Silly Symphony

Silly Symphony (also known as Silly Symphonies) was a series of animated short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939.Pietro Frassica, Her Maestro's Echo: Pirandello and the Actress who Conquered Broadway in One Evening (Leicester: Troubador Publishing, 2010), p. 90 

 Disney studios 
After the films changed to sound, Walt Disney began making Mickey Mouse and musical Silly Symphony shorts.Maureen Furniss, Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics (Sydney: John Libbey, 1998), p. 94 To keep costs down Disney produced his own music. Disney's first music director and composer was Carl Stalling. The Mickey Mouse shorts used pop music while the Silly Symphony cartoons used Classical music.The Cartoon Music Book, eds. Daniel Goldmark; Yuval Taylor (Chicago: A Cappella Books, 2002), p. 24 In 1932 the studio produced its first cartoon in Technicolor, Flowers and Trees.Wheeler Winston Dixon; Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, A Short History of Film (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2008), p. 127 The success of the song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, from the Silly Symphony short Three Little Pigs (1933), convinced Disney to keep producing original music. It was at this time Disney introduced the characters of Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto and Minnie Mouse. Over its ten year run,  Silly Symphonies had won Walt Disney the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film seven times, eventually tied with Bill Hanna and Joe Barbara's Tom and Jerry's record for most awards for a cartoon series in the category. It spawned numerous imitators and competitors (like Warner Bros' Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes). <ref>Choice, Vol. 45, Issues 4-6 (2007), p. 827</ref> United StatesFebruary 29, 1929 BrazilDecember 25, 1929 United KingdomJuly 21, 1930 UruguaySeptember 11, 1930 MexicoDecember 25, 1931 PortugalMarch 16, 1932 IrelandApril 3, 1932 GreeceApril 10, 1933 SwedenOctober 7, 1933- Argentinian in Chilean SpanishDecember 11, 1934

(Silly Symphony) IcelandFebruary 28, 1934 SpainMarch 23, 1935 ItalyApril 12, 1935 CanadaAugust 1, 1936 CzechoslovakiaDecember 17, 1936 Hong KongOctober 16, 1937 NorwayOctober 31, 1937 BulgariaDecember 25, 1938  SwitzerlandDecember 25, 1938 (German speaking region) Soviet UnionDecember 25, 1938 YugoslaviaJuly 31, 1938 FinlandNovember 4, 1938 PolandAugust 7, 1939 AustriaJanuary 12, 1939 DenmarkApril 2, 1939 West GermanyOctober 10, 1939 ThailandJune 13, 1939 BelgiumAugust 14, 1939 IndiaDecember 25, 1939 TurkeyAugust 15, 1939 JapanSeptember 23, 1939 South KoreaOctober 3, 1939 MaltaJuly 31, 1939 New ZealandJune 29, 1941 South AfricaJune 29, 1941 LebanonDecember 25, 1947 IranMarch 16, 1954 MoroccoMarch 16, 1954 EgyptMarch 26, 1954 IndonesiaJune 17, 1954 QatarJune 17, 1954 SingaporeJune 17, 1954 Sri LankaApril 26, 1965 KuwaitJune 4, 1966 IsraelNovember 8, 1971
 Franchise 
The series also spawned a Disney media franchise which included the newspaper comic strip Silly Symphony, the Dell comic book series Silly Symphonies, as well as several children's books, many of which were based on Silly Symphony'' cartoons.

 List of movies 
 #  Title  Release date  Director  Notes 1  The Skeleton Dance  August 22, 1929  Walt Disney  Clips of this short have been featured in both Disney and non-Disney productions. 2  El Terrible Toreador  September 7, 1929  Walt Disney  3  Springtime  October 24, 1929  Ub Iwerks  Seen in One Hundred and One Dalmatians 4  Hell's Bells  October 30, 1929  Ub Iwerks  Featuring Satan, the Grim Reaper, Cerberus, and various unnamed demons of Hell. 5  The Merry Dwarfs  December 16, 1929  Walt Disney  6  Summer  January 6, 1930  Ub Iwerks  7  Autumn  February 13, 1930  Ub Iwerks  8  Cannibal Capers  March 13, 1930  Burt Gillett  9  Frolicking Fish  May 8, 1930  Burt Gillett  Introduced continuous movements or ’overlapping action’ in animation, instead of the old stop-and-go movements. 10  Arctic Antics  June 5, 1930  Ub Iwerks  11  Midnight in a Toy Shop  July 3, 1930  Wilfred Jackson  12  Night  July 31, 1930  Walt Disney  13  Monkey Melodies  August 10, 1930  Burt Gillett  14  Winter  November 5, 1930  Burt Gillett  15  Playful Pan  December 28, 1930  Burt Gillett  Featuring Pan 16  Birds of a Feather  February 10, 1931  Burt Gillett  17  Mother Goose Melodies  April 17, 1931  Burt Gillett  Featuring among others Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, Little Jack Horner,  Mother Goose, Old King Cole, and Simple Simon. 18  The China Plate  May 25, 1931  Wilfred Jackson  Retelling of the Willow pattern legend. 19  The Busy Beavers  June 22, 1931  Burt Gillett  20  The Cat's Out  July 28, 1931  Wilfred Jackson  21  Egyptian Melodies  August 21, 1931  Wilfred Jackson  22  The Clock Store    Wilfred Jackson  23  The Spider and the Fly|| October 16, 1931 || Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 24 || The Fox Hunt || November 18, 1931 || Wilfred Jackson || Remade in 1938 as the Donald & Goofy film The Fox Hunt|-
| 25 || The Ugly Duckling || December 16, 1931 || Wilfred Jackson || Based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen; remade in 1939
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| 26 || The Bird Store || January 16, 1932 || Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 27 || The Bears and the Bees || March 12, 1932 || Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 28 || Just Dogs  || April 16, 1932 || Burt Gillett || Featuring the first starring role of Pluto (Mickey Mouse does not appear)
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| 29 || Flowers and Trees || July 30, 1932 || Burt Gillett || First cartoon produced in Technicolor; won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
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| 30 || King Neptune || September 17, 1932 || Burton Gillett || Featuring Neptune as the "King of the Sea"
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| 31 || Bugs in Love || October 1, 1932 || Burt Gillett || Last black-and-white Silly Symphony|-
| 32 || Babes in the Woods || November 19, 1932 || Burt Gillett || Featuring Hansel and Gretel
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| 33 || Santa's Workshop || December 3, 1932 || Wilfred Jackson || Featuring Santa Claus
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| 34 || Birds in the Spring || March 11, 1933 || David Hand ||
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| 35 || Father Noah's Ark || April 8, 1933 || Wilfred Jackson || Featuring Noah, Ham, Japheth, Shem and their respective wives, as well as a cavalcade of animals. The "building the ark" music is an adaptation of Beethoven's Contradanse in C Major, WoO 14 No. 1. The short itself would be referenced several times in the Pomp and Circumstance segment of Fantasia 2000|-
| 36 || Three Little Pigs || May 27, 1933 || Burt Gillett || Featuring the namesake characters and the Big Bad Wolf; won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
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| 37 || Old King Cole || July 29, 1933 || David Hand || Featuring the namesake character along with various nursery rhyme characters
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| 38 || The Pied Piper || September 16, 1933 || Wilfred Jackson || Adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin
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| 39 || Lullaby Land || November 11, 1933 || Wilfred Jackson || Featuring the Sandman
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| 40 || The Night Before Christmas || December 2, 1933 || Wilfred Jackson || Featuring Santa Claus
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| 41 || The China Shop || January 13, 1934 || Wilfred Jackson 
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| 42 || The Grasshopper and the Ants || February 17, 1934 || Wilfred Jackson || Based on a fable by Aesop
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| 43 || Funny Little Bunnies || March 10, 1934 || Wilfred Jackson || 
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| 44 || The Big Bad Wolf || April 14, 1934 || Burt Gillett || Featuring the title character along with the Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood
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| 45 || The Wise Little Hen || May 19, 1934 || Wilfred Jackson || Debut of Donald Duck
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| 46 || The Flying Mouse || July 14, 1934 || David Hand ||
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| 47 || Peculiar Penguins || October 20, 1934 || Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 48 || The Goddess of Spring || December 8, 1934 || Wilfred Jackson || Featuring Persephone and a version of her uncle-husband Hades/Pluto, identified here with Satan. The Disney animators' first attempt to create visually realistic human characters.
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| 49 || The Tortoise and the Hare || January 19, 1935 || Wilfred Jackson || Featuring Max Hare and Toby Tortoise; won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
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| 50 || The Golden Touch || February 16, 1935 || Walt Disney || Featuring Midas and Goldie the elf
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| 51 || The Robber Kitten || April 13, 1935 || David Hand ||
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| 52 || Water Babies || May 11, 1935 || Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 53 || The Cookie Carnival || June 15, 1935 || Ben Sharpsteen || A homage to the Atlantic City boardwalk parade and bathing beauty contest of the 1920s and 30s (which became the Miss America Pageant) 
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| 54 || Who Killed Cock Robin? || July 6, 1935 || David Hand || Includes caricatures of Mae West (Jenny Wren), Bing Crosby (Cock Robin), Harpo Marx (the cuckoo), and Steppin Fetchit (the blackbird); incorporated into Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage.
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| 55 || Music Land || September 14, 1935 || Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 56 || Three Orphan Kittens || October 19, 1935 || David Hand || Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
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| 57 || Cock 'o the Walk || November 9, 1935 || Ben Sharpsteen ||
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| 58 || Broken Toys || December 14, 1935 || Ben Sharpsteen || Some toys are caricatures of Hollywood stars.
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| 59 || Elmer Elephant || January 18, 1936 || Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 60 || Three Little Wolves || March 14, 1936 || David Hand || Featuring the title characters along with their father the Big Bad Wolf and his rivals the Three Little Pigs
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| 61 || Toby Tortoise Returns || April 18, 1936 || Wilfred Jackson || Sequel to The Tortoise and the Hare; featuring cameo by Elmer Elephant and a parody of Harpo Marx
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| 62 || Three Blind Mouseketeers || June 20, 1936 || David Hand ||
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| 63 || The Country Cousin || August 15, 1936 || David Hand || Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
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| 64 || Mother Pluto  || October 10, 1936 || David Hand || Featuring Pluto mothering a number of newly hatched chicks
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| 65 || More Kittens || November 7, 1936 || David Hand,Wilfred Jackson ||
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| 66 || Woodland Café || January 17, 1937 || Wilfred Jackson || Contains animator Ward Kimball's first animating assignment
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| 67 || Little Hiawatha || February 21, 1937 || David Hand || The last Silly Symphony distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists
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| 68 || The Old Mill || October 22, 1937 || Wilfred Jackson || Disney's first use of the multiplane camera and the first Silly Symphony distributed by RKO Radio Pictures; won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
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| 69 || Moth and the Flame || April 1, 1938 || Burt Gillett ||
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| 70 || Wynken, Blynken and Nod || May 27, 1938 || Graham Heid ||
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| 71 || Farmyard Symphony || October 14, 1938 || Jack Cutting ||
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| 72 || Merbabies || December 9, 1938 || Rudolf Ising, || Outsourced to Harman and Ising after the studio donated inkers and painters to the Disney studio to complete Snow White|-
| 73 ||  || December 23, 1938 || Wilfred Jackson || Last film showing a Silly Symphony title card; features multiple caricatures of Hollywood film stars and a cameo by Donald Duck
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| 74 || The Practical Pig || February 24, 1939 || Dick Rickard || Featuring the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Wolves; released as a Three Little Pigs standalone short
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| 75 || The Ugly Duckling || April 7, 1939 || Jack Cutting || Remake of the 1931 film and the only Silly Symphony'' story to be remade; won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

 References 

Category:Animated movies