| Silly Symphony | |
|---|---|
 | |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures (1929–32) United Artists (1932–37) RKO Radio Pictures (1937–39) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Silly Symphony (also known asSilly Symphonies) is an Americananimated series of 75 musicalshort films produced byWalt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, theSilly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music.[1] As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike theMickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this includeThree Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hare, andThree Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation withTechnicolor and themultiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the characterDonald Duck, who made his first appearance in theSilly Symphony cartoonThe Wise Little Hen in 1934. Seven shorts won theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[1]
Many of the shorts were adapted into print mediums. Starting in 1932, aSilly Symphony newspaper comic strip was distributed byKing Features Syndicate, as well as aDell comic book series and numerous children's books.
TheSilly Symphonies returned to theaters with its re-issues and re-releases, and tied withJoseph Barbera andWilliam Hanna'sTom and Jerry's record for most Oscar wins for a cartoon series in theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film category.
The first fiveSilly Symphony shorts entered thepublic domain on January 1, 2025.[2]
While Walt Disney andCarl Stalling, a theatre organist from Kansas City, were in New York to add sound to the Mickey Mouse shortsThe Gallopin' Gaucho,The Barn Dance andPlane Crazy, Stalling suggested the idea of making a series of musical animated shorts that combined the latest sound technology with storytelling. At first Walt did not seem interested, but when they returned to New York in February to record the sound for a fifth Mickey Mouse cartoon,The Opry House, they also recorded the soundtrack forThe Skeleton Dance, the type of short that Stalling had suggested and the first Silly Symphony cartoon.[3]
Within the animation industry, the series is known for its use byWalt Disney as a platform for experimenting with processes, techniques, characters, and stories in order to further the art of animation. It also provided a venue to try out techniques and technologies, such as Technicolor,special effects animation, and dramatic storytelling in animation, that would be crucial to Disney's plans to eventually begin making feature-length animated films.[1]
Shortly after the switch to United Artists, the series became even more popular. Walt Disney had seen some of Dr. Herbert Kalmus' tests for a newthree-strip, full-colorTechnicolor process, which would replace the previoustwo-tone Technicolor process. Disney signed a 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% completeSymphony,Flowers and Trees, scrapped and redone in full color.[citation needed]Flowers and Trees was the first animated film to use the three-strip Technicolor process,[4] and was a phenomenal success. Within a year, the now-in-TechnicolorSilly Symphonies series had popularity and success that matched (and later surpassed) that of theMickey Mouse cartoons. The contract Disney had with Technicolor would also later be extended another five years as well.[5]
The success ofSilly Symphonies would be tremendously boosted afterThree Little Pigs was released in 1933 and became a box office sensation; the film was featured in movie theaters for several months and also featured the hit song that became the anthem of the Great Depression, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf".[6] SeveralSilly Symphonies entries, includingThree Little Pigs (1933),The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934),The Tortoise and the Hare (1935),The Country Cousin (1936),The Old Mill (1937),Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (1938), andThe Ugly Duckling (1939, with an earlierblack-and-white version from 1931), are among the most notable films produced by Walt Disney.
Due to problems related to Disney's scheduled productions of cartoons, a deal was made withHarman and Ising to produce three Silly Symphonies:Merbabies,Pipe Dreams, andThe Little Bantamweight. Only one of these cartoons,Merbabies, ended up being bought by Disney, the remaining two Harman-Ising Silly Symphonies were then sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies cartoons.[7] Disney ceased production ofSilly Symphonies in 1939.[8]
The series was first distributed byPat Powers from 1929 to 1930 and released by Celebrity Productions (1929–1930) indirectly throughColumbia Pictures. The original basis of the cartoons was musical novelty, and the musical scores of the first cartoons were composed byCarl Stalling.[9]
After viewing "The Skeleton Dance", the manager at Columbia Pictures quickly became interested in distributing the series, and gained the perfect opportunity to acquire Silly Symphonies after Disney broke with Celebrity Productions head Pat Powers after Powers signed Disney's colleagueUb Iwerks to a studio contract.Columbia Pictures (1930–1932) agreed to pick up the direct distribution of theMickey Mouse series on the condition that they would have exclusive rights to distribute theSilly Symphonies series; at first,Silly Symphonies could not even come close to the popularity Mickey Mouse had. The original title cards to the shorts released by Celebrity Productions and Columbia Pictures were all redrawn after Walt Disney stopped distributing his cartoons through them. Meanwhile, more competition spread for Disney afterMax Fleischer's flapper cartoon characterBetty Boop began to gain more and more popularity after starring in the cartoonMinnie the Moocher. By August 1932, Betty Boop became so popular that theTalkartoon series was renamed as Betty Boop cartoons.
In 1932, after falling out with Columbia Pictures, Disney began distributing his products throughUnited Artists. UA refused to distribute theSilly Symphonies unless Disney associated Mickey Mouse with them somehow, resulting in the "Mickey Mouse presents aSilly Symphony" title cards and posters that introduced and promoted the series during its five-year run for UA. United Artists also agreed to double the budget for each cartoon from $7,500 to $15,000.[10] The first short released by United Artists wasThe Bears and Bees.[11]
In 1937, Disney signed a distribution deal withRKO Radio Pictures to distribute the Silly Symphony cartoons, along with the Mickey Mouse series. RKO would continue to distribute until the end of the series in 1939.
SeveralSymphonies have been released in home media, most of the time as bonus shorts that relate to something within various Disney films. For instance, the originalDumbo VHS includedFather Noah's Ark,The Practical Pig andThree Orphan Kittens as bonus shorts to make up for the film's short length. In the UK, severalSilly Symphonies were released in compilations under Disney Videos' "Storybook Favourites" brand. The three "Storybook Favourites Shorts" volumes released included among others,The Three Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hare and the remake ofThe Ugly Duckling.
On December 4, 2001, Disney released "Silly Symphonies" as part of its DVD series "Walt Disney Treasures". On December 19, 2006, "More Silly Symphonies" was released, completing the collection and allowing the cartoons to be completely available to the public.[1]
Some DisneyBlu-ray discs includeSilly Symphonies as high definition special features.[12]Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs includes six,Beauty and the Beast andDumbo both contain two andPixar'sA Bug's Life contains one.
TheSilly Symphony shorts originally aired onTurner Classic Movies' period program block "Treasures from the Disney Vault".
SomeSilly Symphony shorts are viewable onDisney+.
TheSilly Symphonies are listed here in production order:
| # | Film | Original release date | Director | Music | Notes | Running time (minutes) | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Skeleton Dance | August 22, 1929 | Walt Disney | Carl Stalling |
| 5:31 | |
| 2 | El Terrible Toreador | September 26, 1929 |
| 6:14 | |||
| 3 | Springtime | October 24, 1929 | Ub Iwerks |
| 6:14 | ||
| 4 | Hell's Bells | November 21, 1929 |
| 5:49 | |||
| 5 | The Merry Dwarfs | December 19, 1929 | Walt Disney |
| 5:57 | ||
| 6 | Summer | January 16, 1930 | Ub Iwerks | 5:51 | |||
| 7 | Autumn | February 13, 1930 |
| 6:24 | |||
| 8 | Cannibal Capers | March 20, 1930 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis |
| 6:15 (5:56 cut) | |
| 9 | Night | July 31, 1930 | Walt Disney |
| 6:53 | ||
| 10 | Frolicking Fish | June 21, 1930 | Burt Gillett |
| 6:02 | ||
| 11 | Arctic Antics | June 26, 1930 | Ub Iwerks (Possibly) Burt Gillett (Possibly)[clarification needed] |
| 7:00 | ||
| 12 | Midnight in a Toy Shop | August 16, 1930 | Wilfred Jackson |
| 7:34 | ||
| 13 | Monkey Melodies | September 26, 1930 | Burt Gillett |
| 7:00 | ||
| 14 | Winter | October 30, 1930 | 6:53 | ||||
| 15 | Playful Pan | December 27, 1930 | 6:59 | ||||
| 16 | Birds of a Feather | February 3, 1931 | 8:04 | ||||
| 17 | Mother Goose Melodies | April 16, 1931 | Bert Lewis Frank Churchill | 8:10 | Mother Goose | ||
| 18 | The China Plate | May 23, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | 7:32 | ||
| 19 | The Busy Beavers | June 30, 1931 | Burt Gillett | 7:07 | |||
| 20 | The Cat's Out | July 28, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson |
| 7:20 | ||
| 21 | Egyptian Melodies | August 27, 1931 | 6:20 | ||||
| 22 | The Clock Store | September 28, 1931 | 7:12 | ||||
| 23 | The Spider and the Fly | October 23, 1931 | Frank Churchill | 7:14 | |||
| 24 | The Fox Hunt | November 20, 1931 | Frank Churchill | 6:22 | |||
| 25 | The Ugly Duckling | December 17, 1931 | Bert Lewis Frank Churchill |
| 7:11 | The Ugly Duckling | |
| 26 | The Bird Store | January 16, 1932 | Frank Churchill |
| 6:52 | ||
| 27 | The Bears and Bees | February 15, 1932 |
| 6:18 | |||
| 28 | Just Dogs | May 16, 1932 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis |
| 7:13 | |
| 29 | Flowers and Trees | July 30, 1932 | Bert Lewis Frank Churchill |
| 7:49 | ||
| 30 | Bugs in Love | October 1, 1932 | Bert Lewis |
| 7:04 | ||
| 31 | King Neptune | October 15, 1932 | 7:11 | ||||
| 32 | Babes in the Woods | November 19, 1932 |
| 8:14 | Hansel and Gretel | ||
| 33 | Santa's Workshop | December 10, 1932 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill |
| 6:37 | |
| 34 | Birds in the Spring | March 13, 1933 | David Hand | Bert Lewis Frank Churchill | 7:32 | ||
| 35 | Father Noah's Ark | April 8, 1933 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | 8:24 | Noah's Ark | |
| 36 | Three Little Pigs | May 25, 1933 | Burt Gillett | Frank Churchill Carl Stalling |
| 8:41 | Three Little Pigs |
| 37 | Old King Cole | July 29, 1933 | David Hand | Frank Churchill Bert Lewis | 7:28 | Old King Cole | |
| 38 | Lullaby Land | August 19, 1933 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill Leigh Harline | 7:22 | ||
| 39 | The Pied Piper | September 16, 1933 | Leigh Harline | 7:32 | Pied Piper of Hamelin | ||
| 40 | The Night Before Christmas | December 9, 1933 |
| 8:27 | A Visit from St. Nicholas | ||
| 41 | The China Shop | January 13, 1934 | 8:23 | ||||
| 42 | The Grasshopper and the Ants | February 10, 1934 |
| 8:24 | The Ant and the Grasshopper | ||
| 43 | Funny Little Bunnies | March 24, 1934 | Frank Churchill Leigh Harline |
| 7:10 | ||
| 44 | The Big Bad Wolf | April 14, 1934 | Burt Gillett | Frank Churchill |
| 9:21 | Little Red Riding Hood |
| 45 | The Wise Little Hen | May 3, 1934(Carthay Circle Theatre)[14] June 7, 1934[14] | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline |
| 7:43 | The Little Red Hen |
| 46 | The Flying Mouse | July 14, 1934 | David Hand | Frank Churchill Bert Lewis | 9:17 | ||
| 47 | Peculiar Penguins | September 1, 1934 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | 9:21 | ||
| 48 | The Goddess of Spring | November 3, 1934 | Leigh Harline | 9:48 | |||
| 49 | The Tortoise and the Hare | January 5, 1935 | Frank Churchill |
| 8:36 | The Tortoise and the Hare | |
| 50 | The Golden Touch | March 22, 1935 | Walt Disney | 10:34 | King Midas | ||
| 51 | The Robber Kitten | April 20, 1935 | David Hand | Based on the book of the same name byRobert Michael Ballantyne.[15] | 7:48 | ||
| 52 | Water Babies | May 11, 1935 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | 8:17 | The Water-Babies | |
| 53 | The Cookie Carnival | May 25, 1935 | Ben Sharpsteen | Leigh Harline |
| 8:00 | |
| 54 | Who Killed Cock Robin? | June 29, 1935 | David Hand | Frank Churchill |
| 8:30 | Cock Robin |
| 55 | Music Land | October 5, 1935 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | 9:34 | ||
| 56 | Three Orphan Kittens | October 26, 1935 | David Hand | Frank Churchill |
| 8:55 | |
| 57 | Cock o' the Walk | November 30, 1935 | Ben Sharpsteen | Frank Churchill Albert Hay Malotte | 8:23 | ||
| 58 | Broken Toys | December 14, 1935 | Ben Sharpsteen | ALbert Hay Malotte |
| 7:53 | |
| 59 | Elmer Elephant | March 28, 1936 | Wilferd Jackson | Leigh Harline | 8:29 | ||
| 60 | Three Little Wolves | April 18, 1936 | David Hand | Frank Churchill | 9:26 | The Boy Who Cried Wolf | |
| 61 | Toby Tortoise Returns | August 22, 1936 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | 7:34 | ||
| 62 | Three Blind Mouseketeers | September 26, 1936 | David Hand | Albert Hay Malotte | 8:43 | ||
| 63 | The Country Cousin | October 31, 1936 | David Hand Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline |
| 9:15 | |
| 64 | Mother Pluto | November 14, 1936 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline |
| 8:35 | |
| 65 | More Kittens | December 19, 1936 | David Hand | Frank Churchill |
| 8:11 | |
| 66 | Woodland Café | March 13, 1937 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | 7:37 | ||
| 67 | Little Hiawatha | May 15, 1937 | David Hand | Albert Hay Malotte |
| 9:12 | The Song of Hiawatha |
| 68 | The Old Mill | November 5, 1937 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline |
| 8:42 | |
| 69 | Moth and the Flame | April 1, 1938 | David Hand Burt Gillett Dick Heumer | 7:45 | |||
| 70 | Wynken, Blynken and Nod | May 27, 1938 | Graham Heid | 8:20 | Wynken, Blynken, and Nod | ||
| 71 | Farmyard Symphony | October 14, 1938 | Jack Cutting | Leigh Harline | 8:11 | ||
| 72 | Merbabies | December 9, 1938 | Rudolf Ising,Vernon Stallings | Scott Bradley |
| 8:37 | |
| 73 | Mother Goose Goes Hollywood | December 23, 1938 | Wilfred Jackson | Edward Plumb |
| 7:32 | |
| 74 | The Practical Pig | February 24, 1939 | Duck Rickard | Frank Churchill Paul Smith |
| 8:21 | |
| 75 | The Ugly Duckling | April 7, 1939 | Jack Cutting Clyde Geronimi | Albert Hay Malotte |
| 8:59 | The Ugly Duckling |
Disney's experiments were widely praised within the film industry, and theSilly Symphonies won theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film seven times, maintaining a six-year-hold on the category after it was first introduced. This record was matched only byMGM'sTom and Jerry series during the 1940s and 1950s.
TheSymphonies changed the course of Disney Studio history when Walt's plans to direct his first feature cartoon became problematic after his warm-up to the taskThe Golden Touch was widely seen (even by Disney himself) as stiff and slowly paced. This motivated him to embrace his role as being the producer and providing creative oversight (especially of the story) forSnow White while taskingDavid Hand to handle the actual directing.[16]
Silly Symphonies brought along many imitators, including Warner Bros. cartoon seriesLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies, MGM'sHappy Harmonies, and later, Universal'sSwing Symphony.
Years later after theSilly Symphonies ended, Disney occasionally produced a handful of one-shot cartoons, playing the same style as theSilly Symphony series. Unlike theSilly Symphonies canon, most of these "Specials" have a narration, usually by Disney legendSterling Holloway.
In the 1934 MGM filmHollywood Party, Mickey Mouse appears withJimmy Durante, where they introduceThe Hot Choc-late Soldiers.[17]
The 1999–2000 television seriesMickey Mouse Works used theSilly Symphonies title for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters.
As of 2021, three of theSilly Symphony shorts (Three Little Pigs,The Old Mill, andFlowers and Trees), have been selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registry by the Library of Congress, for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[18][19][20]
A SundaySilly Symphony comic strip ran in newspapers from January 10, 1932, to July 12, 1942.[21] The strip featured adaptations of some of theSilly Symphony cartoons, includingBirds of a Feather,The Robber Kitten,Elmer Elephant,Farmyard Symphony andLittle Hiawatha.[21] This strip began with a two-year sequence aboutBucky Bug, a character based on the bugs inBugs in Love.
There was also an occasionalSilly Symphonies comic book, with nine issues published byDell Comics from September 1952 to February 1959.[22] The first issue of this anthology comic featured adaptations of someSilly Symphony cartoons, includingThe Grasshopper and the Ants,Three Little Pigs,The Goddess of Spring andMother Pluto, but it also included non-Symphony cartoons like Mickey Mouse'sBrave Little Tailor.[23] By the third issue, there was almost noSymphony-related material in the book; the stories and activities were mostly based on other Disney shorts and feature films.
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| Related | |
