# Silly Symphony

Silly Symphony (also known as Silly Symphonies) is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the Silly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this include Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and Three Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck, who made his first appearance in the Silly Symphony cartoon The Wise Little Hen in 1934. Seven shorts won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Many of the shorts were adapted into print mediums. Starting in 1932, a Silly Symphony newspaper comic strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate, as well as a Dell comic book series and numerous children's books.
The Silly Symphonies returned to theaters with its re-issues and re-releases, and tied with Joseph Barbera and William Hanna's Tom and Jerry's record for most Oscar wins for a cartoon series in the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film category.
The first five Silly Symphony shorts entered the public domain on January 1, 2025.

## Production

While Walt Disney and Carl Stalling, a theatre organist from Kansas City, were in New York to add sound to the Mickey Mouse shorts The Gallopin' Gaucho, The Barn Dance and Plane 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 for The Skeleton Dance, the type of short that Stalling had suggested and the first Silly Symphony cartoon.
Within the animation industry, the series is known for its use by Walt 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.
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 new three-strip, full-color Technicolor process, which would replace the previous two-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% complete Symphony, Flowers and Trees, scrapped and redone in full color. Flowers and Trees was the first animated film to use the three-strip Technicolor process, and was a phenomenal success. Within a year, the now-in-Technicolor Silly Symphonies series had popularity and success that matched (and later surpassed) that of the Mickey Mouse cartoons. The contract Disney had with Technicolor would also later be extended another five years as well.
The success of Silly Symphonies would be tremendously boosted after Three 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". Several Silly Symphonies entries, including Three 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), and The Ugly Duckling (1939, with an earlier black-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 with Harman and Ising to produce three Silly Symphonies: Merbabies, Pipe Dreams, and The 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. Disney ceased production of Silly Symphonies in 1939.

## Distribution

The series was first distributed by Pat Powers from 1929 to 1930 and released by Celebrity Productions (1929–1930) indirectly through Columbia Pictures. The original basis of the cartoons was musical novelty, and the musical scores of the first cartoons were composed by Carl Stalling.

### Columbia Pictures

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 colleague Ub Iwerks to a studio contract. Columbia Pictures (1930–1932) agreed to pick up the direct distribution of the Mickey Mouse series on the condition that they would have exclusive rights to distribute the Silly 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 after Max Fleischer's flapper cartoon character Betty Boop began to gain more and more popularity after starring in the cartoon Minnie the Moocher. By August 1932, Betty Boop became so popular that the Talkartoon series was renamed as Betty Boop cartoons.

### United Artists

In 1932, after falling out with Columbia Pictures, Disney began distributing his products through United Artists. UA refused to distribute the Silly Symphonies unless Disney associated Mickey Mouse with them somehow, resulting in the "Mickey Mouse presents a Silly 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. The first short released by United Artists was The Bears and Bees.

### RKO Radio Pictures

In 1937, Disney signed a distribution deal with RKO 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.

### Home media

Several Symphonies have been released in home media, most of the time as bonus shorts that relate to something within various Disney films. For instance, the original Dumbo VHS included Father Noah's Ark, The Practical Pig and Three Orphan Kittens as bonus shorts to make up for the film's short length. In the UK, several Silly 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 of The 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.
Some Disney Blu-ray discs include Silly Symphonies as high definition special features. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs includes six, Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo both contain two and Pixar's A Bug's Life contains one.
The Silly Symphony shorts originally aired on Turner Classic Movies' period program block "Treasures from the Disney Vault".
Some Silly Symphony shorts are viewable on Disney+.

## List of films

The Silly 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 | First entry in the Silly Symphony series. The soundtrack was recorded in February 1929 in New York. This short entered the public domain on January 1, 2025 | 5:31 | |
| 2 | El Terrible Toreador | September 26, 1929 | Walt Disney | Carl Stalling | The first Silly Symphony to have its soundtrack recorded in Los Angeles. This short entered the public domain on January 1, 2025 | 6:14 | |
| 3 | Springtime | October 24, 1929 | Ub Iwerks | Carl Stalling | Scenes from this film appeared in the 1961 film One Hundred and One Dalmatians. This short entered the public domain on January 1, 2025 | 6:14 | |
| 4 | Hell's Bells | November 21, 1929 | Ub Iwerks | Carl Stalling | This short entered the public domain on January 1, 2025 | 5:49 | |
| 5 | The Merry Dwarfs | December 19, 1929 | Walt Disney | Carl Stalling | This short entered the public domain on January 1, 2025 | 5:57 | |
| 6 | Summer | January 16, 1930 | Ub Iwerks | Carl Stalling | | 5:51 | |
| 7 | Autumn | February 13, 1930 | Ub Iwerks | Carl Stalling | The last Silly Symphony to be completed before Ub Iwerks and Carl Stalling left the studio. Their sudden departures caused delays in production. | 6:24 | |
| 8 | Cannibal Capers | March 20, 1930 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | Production on this and several other Silly Symphonies were delayed due to the sudden departures of Ub Iwerks and Carl Stalling. The version that aired on the Mickey Mouse Club was cut short at the end. The version that is on the "More Silly Symphonies" DVD includes the original ending along with the cut ending. | 6:15 (5:56 cut) | |
| 9 | Night | July 31, 1930 | Walt Disney | Bert Lewis | Originally released with blue tinting. Due to production delays, this film was postponed from its original announced release date of April 10. | 6:53 | |
| 10 | Frolicking Fish | June 21, 1930 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | Originally released with green tinting. It was on this film that animator Norm Ferguson discovered the "follow-thru" animation technique that allowed for characters to move more naturally. Due to production delays, this film was postponed from its original announced release date of May 8. | 6:02 | |
| 11 | Arctic Antics | June 26, 1930 | Ub Iwerks (Possibly) Burt Gillett (Possibly) | Bert Lewis | The animators' draft lists Ub Iwerks as the director, even though he left the studio before animation began. Due to production delays, this film was postponed from its original announced release date of June 5. | 7:00 | |
| 12 | Midnight in a Toy Shop | August 16, 1930 | Wilfred Jackson | Bert Lewis | Due to production delays, this film was postponed from its original announced release date of July 3. | 7:34 | |
| 13 | Monkey Melodies | September 26, 1930 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | Due to production delays, this film was postponed from its original announced release date of August 10. | 7:00 | |
| 14 | Winter | October 30, 1930 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | | 6:53 | |
| 15 | Playful Pan | December 27, 1930 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | | 6:59 | |
| 16 | Birds of a Feather | February 3, 1931 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | | 8:04 | |
| 17 | Mother Goose Melodies | April 16, 1931 | Burt Gillett | 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 | Frank Churchill | | 7:07 | |
| 20 | The Cat's Out | July 28, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | The film's working title was The Cat's Out, and the current vault print features that title in its credits. However, it was copyrighted and released as The Cat's Nightmare. | 7:20 | |
| 21 | Egyptian Melodies | August 27, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | | 6:20 | |
| 22 | The Clock Store | September 28, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | | 7:12 | |
| 23 | The Spider and the Fly | October 23, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | | 7:14 | |
| 24 | The Fox Hunt | November 20, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | | 6:22 | |
| 25 | The Ugly Duckling | December 17, 1931 | Wilfred Jackson | Bert Lewis Frank Churchill | This short would be remade in color in 1939, also titled "The Ugly Duckling". | 7:11 | The Ugly Duckling |
| 26 | The Bird Store | January 16, 1932 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | The last Silly Symphony to be distributed by Columbia Pictures. | 6:52 | |
| 27 | The Bears and Bees | February 15, 1932 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | The first Silly Symphony to be distributed by United Artists. | 6:18 | |
| 28 | Just Dogs | May 16, 1932 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | The first appearance of Pluto without Mickey Mouse. | 7:13 | |
| 29 | Flowers and Trees | July 30, 1932 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis Frank Churchill | Winner of the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The first film to be produced in three-strip Technicolor. | 7:49 | |
| 30 | Bugs in Love | October 1, 1932 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | The last Silly Symphony to be produced in black-and-white. | 7:04 | |
| 31 | King Neptune | October 15, 1932 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | | 7:11 | |
| 32 | Babes in the Woods | November 19, 1932 | Burt Gillett | Bert Lewis | The last Silly Symphony to be recorded with Cinephone. | 8:14 | Hansel and Gretel |
| 33 | Santa's Workshop | December 10, 1932 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | The first Silly Symphony to be recorded with RCA Photophone. | 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 | Winner of the 1932–33 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. From this film came the Disney studio's first hit song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?". Originally had a scene where after Practical Pigs asks "Who's there?" then cuts to the Wolf (disguised as a Jewish peddler) saying "I'm the Fuller Brush Man...I'm giving a free sample!" in a Yiddish accent. This scene was edited in 1948 and changed the Wolf's disguise along with the dialog. This is the version that's on home releases (the R2 release of "Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies" DVD includes the original animation with the altered dialogue.) | 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 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | | 7:32 | Pied Piper of Hamelin |
| 40 | The Night Before Christmas | December 9, 1933 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | Was originally supposed to be released after The China Shop, but production was moved ahead in order to have it ready for a Christmastime release. As a result, both films were given each other's production numbers. | 8:27 | A Visit from St. Nicholas |
| 41 | The China Shop | January 13, 1934 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | | 8:23 | |
| 42 | The Grasshopper and the Ants | February 10, 1934 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | The song featured in the film, "The World Owes Me a Living", would become a recurring theme for Goofy. Coincidentally, Pinto Colvig, the voice of Goofy, also voiced the Grasshopper in this film. | 8:24 | The Ant and the Grasshopper |
| 43 | Funny Little Bunnies | March 24, 1934 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill Leigh Harline | Its 1950s reissue was distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Was originally supposed to be released after The Big Bad Wolf, but production was moved ahead in order to have it ready for an Easter release. As a result, both films were given each other's production numbers. | 7:10 | |
| 44 | The Big Bad Wolf | April 14, 1934 | Burt Gillett | Frank Churchill | A sequel to "Three Little Pigs". | 9:21 | Little Red Riding Hood |
| 45 | The Wise Little Hen | May 3, 1934 (Carthay Circle Theatre) June 7, 1934 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | The debut appearance of Donald Duck. Was originally supposed to be released after The Flying Mouse, but production was moved ahead for reasons unknown. As a result, both films were given each other's production numbers. | 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 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | | 9:48 | |
| 49 | The Tortoise and the Hare | January 5, 1935 | Wilfred Jackson | Frank Churchill | Winner of the 1933–34 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. | 8:36 | The Tortoise and the Hare |
| 50 | The Golden Touch | March 22, 1935 | Walt Disney | Frank Churchill | | 10:34 | King Midas |
| 51 | The Robber Kitten | April 20, 1935 | David Hand | Frank Churchill | Based on the book of the same name by Robert Michael Ballantyne. | 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 | This short is in the public domain, because it had an invalid copyright renewal | 8:00 | |
| 54 | Who Killed Cock Robin? | June 29, 1935 | David Hand | Frank Churchill | Nominated for the 1935 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Named one of the ten best films of 1935 by the National Board of Review. Scenes from this film appeared in the 1936 film Sabotage. | 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 | Winner of the 1935 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. | 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 | Was originally intended to follow Elmer Elephant and Three Little Wolves, but production moved ahead to have the film ready for a Christmastime release. As a result, this and the latter film switched production numbers. | 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 | Winner of the 1936 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. | 9:15 | |
| 64 | Mother Pluto | November 14, 1936 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | Originally designated part of the Mickey Mouse series, it was reclassified as a Silly Symphony just before release, with its original production number going to Don Donald. | 8:35 | |
| 65 | More Kittens | December 19, 1936 | David Hand | Frank Churchill | The film's production number was originally assigned to the Donald Duck short Don Donald. | 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 | The last Silly Symphony to be distributed by United Artists. | 9:12 | The Song of Hiawatha |
| 68 | The Old Mill | November 5, 1937 | Wilfred Jackson | Leigh Harline | The first Silly Symphony to be distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Winner of the 1937 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. First use of the multiplane camera. | 8:42 | |
| 69 | Moth and the Flame | April 1, 1938 | David Hand Burt Gillett Dick Heumer | Leigh Harline | | 7:45 | |
| 70 | Wynken, Blynken and Nod | May 27, 1938 | Graham Heid | Leigh Harline | | 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 | Production was outsourced to the Harman-Ising Studio, as part of an agreement that included the studio loaning some of its artists to Disney's to help complete Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. | 8:37 | |
| 73 | Mother Goose Goes Hollywood | December 23, 1938 | Wilfred Jackson | Edward Plumb | Nominated for the 1938 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The most expensive Silly Symphony produced, its negative cost totaling $69,307.87. | 7:32 | |
| 74 | The Practical Pig | February 24, 1939 | Duck Rickard | Frank Churchill Paul Smith | The Silly Symphony name does not appear on the opening titles, and is instead labeled a Three Little Pigs cartoon. | 8:21 | |
| 75 | The Ugly Duckling | April 7, 1939 | Jack Cutting Clyde Geronimi | Albert Hay Malotte | The last Silly Symphony to be distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Winner of the 1939 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Final entry in the Silly Symphony series, though some releases label it as a one-shot cartoon instead. | 8:59 | The Ugly Duckling |

## Reception

Disney's experiments were widely praised within the film industry, and the Silly Symphonies won the Academy 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 by MGM's Tom and Jerry series during the 1940s and 1950s.

## Legacy

The Symphonies 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 task The 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) for Snow White while tasking David Hand to handle the actual directing.
Silly Symphonies brought along many imitators, including Warner Bros. cartoon series Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, MGM's Happy Harmonies, and later, Universal's Swing Symphony.
Years later after the Silly Symphonies ended, Disney occasionally produced a handful of one-shot cartoons, playing the same style as the Silly Symphony series. Unlike the Silly Symphonies canon, most of these "Specials" have a narration, usually by Disney legend Sterling Holloway.
In the 1934 MGM film Hollywood Party, Mickey Mouse appears with Jimmy Durante, where they introduce The Hot Choc-late Soldiers.
The 1999–2000 television series Mickey Mouse Works used the Silly Symphonies title for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters.
As of 2021, three of the Silly Symphony shorts (Three Little Pigs, The Old Mill, and Flowers and Trees), have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

## Comic adaptations

A Sunday Silly Symphony comic strip ran in newspapers from January 10, 1932, to July 12, 1942. The strip featured adaptations of some of the Silly Symphony cartoons, including Birds of a Feather, The Robber Kitten, Elmer Elephant, Farmyard Symphony and Little Hiawatha. This strip began with a two-year sequence about Bucky Bug, a character based on the bugs in Bugs in Love.
There was also an occasional Silly Symphonies comic book, with nine issues published by Dell Comics from September 1952 to February 1959. The first issue of this anthology comic featured adaptations of some Silly Symphony cartoons, including The Grasshopper and the Ants, Three Little Pigs, The Goddess of Spring and Mother Pluto, but it also included non-Symphony cartoons like Mickey Mouse's Brave Little Tailor. By the third issue, there was almost no Symphony-related material in the book; the stories and activities were mostly based on other Disney shorts and feature films.