The Columbia Color Rhapsodies of the 1930s (like the Fleischer Color Classics, MGM’s Happy Harmonies, and the Warner Merrie Melodies of the era) were a special set of cartoons.
At first two-color Cinecolor – then 3-strip Technicolor – these cartoons were both competition and an augmentation of Disney’s acclaimed Silly Symphonies. What Disney begat, audiences wanted more – and Disney’s rivals set up to accommodate filling the need (the Disney studio simply couldn’t service the public demand for color cartoons by itself). But Walt had nothing to fear from his friendly competitors – as his sense of story, his artists and animators, his development of new techniques – were way ahead of the pack. The others had to struggle just to keep up with the gang on Hyperion Ave.
Over at Columbia Pictures, the lower budgeted Charles Mintz Color Rhapsody shorts (pre-1940) did their darnedest to keep pace – and you’d think this would be an easy TOP 5 list to compile. But you’d be surprised – it was not. Beyond my top two – bonified classics in my opinion – selecting the rest was a bit of a struggle.
Once established, the Rhapsodies quickly fell into formula. There were the musical pagents (Let’s Go, Animal Cracker Circus, etc.), fairy tales or fables (Shoemaker and The Elves, A Boy and His Dog, etc), Hollywood caricature spot gags (Gifts From The Air, Hollywood Picnic, etc) and cartoons that combined all of the above (Mother Goose In Swingtime for example). Not that there’s anything wrong with that – but these basic plots were a shorthand that eventually became cliché.
So let’s take a look at my choices. You might notice that the first Color Rhapsody, Holiday Land, is not there; neither is a fan favorite, Iwerks’ The Horse On The Merry-Go-Round. Remember these lists are subjective. Change my mind – send in your TOP 5 list to the Comments below. Only 1930s cartoons please (Post 1939 the Color Rhapsodies do change into another animal – a Fox and a Crow in particular).
1. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL (1937) Story: Sid Marcus. Animation: Art Davis
Perhaps the best Columbia cartoon – and the first from the studio to be nominated for an Academy Award. An abbreviated retelling of Andersen’s famed fairy tale, sans dialogue, lavishly illustrated and pulling no punches – with the heart breaking finale remaining intact.
2. MERRY MANNEQUINS (1937) D: Ub Iwerks.
The Iwerks cartoons released by Columbia during the late 30s are all very good, all have something worth a look (like the work of that still unidentified background painter who adorns The Foxy Pup and The Horse On The Merry Go Round) or a listen (Mel Blanc – and/or some very catchy songs). Merry Mannequins is a stand out – both for being one of the few “Art Deco” cartoons of the era (alongside Avery’s Page Miss Glory and Fleischer’s All’s Fair At The Fair) – and for the wonderful original tune (“Getting Chummy With A Dummy Like You”). Just a delight.
3. BON BON PARADE (1935) Story: Ben Harrison. Animation: Manny Gould.
A quintessential “candy-on-parade” cartoon – perhaps the first from the studio (Screen Gems apparently loved doing ‘parade’ cartoons – loaded with lots of cycles, which helped keep the budgets low). No, that’s not Scrappy – but they earn extra points for the Three Stooges cameo – and the appearance of Santa – and the colorful fireworks ending. Pure “eye-candy” from beginning to end.
4. GLEE WORMS (1936) Story: Ben Harrison. Animation: Manny Gould.
I just like this one because it’s so archetypical, almost a perfectly generic 1930s cartoon. I’m also a sucker for the song Glow Worm. It’s so sincere and cute. Just a personal fave… nothing more than that.
5. MOUNTAIN EARS (1939) Director: Manny Gould. Animation: Ben Harrison.
Okay – I’ve had a 16mm Technicolor print of this one for years. I’ve always liked showing it to others. It’s trying hard to be an Avery travelogue; it breaks the fourth wall; and that Jack Lescoulie narrator (a cross between Jack Benny and Pete Smith – note the reference to Prudence Penny, a homemaker featured in several Smith Specialties). Love the extended bit with the giant hands trying to grab the bratty kid at the end. Just a favorite.
Now it’s your turn. Tell me which Color Rhapsodies (from the 1930s) are your favorites and why.
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Out of all the Color Rhapsodies, I always loved Jitterbug Knights (1939) and Swing Monkey Swing (1937), both just for that Joe De Nat musical score throughout. they’re probably the few Columbia cartoons that get me in a good mood.
I have to say upfront that I wish I was as familiar with these cartoons as you are, but because of my constantly checking out “totally TOONEDN“ on the MeTV cartoons channel, I have to admit that I like the exact same cartoons that you do! I like them for the same reasons you do! The only thing I will add is something you are very familiar hearing from me, I wish these could be restored and released to Blu-ray! With a deeper dive into these cartoons, I think we’d all be more familiar with them, but there are some nice elections throughout The“totally TOONEDN“ series. In fact, I will go back and start watching those once again. I wish I could add more titles, but those are the only ones I could come up with right now, same as yours, especially the first two cartoons. It is always interesting which celebrities are tagged to caricature throughout the 1930s cartoons. They always turn out to be the same variety, and I like that, but it’s also interesting to note some of the lesser celebrities throughout these cartoons. If you ever do a longer review of each of these cartoons, please point some of those out to me. Even when it comes to Warner Bros. cartoons, I’m not always familiar with all the celebrity faces.
Well, the 30s Color Rhapsodies hardly leaves a big impression on me, with the formulaic plots and over cute character designs, most of them are quite forgettable to me. On your list, Jerry, only The Little Match Girl, Bon Bon Parade and Mountain Ears gives me bigger impressions, while the rest two can pass.
Well, here’s my list about rest of the 30s Color Rhapsodies that, while cannnot say to be my favorite but certainly leaves bigger impression to me:
Football Bugs (1936), one of Art Davis’s early efforts, the tune is quite catchy for me, and the drunk bug’s voice “Hiya pal” actually is stuck in my brain. Though I wonder if it was really Billy Costello, the original Popeye voice, provided with the drunk bug’s voice.
The Merry Muntineers (1936), loves the song, and Bill Nolan’s animation of the Three Stooges in this cartoon is extremely funny. Although the downside is that Scrappy didn’t get enough screen time, this could predict that his popularity began to wane.
Skeletons Frolics (1937), guess it was because it was simply retelling of Iwerks’ “The Skeletons Dance” in Disney, while the plot is basically the same, the music is great.
Let’s Go (1937), Points to the positive plot and the music, though I wonder who was the real director for this one (Ben Harrison got the story credit yet most sources said it was Art Davis directed the cartoon).
Swing Monkey Swing (1937), points to the swing music!
The Foxy Pup (1937), among Ub Iwerks’ cartoons, this one leaves me bigger impression. Mel Blanc’s voice and Irven Spence’s animation makes me laugh.
Midnight Frolics (1938) and Crop Chasers (1939), same reason about Mel Blanc’s voice.
Let’s Go was co-directed by Ben Harrison and Manny Gould. “Most sources” are evidently incorrect.
Well, if only IMDB listed Art Davis as the director of “Let’s Go” (in fact IMDB credited both him and Harrison as the director), then I could suspect, but Devon Baxter also wrote that “Let’s Go” was directed by Art Davis on his Art Davis profile, so yeah, that conflicts.
It never changed the fact that Let’s Go is a nice film, though.
I won’t try to change your mind, Jerry. Those are all excellent picks — and I’m not just saying that because your first two coincide with my own!
1. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL. The Columbia version is much more moving than the one that Disney later made for an aborted Fantasia sequel. The music selected for the Disney short — the Nocturne from Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D major — is all wrong for the story, while the lovely Brahms waltz used in the Columbia cartoon suits it perfectly.
2. MERRY MANNEQUINS. Columbia really missed the boat by not using “Getting Chummy with a Dummy” in one of their later musicals starring Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire.
3. LET’S GO! A New Deal twist on the old story of the grasshopper and the ants (though here it’s the grasshopper and the bees), one that I prefer to Disney’s literal retelling. The rousing title song, with perhaps a few tweaks to the lyrics, could have made for a terrific production number in one of Columbia’s wartime musicals.
4. SWING, MONKEY, SWING. Monkeys dance and vocalise to jazz music, and just when you think things couldn’t get any hotter, someone turns up in women’s clothing and becomes the life of the party. Sounds like… the King Louie scene from “The Jungle Book”, but this was thirty years earlier! No story, and the animation varies in quality from scene to scene; but for the music alone, this is a cartoon that I never tire of.
5: THE KANGAROO KID. Little Elmer has his heart set on becoming a concert violinist, but his father wants him to be a prizefighter. So Pop tricks the boy into thinking that the boxing arena is really a concert hall, and Elmer believes he’s there to give a recital when in fact he’s been pitted against the cauliflower-eared champion, the Killer. But when Killer smashes Elmer’s violin, Elmer beats the living daylights out of him. Now there’s a kangaroo after my own heart.
When Thunderbean’s blu-ray of the Iwerks ComiColor cartoons comes out, will you share your Top Five from that series with us?
Just wondering what you think of this Italian jazzy version by future Disney comic artist, Romano Scarpa?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k5w1cTDhcM
It’s feels like one of the Disney package feature segments of the 1940’s.
Thanks, Nic. Again, the music here is all wrong for the story. That vocal quartet reminds me of the one that sang in all those Terrytoons of the early 1950s.
I’d add to the list “Little Moth’s Big Flame”, directed by Sid Marcus in 1938. A startling piece of advice.
Interestingly, according to (I think Hollywood Reporter) Bon Bon Parade was submitted to the academy for best cartoon of 1935- Columbia’s sole entry that year. The rest of the submission list is absolutely chock full of Silly Symphony wannabes. Bon Bon Parade really stands above the majority of that pack as one of the classiest imitators.
Boomers and Gen X didn’t get a chance to fall in love with the Columbia cartoons because they were never shown on TV and no collections were available on home video (still aren’t: please work on that, Mr. Beck). Up until maybe 20 years ago I was only aware of their existence by their being mentioned in books. Since then it’s been “Where have you been all my life?” Many of them aren’t very good–the earlier ones seem like Fleischer cartoons gone wrong, the later ones seem like Warner Bros. cartoons gone wrong–but the good ones are wonderful, and they’re all worth a look in at least. Right on, MeTV, for spreading the love!
In the early 60s, pre-UPA Columbia cartoons ran on the Captain Satellite show on KTVU Oakland — and nowhere else, in my memory. There was a VHS tape collecting some of the Li’l Abners, and the Three Stooges box bonus features include two shorts with stooge caricatures, but that seems to be it.
Did old Columbia theatrical toons get much play anywhere? Columbia had huge success selling the Three Stooges shorts; you’d think there would be a coattail effect.
I can assure you that they were never shown on TV in the Detroit area when I was growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s. At all.
I mostly agree that the Columbia cartoons overall were not great compared to the competition. However there are some bright spots in their filmography that are outstanding. I really like their musical scores; very similar to Disney’s. The fact that they wrote original songs (I presume), also makes them all the more reminiscent of Disney.
In no particular order, with some overlap:
Poor Little Butterfly – Love the romance and sentimentality. Did Pinto Colvig pitch the Japanese Symphony story idea from Disney to Mintz?
Bon Bon Parade – Similar to Disney’s Cookie Carnival, this one stands on its own with inspired musical numbers and delicious visuals. (I’d love to see the original titles for this one)
Make Believe Revue – same comments as above, but comparing this one to Disney’s Old King Cole. They really captured the nostalgia for early childhood. If only they waited about a year to make this in three strip Technicolor.
Little Match Girl – Thad once summed this up perfectly as an anti-Disney Disney cartoon. Very bittersweet ending. A very strong cartoon for a lesser studio.
Swing Monkey Swing – despite being very problematic, the jazz score is a pure delight from start to finish. Since Keith Scott id’d some of the talent, I definitely appreciate it more.
I also like The Air Hostess for that opening rendition of Come Take A Trip In My Airship (a childhood favorite) and the frantic score. Not much to say about the rest of the short though.
I hope there will be a Blu-ray release one day just so I can own copies of these shorts.
A real blu Ray issue would be good, BUT What are the chances of getting the ORIGINAL Head and end Titles???? Slim and none??? have they decomposed in the vaults??? columbia was terrible about saving their heritage. I don’t imagine Sony is any better.
Top Five 30’s ONLY Rhapsodies—–
1. Swing monkey Swing – For animation and music fit for a cartoon, this one hits the marks.
2. Midnight Frolics- For character design, sight gag stimulation, and animation, I go with this period of UB Iwerks.
3. Merry Mutineers – The animation is pretty good, but the character simulations is always a favorite.
4. Mother Goose in Swing time – for jokes, hollywood character simulations, and a bit of music, this one works well.
5. Crop Chasers – I like the scarecrow UB Iwerks version. Of Course the animation was done to UB’s standards.
5 Top 30’s favorites POST SCRIPT
I must note my overall favorites as PROF. SMALL AND MR. TALL and HE CAN’T MAKE IT STICK, tho I surely would like to see the whole toon on the second title.
I had to laugh at the Westbrook van Voorhis ref in “Glee Worms.” I think Jerry’s choices are quite defensible; I hadn’t seen “Glee Worms” before, and it’s actually fun. “Merry Mannequins,” though, is still my #1.
Great list! For me, the standouts would be THE SKELETON FROLIC (for its delightfully spooky visuals and music), MERRY MANNEQUINS (for its ritzy Art Deco look), THE FOXY PUP (for the extravagant backgrounds and frantic Irv Spence animation), THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL (for its uncompromisingly tragic storyline) and THE HORSE ON THE MERRY-GO-ROUND (for its go-for-broke expressionist layouts and effects). An honorable mention would go to LITTLE MOTH’S BIG FLAME for the ambitious angles.
Prudence Penny, referenced in Mountain Ears, was sort of the Hearst newspaper empire’s answer to Betty Crocker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudence_Penny
I saw “The Little Match Girl” a few years back on a public domain cartoon DVD. My wife knew about the story of the Little Match Girl; I did not. I had no idea that anybody made a cartoon so sad, and so tragic. I don’t know much about the Columbia cartoons, but I agree that “The Little Match Girl” deserves to be considered a classic.
I pretty much like “The Little Match Girl”, “Bon Bon Parade”, “Swing, Monkey, Sing”, and “The Big Birdcast” (which was somewhat reminisces to the Merrie Melodies short “The Woods is Full of Cuckoos”).
1. Little Moth’s Big Flame – One of the more surprisingly adult cartoons for Columbia or any studio at that time. Nicely done.
2. The Little Match Girl – For reasons already mentioned.
3. Midnight Frolics – Antics in the afterlife. Good comic spirit.
4. Hollywood Sweepstakes – Lively animation. Parts of it made me laugh.
5. The Way of all Pests – Good concept.
HONORABLE MENTION: Neighbors. – Lost. Never saw it, but it certainly sounds interesting.
No offense, but The Way Of All Pests is made in 1941, and here we’re talking about the 30s.
IMO, making the decade the boundary here wasn’t a very good choice, albeit a convenient one. The proper distinction is between the pre-Tashlin studio, and the Tashlin-and-post-Tashlin studio, though there was a transitional period where releases belonging to both are mixed, ones from the former trickling out into 1942 while the latter begins in late 1941. The Screen Gems of 1940 into 1941 is the same studio as in the 1930s, though one of the producers Columbia installed in that period sprung staff cutbacks on the place and stretched the directors/lead artists even thinner, and this was reflected in the cartoons. After Frank Tashlin was put in charge and the old guard of artists was fired, it was practically a different studio except in name and on paper. For comparison, Famous Studios basically was Fleischer Studios except in name and on paper, and with certain established staff members replacing Max and Dave as the producers, yet most of us treat them as different studios…
I was never exposed to ANY Columbia cartoons during my childhood or long beyond that. Oh well, time to hit YouTube.
Yeah, I don’t know Columbia cartoons either. Still waiting for some nice complete Blu-ray or 4K boxed sets!
The B&W Columbia cartoons – Krazy Kat, Scrappy, Fables, Phantasies ran on “The Captain Satellite Show” on KTVU TV in Oakland, CA up to 1963-1964. There would be the occasional B&W print of a Color Rhapsody such as “Prof. Small & Mr. Tall.” Didn’t Color Rhapsodies air on TV as part of “The Ruff & Reddy Show?”
I am partial to the Color Rhapsodies produced by the Ub Iwerks Studio, with HORSE ON THE MERRY GO ROUND in particular a masterpiece that would be amazing seen on the big screen in 35mm I.B. Technicolor splendor. THE FROG POND (1938) features quite a bit of very imaginative animation, especially a scene (one would presume by the great Irv Spence) in which the bad guy dances with the good guy frog’s girl, as well as an absolute bravura performance as the gangster frog by the one, the only Billy Bletcher.
Of the Color Rhapsodies from the Art Davis – Sid Marcus crew, PEACEFUL NEIGHBORS (1939), featuring a war between chickens is very good and something of a companion piece to the terrific Bob Clampett Looney Tune WHAT PRICE PORKY (1938). Hopefully, a 35mm print of NEIGHBORS (1935) will turn up. . . along with LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT, 4 DEVILS, CONVENTION CITY, HATS OFF and a pristine, never-touched unedited negative of the randy 1932 version of Wheeler & Woolsey in SO THIS IS AFRICA.