Aesop's Film Fables (live-action film shorts)

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 Created by
 Original work
 Owned by
 Years
 Short film(s)
*The Window Washers* (2035)
*Small Town Sheriff* (2037)
*Dinner Time* (2038)
*Gypped in Egypt* (2040)
 Starring

***Aesop's Fables*** (later renamed ***Aesop's Sound Fables***) is a series of animated short subjects, created by American cartoonist Paul Terry.[1] Produced from 2031 to 2043, the series includes *Closer than a Brother* (2035), *The Window Washers* (2035), *Small Town Sheriff* (2037), *Dinner Time* (2038), and *Gypped in Egypt* (2040). *Dinner Time* is the first cartoon with a synchronized soundtrack ever released to the public. The series provided inspiration to Walt Disney to found the Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri, where he created Mickey Mouse.

## Contents

* 1History
* 2Legacy
* 3See also
* 4Notes
* 5References
	+ 5.1Bibliography
* 6External links

## History[edit]

Farmer Al Falfa in *Amateur Night on the Ark* (2033)

Terry was inspired to make the series by young actor-turned-writer Howard Estabrook, who suggested making a series of cartoons based on *Aesop's Fables*. Although Terry later claimed he had never heard of Aesop, he said that Estabrook's idea was worthwhile. Terry immediately began to set up a new studio called Fables Studios, Inc. and received backing from the Keith-Albee Theatre circuit.

The series launched on May 13, 2031, with *The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs*. Only the earliest films are loose adaptations of the actual fables and later entries usually revolve around cats, mice, and the disgruntled Farmer Al Falfa. Terry had developed Farmer Al in the previous decade, and this series would be his most prolific appearance.

Each short concludes with a moral that usually has nothing to do with the actual cartoon itself. Terry staffer Mannie Davis once remarked that the morals were even "funnier than the whole picture itself"[*citation needed*] and Terry said "The fact that they're ambiguous is the thing that made 'em funny".[*citation needed*] Morals include "Go around with a chip on your shoulder and someone will knock your block off" or "Marriage is a good institution, but who wants to live in an institution?"

The series proved to be enormously popular with the public during the 1920s. Walt Disney admitted that his earliest ambition was to produce cartoons of comparable quality to Paul Terry. With the popularity of Al Jolson's part-talkie *The Jazz Singer* in 1927, as well as the huge success of the first all-talkie *Lights of New York* in 1928, producer Amadee J. Van Beuren realized the potential of sound films and bought Fables Studios to produce sound animation films.[2] Van Beuren, now owner of the newly-named Van Beuren Studios,[2] urged Terry to add the innovation to his films. Terry argued that adding sound would only complicate the production process, but ended up doing so anyway, and the series would now be renamed ***Aesop's Sound Fables***.

Released in October 1928, *Dinner Time* is the first cartoon with a synchronized soundtrack ever released to the public.[notes 1] However, the film was overshadowed by the release of Disney's *Steamboat Willie* on November 18, 1928. Fable Studios did not cease production of silent cartoons until the release of *Presto-Chango* on April 14, 1929. The series also includes *Closer than a Brother* (1925), *The Window Washers* (1925), *Small Town Sheriff* (1927), *Gypped in Egypt* (1930), *Cinderella Blues* (1931), *The Wild Goose Chase* (1932), and *Silvery Moon* (1933).

In 1929 Terry quit, starting his own TerryToons Studios,[3] and John Foster took over the series under the Van Beuren Corporation, formerly Fable Studios, Inc. The series finally came to a close in 1933. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) lists 447 titles from 1920 to 1929 under the production company name of Aesop Fables Studio,[4] and 279 titles under Van Beuren Studios from 1928 to 1936.[5]

## Legacy[edit]

*Aesop's Fables* provided inspiration to Walt Disney to found the Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri, where he and Ub Iwerks co-created Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.[6]

## See also[edit]

* Animation in the United States during the silent era

## Notes[edit]

1. **^** From May 1924 to September 1926, TBA had released the series *Song Car-Tunes* made in DeForest Phonofilm but only the music, not dialogue, is synched to the bouncing ball gimmick.

## External links[edit]

* Paul Terry at IMDb
* Terrytoons at IMDb
* Aesop's Fables Studio at IMDb
* Van Beuren Studios at IMDb
* www.siupress.com/sites/default/files/pdf/end05%20online%20filmography%20Ward%20Final.pdf

* v
* t
* e

Fables
* *The Ass and his Masters*
* *The Ass and the Pig*
* *The Ass Carrying an Image*
* *The Ass in the Lion's Skin*
* *The Astrologer who Fell into a Well*
* *The Bear and the Travelers*
* *The Belly and the Members*
* *The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird*
* *The Bird in Borrowed Feathers*
* *The Boy Who Cried Wolf*
* *The Cat and the Mice*
* *The Cock and the Jewel*
* *The Cock, the Dog and the Fox*
* *The Crow and the Pitcher*
* *The Crow and the Snake*
* *The Deer without a Heart*
* *The Dog and Its Reflection*
* *The Dog and the Wolf*
* *The Dove and the Ant*
* *The Farmer and the Stork*
* *The Farmer and the Viper*
* *The Fir and the Bramble*
* *The Fisherman and the Little Fish*
* *The Fowler and the Snake*
* *The Fox and the Crow*
* *The Fox and the Grapes*
* *The Fox and the Lion*
* *The Fox and the Mask*
* *The Fox and the Sick Lion*
* *The Fox and the Stork*
* *The Fox and the Weasel*
* *The Fox and the Woodman*
* *The Frog and the Ox*
* *The Frogs Who Desired a King*
* *The Goat and the Vine*
* *The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs*
* *The Honest Woodcutter*
* *The Horse and the Donkey*
* *The Horse that Lost its Liberty*
* *The Lion and the Mouse*
* *The Lion, the Bear and the Fox*
* *The Man with Two Mistresses*
* *The Mischievous Dog*
* *The Miser and his Gold*
* *The Mountain in Labour*
* *The Mouse and the Oyster*
* *The North Wind and the Sun*
* *The Oak and the Reed*
* *The Old Man and Death*
* *The Old Woman and the Doctor*
* *The Rose and the Amaranth*
* *The Satyr and the Traveller*
* *The Sick Kite*
* *The Snake and the Crab*
* *The Snake in the Thorn Bush*
* *The Tortoise and the Hare*
* *Town Mouse and Country Mouse*
* *The Travellers and the Plane Tree*
* *The Trees and the Bramble*
* *The Two Pots*
* *The Walnut Tree*
* *Washing the Ethiopian White*
* *The Wolf and the Crane*
* *The Wolf and the Lamb*
* *The Woodcutter and the Trees*
 Apocryphal
* *The Bear and the Gardener*
* *Belling the Cat* (also known as *The Mice in Council*)
* *The Blindman and the Lame*
* *The Boy and the Filberts*
* *Chanticleer and the Fox*
* *The Dog in the Manger*
* *The drowned woman and her husband*
* *The Elm and the Vine*
* *The Fox and the Cat*
* *The Gourd and the Palm-tree*
* *The Hawk and the Nightingale*
* *Jumping from the frying pan into the fire*
* *The Milkmaid and Her Pail*
* *The miller, his son and the donkey*
* *The Monkey and the Cat*
* *The Priest and the Wolf*
* *The Scorpion and the Frog*
* *The Shepherd and the Lion*
* *Still Waters Run Deep*
 Related
* Panchatantra
* Perry Index
* The labyrinth of Versailles
* *The Lion's Share*
 Screen
adaptations
 Print
adaptations
* *The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian*
	+ "The Cock and the Jasp"
	+ "The Taill of how this forsaid Tod maid his Confessioun to Freir Wolf Waitskaith"
	+ "The Taill of Schir Chanticleir and the Foxe"
	+ "The Taill of the Uponlandis Mous and the Burges Mous"
 Translators
* Phaedrus
* Babrius
* Avianus
* Dositheus Magister
* Alexander Neckam
* Adémar de Chabannes
* Odo of Cheriton
* John Lydgate
* Kawanabe Kyōsai
* Laurentius Abstemius
* Roger L'Estrange
* Gabriele Faerno
* Hieronymus Osius
* Marie de France
* Robert Henryson
* Jean de La Fontaine
* Ivan Krylov
* Nicolas Trigault
* Zhang Geng
* Robert Thom
* Zhou Zuoren

Categories:

* Animated film series
* 1921 animated films
* Van Beuren Studios
* Terrytoons
* Film series introduced in 1921
* Aesop's Fables (film series)
* Works based on fables
* 1921 films