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.[1]

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.[2]

List of cartoons

1934

All made in 2-strip Technicolor except where noted.

Cartoon No.
No.		 Title Featuring Directed By Summary Release Date
1 The Discontented Canary 1934-09-01
2 The Old Pioneer
3 Tales of the Vienna Woods
4 Bosko's Parlor Pranks Bosko, Honey Bosko tries to entertain a bratty cat while he (the cat) is waiting impatiently for an ice-cream cone.
5 Toyland Broadcast

1935

All made in 2-strip Technicolor except where noted.

Cartoon No.
No.		 Title Featuring Directed By Summary Release Date
6 Hey-Hey Fever Bosko The last cartoon featuring Bosko's original character design. 1935-01-09
7 When the Cat's Away ??? 1935
8 The Lost Chick
9 The Calico Dragon
10 Good Little Monkeys
11 The Chinese Nightingale
12 Poor Little Me 1935-05-11
13 Barnyard Babies Coffee the Lion The last cartoon featuring MGM's "Coffee the Lion"
14 The Old Plantation Tanner the Lion The first cartoon featuring MGM's "Tanner the Lion" Shown in three-strip Technicolor. 1935-09-21
15 Honeyland Shown in three-strip Technicolor. 1935-10-19
16 Alias St. Nick Shown in three-strip Technicolor
17 Run, Sheep, Run Bosko The first cartoon featuring the redesigned Bosko. Shown in three-strip Technicolor.

1936

All shown in 3 Strip Technicolor except were noted

Cartoon No.
No.		 Title Featuring Directed by Summary Released Date
1 Bottles 1936-
2 The Early Bird and the Worm
3 The Old Mill Pond
4 Two Little Pups
5 The Old House1
5 The Pups' Picnic
6 To Spring 1936-06-20
7 Little Cheeser
8 The Pups' Christmas

1 Features Bosko

1937

1 Features Bosko

1938

1 Features Bosko

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 , 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 2015, there has not yet been an official DVD/Blu-ray release for the entire Happy Harmonies series by Warner Home Video.

References

  1. ↑ "Happy Harmonies". www.bcdb.com, February 2, 2012
  2. ↑ Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film and Television's Award-Winning and Legendary Animators

External links

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