudolf Ising	• The very first MGM cartoon. • The first in the Happy Harmonies, though the series title is not labeled on the original title. Instead, it is "A Metro Color Cartoon". • One of two Happy Harmonies in the public domain. The other is To Spring.	1934-09-01
2	The Old Pioneer	Old Pioneer, Paper Boy, Indians	Rudolf Ising	• Includes reused animation from Warner Bros' Moonlight for Two (1932). • First cartoon to label the name Happy Harmony on the title.	1934-09-29.
3	Tale of the Vienna Woods	Fawn, Satyr, Dogs	Hugh Harman		1934-10-27
4	Bosko's Parlor Pranks	Bosko, Honey, Bruno, Wilbur	Hugh Harman	• First appearance of Bosko in a color cartoon.	1934-11-24
5	Toyland Broadcast	Toys	Rudolf Ising	• Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers, Kate Smith, The Boswell Sisters, Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallee, Rubinoff and other early radio stars are caricatured.	1934-12-22

1935

Cartoon No. No.	Title	Featuring	Directed By	Notes	Release Date
6	Hey-Hey Fever	Bosko, Bruno, Mother Goose, Mother Hubbard, Old King Cole	Hugh Harman	• Final appearance of the original Bosko.	1935-01-09
7	When the Cat's Away	Cat, Mice	Rudolf Ising		1935-02-16
8	The Lost Chick	Squirrels, Chick, Chicken	Hugh Harman	• The first letters in the names of the seven chicks - Willy, Elsie, Lucy, Cissy, Oscar, Minnie and Eggbert - spell out "WELCOME".	1935-03-09
9	The Calico Dragon	Little Girl, Prince, Three-Headed Dragon	Rudolf Ising		1935-03-30
10	Good Little Monkeys	Monkeys, Devil, Literary Characters	Hugh Harman	1935-04-13
11	The Chinese Nightingale	Chinese Emperor, Nightingale, Crow, Girl Trio	Rudolf Ising	• Not shown on American television due to Chinese characterizations.	1935-04-27
12	Poor Little Me	Skunk, Rabbit, Villain	Hugh Harman		1935-05-11
13	Barnyard Babies	Rooster, Hen, Animals	Rudolf Ising	• In one scene, a chicken impersonates Sally Rand.	1935-05-25
14	The Old Plantation	Uncle Tom, Little Eva, Simon Legree, Toys	Rudolf Ising	• First MGM cartoon in three-strip Technicolor. • Not shown on American television due to African-American characterizations.	1935-09-21
15	Honeyland	Boy Bee, Girl Bee, Spider	Rudolf Ising		1935-10-19
16	Alias St. Nick	Little Cheeser, Cat, Mother Mouse, Mice	Rudolf Ising	• First appearance of Little Cheeser.	1935-11-16
17	Run, Sheep, Run!	Bosko, Sheep, Black Sheep, Bruno, Bear	Hugh Harman	• First appearance of the new Bosko, reimagined by Harman as a young African child.	1935-12-14

1936

Cartoon No. No.	Title	Featuring	Directed By	Notes	Release Date
18	Bottles	Pharmacist, Bottles	Hugh Harman	• One of the longest Harman-Ising cartoons produced for MGM.	1936-01-11
19	The Early Bird and the Worm	Bird, Work, Crows, Rattlesnake	Rudolf Ising	• The two lazy crows are caricatured of then-famous blackface team Moran and Mack. Much of their dialogue is directly lifted from their hit 1920's comedy recording, Two Black Crows.	1936-02-08
20	The Old Mill Pond	Frogs	Hugh Harman	• 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."	1936-03-07
21	Two Little Pups	Pups, Chicken	Rudolf Ising	• The two lazy crows are caricatured of then-famous blackface team Moran and Mack. Much of their dialogue is directly lifted from their hit 1920's comedy recording, Two Black Crows.	1936-04-04
22	The Old House	Bosko, Honey, Bruno	Hugh Harman	• Honey sings There Ain't No Spooks In There!	1936-05-02
23	The Pups' Picnic	Pups, Fox, Hound	Rudolf Ising		1936-05-30
24	To Spring	Elves, Old Man Winter	William Hanna	• William Hanna's directional debut. • One of two Happy Harmonies in the public domain. The other is The Discontented Canary.	1936-06-20
25	Little Cheeser	Little Cheeser, Good Angel, Bad Angel, Mother, Cat	Rudolf Ising		1936-07-11
26	The Pups' Christmas	Pups, Children, Toys	Rudolf Ising		1936-12-12

1937

Cartoon No. No.	Title	Featuring	Directed By	Notes	Release Date
27	Circus Daze	Bosko, Honey, Bruno, Fleas	Hugh Harman		1937-01-16
28	Swing Wedding	Frogs	Hugh Harman	• Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Bill Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Stepin Fetchit, Ethel Waters and The Mills Brothers are caricatured.	1937-02-13
29	Bosko's Easter Eggs	Bosko, Honey, Bruno, Chicken	Hugh Harman		1937-03-20
30	Little Ol' Bosko and the Pirates	Bosko, Mammy, Frogs	Hugh Harman	• First cartoon in the Little Ol' Bosko and the Frogs trilogy. • Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Bill Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Stepin Fetchit, Ethel Waters and The Mills Brothers are caricatured.	1937-05-01
31	The Hound and the Rabbit	Rabbit, Sniffy, Fox, Other Rabbits.	Rudolf Ising		1937-05-29
32	The Wayward Pups	Pups, Woman, Cat, Bulldog, Dog Catcher, Hundreds of Other Dogs	Rudolf Ising		1937-07-10
33	Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals	Bosko, Mammy, Frogs	Hugh Harman	• Second cartoon in the Little Ol' Bosko and the Frogs trilogy.	1937-08-28
33A	Little Buck Cheeser	Little Cheeser, Mother, Mice	Rudolf Ising		1937-12-15

1938

Cartoon No. No.	Title	Featuring	Directed By	Notes	Release Date
34	Little Ol' Bosko in Bagdad	Bosko, Mammy, Frogs	Hugh Harman	• Final cartoon in the Little Ol' Bosko and the Frogs trilogy. • Final Bosko cartoon ever.	1938-01-01
35	Pipe Dreams	Monkeys, Cigarettes, Pipes	Hugh Harman	• Banned from television due to showings of tobacco.	1938-02-05
36	The Little Bantamweight	Rooster, Champ, Challenger	Rudolf Ising	• Final Happy Harmonies cartoon.	1938-03-12

Home media

The only official home release containing a significant number of the Happy Harmonies film shorts is the Happy Harmonies Cartoon Classics laserdisc box set. The laserdisc set was released in 1994 by MGM/UA Home Video [1], which predated the merger of Turner Broadcasting System with Time Warner in 1996. The four-disc set contains 17 of the 36 Happy Harmonies shorts while the remaining 25 shorts include one side of six Barney Bear cartoons, the 1939 animated short Peace on Earth and the 1940 animated short The Milky Way. As of 2016, there has not yet been an official DVD/Blu-ray release for the entire Happy Harmonies series by Warner Home Video.[2]

External links

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