Color Classics

Color Classics are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies.[1] As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color format, with the first entry of the series, Poor Cinderella (1934), being the first color cartoon produced by the Fleischer studio. There were 36 shorts produced in this series.

Color Classics
Directed byDave Fleischer
Produced byMax Fleischer
Animation bySeymour Kneitel
Roland Crandall
William Henning
Willard Bowsky
David Tendlar
Nicholas Tafuri
Eli Brucker
William Sturm
Myron Waldman
Sam Stimson
Edward Nolan
Hicks Lokey
Joseph Oriolo
Graham Place
Arnold Gillespie
Orestes Calpini
Tony Pabian
Nelson Demorset
George Moreno
Shamus Culhane
Al Eugster
Stan Quackenbush
Otto Feuer
Color process2-strip Cinecolor (Poor Cinderella)
2-strip Technicolor (1934–1935)
3-strip Technicolor (1936–1941)
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
August 3, 1934 –
August 22, 1941
Running time
6–10 minutes (one reel)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

History

The first Color Classic was photographed with the Two-Color, two strip Cinecolor process. The rest of the 1934 and 1935 cartoons were filmed in Two-Color Technicolor, because the Disney studio had an exclusive agreement with Technicolor that prevented other studios from using the Three-Color process. That exclusive contract expired during September 1935, and the 1936 Color Classic cartoon Somewhere in Dreamland (1936) became the first Fleischer cartoon produced in Three-Color Technicolor.[2]

The first cartoon in the series, Poor Cinderella, featured Betty Boop (with red hair and turquoise eyes); future shorts usually did not have familiar or recurring characters.

Many of the Color Classics entries make prominent use of Max Fleischer's Stereoptical process, a device which allowed animation cels to be photographed against actual 3 dimensional background sets instead of the traditional paintings. Poor Cinderella, Somewhere in Dreamland, and Christmas Comes But Once a Year all make prominent use of the technique. Disney's competing apparatus, the multiplane camera, would not be completed until 1937, three years after the Stereoptical Process's first use.[2] The Color Classics series ended in 1941 with Vitamin Hay, featuring characters Hunky and Spunky. A similar series would be started by Fleischer's successor Famous Studios during 1943, with the name Noveltoons.

Later statuses

During 1955, Paramount sold all rights to the Color Classics cartoons to television distributor U.M. & M. TV Corporation U.M. & M. altered the original beginning credits sequences for some of the shorts, to remove all references to the names "Paramount Pictures" and "Technicolor", and to add their own Copyright notices. Before the re-titling could be finished, U.M. & M. was bought by National Telefilm Associates (NTA). Instead of re-filming the openings, NTA obscured the references to the Paramount and Technicolor names by placing black bars over the original title cards and Copyright notices. Only a few Color Classics had their title cards redone by U.M. & M., among them Greedy Humpty Dumpty, Play Safe, Christmas Comes But Once a Year, Bunny Mooning, Little Lambkins, and Vitamin Hay.

NTA distributed the Color Classics to television, yet allowed the Copyrights on all of the shorts to lapse except The Tears of an Onion. Many public domain video distributors have released television prints of Color Classics shorts for Home Video. The UCLA Film and Television Archive has, through the assistance of Republic Pictures (successor company to U.M. & M. and NTA), retained original theatrical copies of all of the shorts, which have periodically been shown in revival movie houses and by Cable Television.

Ironically, original distributor Paramount has, through their 1999 acquisition of Republic, regained ownership of the Color Classics, including the original elements. Olive Films (current licensee for Republic, and which currently has home video rights) has, to date, not announced any plans to release the Color Classics officially to DVD or Blu-Ray.

During 2003, animation archivist Jerry Beck conceived a definitive DVD box set of all the Color Classics, excluding The Tears of an Onion, and tried to enlist Republic Pictures' help in releasing this set. After being refused, Kit Parker Films (in association with VCI Entertainment) offered to provide the best available 35mm and 16mm prints of the Color Classics from Parker's archives to create the box set Somewhere in Dreamland: The Max Fleischer Color Classics. These "interim restored versions" contain digitally recreated Paramount titles; the U.M. & M.-modified prints had to have their title cards as well as their Animator Credits recreated. The Tears of an Onion was not included in the set, as it remains Copyrighted by Republic successor Melange Pictures.[3]

Finally, in 2021, after decades of being shown in altered, worn, and “beet-red” prints, the Fleischer estate (in co-operation with Paramount Pictures) launched an initiative to formally restore the entire classic animation library from the surviving original negatives, beginning with Somewhere In Dreamland, which has had its restored World Premiere on the MeTV network in December of said year as part of the Toon In With Me Christmas special, presented uncut with its original front-and-end Paramount titles.[4]

Filmography

Many of the cartoons do not have recurring characters, but Poor Cinderella featured Betty Boop, "Christmas Comes But Once a Year featured Grampy, and Tommy Cod. Towards the end, Hunky and Spunky were featured characters.

All cartoons released during 1934 and 1935 were produced in Two-Color Technicolor, except for Poor Cinderella which was produced in Cinecolor. All shorts from 1936 and onward were produced in Three-Color Technicolor.

No. Title Original release date Animation Story Music
1 Betty Boop in Poor Cinderella August 3, 1934 Character animation:
Roland Crandall
Seymour Kneitel
William Henning
Murray Mencher
Jack Scholl
Charles Tobias
Phil Spitalny
(director, uncredited)
Sammy Timberg
(director, uncredited)
2 Little Dutch Mill October 26, 1934 Willard Bowsky
Dave Tendlar
George Steiner
(uncredited)
3 An Elephant Never Forgets January 2, 1935 Seymour Kneitel
Roland Crandall
Sammy Timberg
Jack Scholl
4 The Song of the Birds March 1, 1935 Seymour Kneitel
Roland Crandall
Sammy Timberg
5 The Kids in the Shoe May 19, 1935 Seymour Kneitel
Roland Crandall
George Steiner
(uncredited)
6 Dancing on the Moon July 12, 1935 Seymour Kneitel
Roland Crandall
Charlie Tobias
Murray Mencher
7 Time for Love September 6, 1935 Willard Bowsky
Nicholas Tafuri
Sammy Timberg
8 Musical Memories November 8, 1935 Seymour Kneitel
Roland Crandall
Sammy Timberg
9 Somewhere in Dreamland January 17, 1936 Seymour Kneitel
Roland Crandall
Murray Mencher
Charles Newman
10 The Little Stranger March 13, 1936 Dave Tendlar
Eli Brucker
Sammy Timberg
11 The Cobweb Hotel May 15, 1936 David Tendlar
William Sturm
Sammy Timberg
Bob Rothberg
12 Greedy Humpty Dumpty July 10, 1936 David Tendlar
William Sturm
Sammy Timberg
Bob Rothberg
13 Hawaiian Birds August 28, 1936 Myron Waldman
Sam Stimson
Sammy Timberg
14 Play Safe October 16, 1936 David Tendlar
Eli Brucker
Sammy Timberg
Vee Lawnhurst
Tot Seymour
15 Christmas Comes But Once a Year December 4, 1936 Seymour Kneitel
William Henning
Sammy Timberg
Bob Rothberg
Tot Seymour
16 Bunny Mooning February 12, 1937 Myron Waldman
Edward Nolan
Sammy Timberg
17 Chicken a La King April 16, 1937 David Tendlar
Nicholas Tafuri
Sammy Timberg
Bob Rothberg
18 A Car-Tune Portrait June 26, 1937 Character animation:
David Tendlar
Nicholas Tafuri
Herman Cohen (uncr.)
William Sturm (uncr.)
Eli Brucker (uncr.)
Joe Oriolo (uncr.)
Jack Rabin (uncr.)
Uncredited story by:
Dave Fleischer
Isadore Sparber
and
David Tendlar
King Ross
19 Peeping Penguins August 26, 1937 Myron Waldman
Hicks Lokey
Sammy Timberg
Bob Rothberg
20 Educated Fish October 29, 1937 Myron Waldman
Hicks Lokey
Sammy Timberg
Bob Rothberg
21 Little Lamby November 12, 1937 David Tendlar
William Sturm
Sammy Timberg
22 The Tears of an Onion February 26, 1938 David Tendlar
Joseph Oriolo
Sammy Timberg
23 Hold It! April 29, 1938 David Tendlar
Nicholas Tafuri
Sammy Timberg
Vee Lawnhurst
Tot Seymour
24 Hunky and Spunky June 24, 1938 Myron Waldman
Graham Place
Sammy Timberg
25 All's Fair at the Fair August 26, 1938 Myron Waldman
Graham Place
Sammy Timberg
26 The Playful Polar Bears October 28, 1938 Myron Waldman
Graham Place
Sammy Timberg
27 Hunky and Spunky in "Always Kickin'" January 29, 1939 Myron Waldman
Arnold Gillespie
Sammy Timberg
28 Small Fry April 21, 1939 Willard Bowsky
Orestes Calpini
Sammy Timberg
29 The Barnyard Brat (Hunky and Spunky) June 30, 1939 Myron Waldman
Tony Pabian
Sammy Timberg
30 The Fresh Vegetable Mystery September 29, 1939 David Tendlar
William Sturm
Joe Stultz Sammy Timberg
31 Little Lambkins February 2, 1940 Character animation:
Dave Tendlar
Nelson Demorest (credited as N. Demorest)
Joe Stultz Sammy Timberg
32 Ants in the Plants March 15, 1940 Myron Waldman
George Moreno
George Manuell Sammy Timberg
33 A Kick in Time (Hunky and Spunky) May 17, 1940 James Culhane
Alfred Eugster
George Manuell Sammy Timberg
34 Snubbed by a Snob (Hunky and Spunky) July 19, 1940 Stan Quackenbush
Arnold Gillespie
Joe Stultz Sammy Timberg
35 You Can't Shoe a Horse Fly (Hunky and Spunky) August 23, 1940 Myron Waldman
Sam Stimson
William Turner Sammy Timberg
36 Vitamin Hay (Hunky and Spunky) August 22, 1941 David Tendlar
Otto Feuer
Bob Wickersham Sammy Timberg

See also

Notes

    References

    1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
    2. Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic, p. 114
    3. Treadway , Bill. Review for Somewhere in Dreamland DVD.
    4. "Bringing Fleischer's "Somewhere In Dreamland" to MeTV". Cartoon Research. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
    General
    • Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516729-5.
    • Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-452-25993-2.
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