''Happy Harmonies'' is the name of a series of thirty-seven

animated cartoons Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938. Produced in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special ...

, these cartoons were very similar to

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

's '' Silly Symphonies''. They would occasionally feature Bosko, a character who starred in the first

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

shorts that the duo produced for Leon Schlesinger. After the first two releases, the design of Bosko changed from an "ink blot" to a more realistic

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

boy. The two final titles in the series were originally produced by Harman and Ising as Silly Symphonies cartoons. Disney originally had Harman and Ising create three shorts for Disney, but when they only kept one of their three shorts, " Merbabies", the copyrights to the other two ("Pipe Dreams" and "The Little Bantamweight") were sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies.

List of cartoons

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

Home media

The only official home release to date containing a significant number of the ''Happy Harmonies'' film shorts is the ''Happy Harmonies Cartoon Classics'' laserdisc box set. The laserdisc set was released in 1994 by MGM/UA Home Video, which predated the merger of

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (l ...

with

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

in 1996. The four-disc set contains 17 of the 37 Happy Harmonies shorts while the remaining 25 shorts include one side of six Barney Bear cartoons, the 1939 animated short '' Peace on Earth'' and the 1940 animated short '' The Milky Way''. In 1999, MGM paid

$225 million to end its lease of distributing content owned by

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing t ...

prior to 1996 (the cartoons are part of the pre-1986 MGM library which Turner had purchased 13 years previously). While the copyrights remain with Turner, distribution rights are now with Warner Bros., current parent company to Turner.

References

External links

* {{Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoons Film series introduced in 1934 Animated short film series Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films American animation anthology series Anthology film series