 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
ComiColor Cartoons is a series of twenty-fiveanimatedshort subjects produced byUb Iwerks from 1933 to 1936. The series was the last produced byIwerks Studio; after losing distributorMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, the Iwerks studio's senior companyCelebrity Pictures (run byPat Powers) had to distribute the films itself. The series was shot exclusively inCinecolor.
Most of the ComiColor entries were based upon popularfairy tales and other familiar stories, includingJack and the Beanstalk,Old Mother Hubbard,The Bremen Town Musicians, andThe Headless Horseman.
Grim Natwick,Al Eugster, andShamus Culhane were among the series' leadanimators/directors, and a number of the shorts were filmed using Iwerks'multiplane camera, which he built himself from the remains of aChevroletautomobile.
In the 1940s, theComiColor cartoons received home-movie distribution throughCastle Films. Cinecolor produced the16 mm film prints for Castle Films, with red emulsion on one side and blue emulsion on the other. Later, in the 1970s,Blackhawk Films released these for home use, but this time using conventionalEastmancolor film stock.[1] They are now in the public domain in the United States and are widely available on physical and digital media.
| Film | Release date | Original work |
|---|---|---|
| Jack and the Beanstalk[2] | November 25, 1933 | "Jack and the Beanstalk", an English fairy tale |
| The Little Red Hen[2] | February 17, 1934 | "The Little Red Hen", an American fable |
| The Brave Tin Soldier[2] | April 7, 1934 | "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", byHans Christian Andersen, 2 October 1838 |
| Puss in Boots[2] | May 19, 1934 | "Puss in Boots", an Italian fairy tale |
| The Queen of Hearts[2] | June 22, 1934 | |
| Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp[2] | August 10, 1934 | "Aladdin", a Middle-Eastern folk tale |
| The Headless Horseman[2] | September 29, 1934 | "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", byWashington Irving, 1820 |
| The Valiant Tailor (The King's Tailor - Castle Films)[2] | October 27, 1934 | |
| Don Quixote[2] | November 24, 1934 | Don Quixote, byMiguel de Cervantes, 1605–1615 |
| Jack Frost[2] | December 22, 1934 | Jack Frost andOld Man Winter, the latter from ancientGreek mythology andOld World pagan beliefs |
| Little Black Sambo (Little Black Sambo - Castle Films)[2] | February 2, 1935 | The Story of Little Black Sambo, a children's book byHelen Bannerman, 1899 |
| The Bremen Town Musicians[2] | March 2, 1935 | "Town Musicians of Bremen", a German fairy tale collected by theBrothers Grimm |
| Old Mother Hubbard (Old Mother Hubbard - Castle Films)[2] | March 30, 1935 | "Old Mother Hubbard", an English-language nursery rhyme |
| Mary's Little Lamb[2] | April 27, 1935 | |
| Summertime[2] | June 15, 1935 | |
| Sinbad the Sailor[2] | July 26, 1935 | Sinbad the Sailor, Middle Eastern origin, 8th and 9th centuries A.D. |
| The Three Bears[2] | August 30, 1935 | |
| Balloon Land (The Pincushion Man - Castle Films)[2] | September 30, 1935 | |
| Simple Simon[2] | November 15, 1935 | "Simple Simon", an English-language children's song |
| Humpty Dumpty[2] | December 27, 1935 | |
| Ali Baba[2] | January 31, 1936 | |
| Tom Thumb[2] | March 27, 1936 | |
| Dick Whittington's Cat (Dick Whittington's Cat - Castle Films)[2] | May 29, 1936 | |
| Little Boy Blue (The Big Bad Wolf - Castle Films)[2] | July 31, 1936 | |
| Happy Days[2] | September 25, 1936 | Reg'lar Fellers, a newspaper comic strip byGene Byrnes, 1917 |
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(August 2022) |
The Comicolor cartoons are public domain due to copyright not being renewed.[citation needed]
All of the ComiColor cartoons are now available in the 2004 Region 2 ComiColor DVD set released by Mk2/Lobster in France. Many are available in Region 1, in particular on the Cartoons That Time Forgot series.
Steve Stanchfield of Thunderbean plans on releasing the restored versions of the shorts across two Blu-ray sets calledComiColor Cartoons Collection V.1 & 2.[3]