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A scene from the eleventh Screen Song cartoon,
Smiles (
1929).
Screen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. They were revived by Famous Studios in 1945.
[edit] History
The Screen Songs are a continuation of the earlier Fleischer series Song Car-Tunes. They are sing-along shorts featuring "The Famous Bouncing Ball", a sort of precursor to music videos. They often featured popular melodies of the day. The early Song Car-Tunes were among the earliest sound films, years before The Jazz Singer. They attracted little interest at the time, in part because few theaters were then equipped with sound projectors or electronic loudspeakers.
Between May 1924 and September 1926, the Fleischers produced over 30 cartoons in the Song Car-Tunes series, using the Lee De Forest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. The films in the series included Oh Mabel, Come Take a Trip in My Airship, Darling Nelly Gray, My Old Kentucky Home, and In the Good Old Summertime. The Fleischers had a falling-out with DeForest in September 1926, when the DeForest Phonofilm Corporation filed for bankruptcy.
Signing a new distribution deal with Paramount in 1928, the Fleischers revived the Song Car-Tunes series under the name Screen Songs, using the RCA Photophone sound-on-film process. The first was The Sidewalks of New York (East Side, West Side) released on 5 February 1929. Throughout the 1930s, the shorts began featuring such musical guest stars as Lillian Roth, Ethel Merman, Cab Calloway, Rudy Vallee, the Mills Brothers, the Boswell Sisters, and others. By 1938, however, it was decided to discontinue the series.
In 1945, Famous Studios, successors to the Fleischers, revived the Screen Song series in color. The live action portions were not used in the new series. The earliest color Screen Songs were part of the Noveltoon series. The first is Old Macdonald Had A Farm released 7 June 1946.
All Fleischer and Famous Screen Songs made prior to mid-1950 were sold to U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. in 1956 for television syndication. These shorts have changed hands in the decades since due to a series of corporate acquisitions involving what would eventually become the revived Republic Pictures, and the 2006 corporate split of Viacom (which became the parent of Paramount Pictures in 1994, and later acquired Republic in 1999) into two separate companies. Today the theatrical rights to the Screen Songs are once again owned by Paramount (via Republic), home video rights are owned by Republic licensee Lions Gate Home Entertainment -- which has yet to announce any sort of home video reissue -- and the television rights are the responsibility of CBS Paramount Television. However, some Screen Songs are public domain, and available on public domain cartoon DVDs.
[edit] Filmography (list may not be complete)
| Film |
Characters / Musicians |
Original release date
|
| The Sidewalks of New York |
|
February 5 |
| Yankee Doodle Boy |
|
March 1 |
| Old Black Joe |
|
April 5 |
| Ye Olde Melodies |
|
May 3 |
| Daisy Bell |
|
May 31 |
| Mother Pin a Rose on Me |
|
July 6 |
| Chinatown My Chinatown |
|
August 2 |
| Dixie |
|
August 17 |
| Goodbye My Lady Love |
|
August 31 |
| My Pony Boy |
|
September 13 |
| Smiles |
|
September 27 |
| Oh You Beautiful Doll |
|
October 14 |
| After The Ball |
|
November 8 |
| Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet |
|
November 22 |
| I've Got Rings On My Fingers |
|
December 17 |
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| Bedelia |
|
January 3 |
| In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree |
|
January 18 |
| I'm Afraid To Come Home In The Dark |
|
February 1 |
| The Prisoner's Song |
|
March 1 |
| I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles |
|
March 15 |
| La Paloma |
|
April 12 |
| Yes, We Have No Bananas |
|
April 26 |
| Come Take A Trip In My Airship |
|
April 26 |
| In The Good Old Summertime |
|
June 6 |
| A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight |
|
August 1 |
| The Glow Worm |
|
August 23 |
| The Stein Song |
|
September 6 |
| Strike Up The Band |
|
September 27 |
| My Gal Sal |
|
October 18 |
| Mariutch |
|
November 15 |
| On A Sunday Afternoon |
|
November 29 |
| Row, Row, Row |
|
December 20 |
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| Please Go Away And Let Me Sleep |
|
January 10 |
| By The Beautiful Sea |
|
January 24 |
| I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now |
|
February 14 |
| I'd Climb The Highest Mountain |
|
March 7 |
| Somebody Stole My Gal |
|
March 20 |
| Any Little Girl That's A Nice Little Girl |
|
April 18 |
| Alexander's Ragtime Band |
|
May 9 |
| And The Green Grass Grew All Around |
|
May 30 |
| My Wife's Gone To The Country |
|
May 31 |
| That Old Gang Of Mine |
|
July 11 |
| Betty Coed |
Rudy Vallee and Betty Boop prototype |
August 1 |
| Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean |
Gallagher and Shean |
August 29 |
| You're Driving Me Crazy |
|
September 19 |
| Little Annie Rooney |
|
October 10 |
| Kitty From Kansas City |
Rudy Vallee and Betty Boop |
October 31 |
| By The Light Of The Silvery Moon |
|
November 14 |
| My Baby Just Cares For Me |
|
December 5 |
| Russian Lullaby |
Arthur Tracy |
December 26 |
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| Sweet Jenny Lee |
|
January 9 |
| Show Me The Way To Go Home |
|
January 30 |
| When The Red Red Robin
Comes Bob Bob Bobin Along
|
|
February 19 |
| Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie |
Betty Boop |
March 4 |
| Just One More Chance |
Betty Boop |
April 1 |
| Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning |
Betty Boop |
April 22 |
| Shine On Harvest Moon |
Alice Joy |
May 6 |
| Let Me Call You Sweetheart |
Ethel Merman and Betty Boop |
May 20 |
| I Ain't Got Nobody |
Mills Brothers |
June 17 |
| You Try Somebody Else |
Ethel Merman and Betty Boop |
July 29 |
| Rudy Vallee Melodies |
Rudy Vallee and Betty Boop |
August 5 |
| Down Among The Sugar Cane |
Lillian Roth |
August 26 |
| Just A Gigolo |
Irene Bordoni and Betty Boop |
September 9 |
| School Days |
Gus Edwards |
September 30 |
| Romantic Melodies |
Arthur Tracy and Betty Boop |
October 21 |
| When It's Sleepy Time Down South |
Boswell Sisters |
November 11 |
| Sing A Song |
James Melton |
December 2 |
| Time On My Hands |
Ethel Merman and Betty Boop |
December 23 |
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| Dinah |
Mills Brothers |
January 13 |
| Ain't She Sweet? |
Lillian Roth |
February 3 |
| Reaching For The Moon |
Arthur Tracy |
February 23 |
| Aloha Oe |
Royal Samoans |
March 17 |
| Popular Melodies |
Arthur Jarrett and Betty Boop |
April 7 |
| The Peanut Vendor |
Armida |
April 28 |
| Song Shopping |
Ethel Merman and Johnny Green |
May 19 |
| Boilesk |
Watson Sisters |
June 9 |
| Sing, Sisters, Sing |
Three X Sisters |
June 3 |
| Down By The Old Mill Stream |
Funnyboners |
July 21 |
| Stoopnocracy |
Stoopnagle and Budd |
August 18 |
| When Yuba Plays The Rumba On The Tuba |
Mills Brothers |
September 15 |
| Boo Boo Theme Song |
Funnyboners |
October 13 |
| I Like Mountain Music |
Eton Boys |
November 10 |
| Sing, Babies, Sing |
Baby Rose Marie |
December 15 |
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| Keeps Rainin' All The Time |
Gertrude Niesen |
January 12 |
| Let's All Sing Like Birdies Sing |
Reis and Dunn |
February 9 |
| Tune Up And Sing |
Lanny Ross |
March 9 |
| Lazy Bones |
Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals |
April 13 |
| This Little Piggie Went To Market |
Singin' Sam |
May 25 |
| She Reminds Me Of You |
Eton Boys |
June 22 |
| Love Thy Neighbor |
Mary Small |
July 20 |
| Let's Sing With Popeye |
Popeye |
Produced for Saturday morning matinee "Popeye Club" |
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| I Wished On The Moon |
Abe Lyman |
September 20 |
| It's Easy To Remember |
Richard Humber |
November 29 |
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| No Other One |
Hal Kemp and His Orchestra / Skinnay Ennis |
|
| I Feel Like a Feather in the Breeze |
Jack Denny and his orchestra |
|
| I Don't Want to Make History |
Vincent Lopez and his orchestra |
|
| The Hills of Wyomin |
The Westerners / Curt Massey |
|
| I Can't Escape From You |
Billie Bailey / Joe Reichman's band |
|
| Talking Through My Heart |
Dick Stabile and his orchestra |
|
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| Never Should Have Told You |
Nat Brandywine |
| Twilight On the Trail |
The Westerners / Curt Massey |
|
| Please Keep Me in Your Dreams |
Barbara Blake / Henry King and his orchestra |
|
| You Came to My Rescue |
Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra |
|
| Whispers in the Dark |
June Robbins / Gus Arnheim and his band |
| Magic on Broadway |
Jay Freeman |
|
| Film |
Characters |
Original release date |
| You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart |
|
| Thanks for the Memory |
|
|
| You Leave Me Breathless |
|
|
| Beside a Moonlit Stream |
|
|
[edit] References
- Leslie Cabarga, The Fleischer Story (Da Capo Press, 1988)
- Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (Penguin Books, 1980, revised edition 1987)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
