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Silly Symphony

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File:MerryDwarfs.jpg
A Silly Symphonies promotional poster

Silly Symphonies was an acclaimed series of animated short subjects produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1938. Unlike the Mickey Mouse series it served as a sister series to, Silly Symphonies did not usually feature continuing characters. Donald Duck got his start in a Silly Symphony cartoon (The Wise Little Hen, 1934), and Pluto's first appearance without Mickey Mouse was also in a Silly Symphony cartoon (Mother Pluto, 1936).

About the series

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Title Cards for The Cat's Out 1931

The original black-and-white entries in the Silly Symphonies series, produced from 1929 to 1932 and released by Celebrity Productions (1929 - 1930) and Columbia Pictures (1930 - 1932), were only mildly successful, with the exception of the pilot film, The Skeleton Dance. Most theatres were unwilling to run cartoons without star characters, and the Silly Symphonies were relegated to a distinctly secondary status in most regards. Legend has it that when Disney began distributing his product through United Artists in 1932, United Artists refused to distribute the Silly Symphonies unless Disney associated Mickey Mouse with them somehow, resulting in the "Mickey Mouse presents a Silly Symphony" title cards and posters that introduced and promoted the series during its five-year run for U/A. The majority of the title cards of Disney cartoons relased prior to 1933 have been replaced or defaced and few are extant in their original form. The title card's for "The Cat's Out" from 1931 is one of the few that survive intact.

Shortly after the switch to U/A, however, the series' fortunes quickly turned around. Walt Disney had seen some of Dr. Herbert Kalmus' tests for a new three-strip, full-color Technicolor process, which would replace the previous, two-tone Technicolor process. Disney signed an contract with Technicolor which gave the Disney studio exclusive rights to the new three-strip process through the end of 1935, and had a 60% complete Symphony, Flowers and Trees, scrapped and redone in full color. Flowers and Trees was a phenomenal success, and within a year, the now-in-Technicolor Silly Symphonies series had popularity and success that matched (and later surpassed) that of the Mickey Mouse cartoons. Several Silly Symphonies entries, including Three Little Pigs (1932), The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934), The Tortoise and the Hare (1934), The Country Cousin (1936), The Old Mill (1937), Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (1938), and The Ugly Duckling (1939, originally made in black and white in 1931), are among the most notable films produced by Walt Disney.

Within the animation industry, the Silly Symphonies series is most noted for its use by Walt Disney as a platform for experimenting with processes, techniques, characters, and stories in order to further the art of animation. Among the innovations developed and/or improved upon in the series are Technicolor filmmaking, true and believable character animation, special effects animation, and dramatic storytelling in animation. Disney's experiments were widely praised within the film industry, and the Silly Symphonies won seven Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), maintaining a six-year-hold on the category after it was first introduced. This record was matched only by MGM's Tom and Jerry series during the 1940s and 1950s.

The names of the Warner Bros. cartoon series, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were derived from the "Silly Symphonies" name. The television series Mickey Mouse Works used the Silly Symphonies title for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. Disney also produced comic strips and comic books with this title.

Filmography

1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

Walt Disney Specials

In 1938, Disney released the first of several Walt Disney Specials, a fairly significant number of shorts which featured no continuing characters, and yet were not labeled Silly Symphonies. However, animation fans generally find them similar in nature to the previous series and occasionally reference them as unofficial entries or successors to it. The following list should not be taken as official:

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