''My Old Kentucky Home'' is a short animation film originally released in June 1926, by Max and

Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Fleischer was the ...

of Fleischer Studios as one of the

Song Car-Tunes '' Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes'', ''Song Car-Tunes'', or (some sources erroneously say) ''Sound Car-Tunes'', is a series of short three-minute animated films produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer between May 1924 and September 1927, pioneering t ...

series. The series, between May 1924 and September 1926, eventually totaled 36 films, of which 19 were made with sound. This cartoon features the original lyrics of "

My Old Kentucky Home "My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!" is a sentimental ballad written by Stephen Foster, probably composed in 1852. It was published in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York. Foster was likely inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-sla ...

" (1853) by

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, inc ...

, and was recorded in the Lee de Forest

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. Introduction In 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film proce ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...

system. ''My Old Kentucky Home'' appears to be the first attempt at animated dialogue in cartoon history, as an unnamed dog, an early prototype of future studio mascot

Bimbo Bimbo is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized, naive, and unintelligent woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypic ...

, in the film mouths the words "Follow the ball, and join in, everybody" in remarkable synchronization though the animation was somewhat limited, making sure that lip-synch was synchronized perfectly. The Fleischers had previously started the follow the bouncing ball gimmick in their Song Car-Tune ''

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean", or simply "My Bonnie", is a traditional Scottish folk song that is popular in Western culture. It is listed in Roud Folk Song Index as No. 1422. The song has been recorded by numerous artists since the beginning of ...

'' (released September 15, 1925). This film came two years after the Fleischers started the Song Car-Tune series in May 1924. A clip from the film is used in the opening credits of the '' Futurama'' episode "

Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love? "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" is the fifth episode in the second season of the American animated television series '' Futurama'', and the 18th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on F ...

Reception

Motion Picture News The ''Motion Picture News'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1913 to 1930. History The publication was created through the 1913 merger of the ''Moving Picture News'' founded in 1908 and ''The Exhibitors' Times'', founded ...

'' (March 23, 1926): "The old familiar favorite 'My Old Kentucky Home' furnishes the subject for this Max Fleischer Song Car-Tune. The verses are shown in the usual manner and the comedy handling of the chorus shows a darky girl leaping from word to word doing stunts... This should prove one of the most popular of the series." ''

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' (March 28, 1926): "Ko-Ko and his quartet render this time the old southern classic 'My Old Kentucky Home', with the help of the audience of course. Fleischer has a new instruction for the opening, showing the quartet as a band marching and playing, and winding up on the stage of the theatre. There is always a humorous touch added to the chorus of the song. This time in the shape of a little

pickaninny Pickaninny (also picaninny, piccaninny or pickinninie) is a pidgin word for a small child, possibly derived from the Portuguese ('boy, child, very small, tiny'). In North America, ''pickaninny'' is a racial slur for African American childr ...

who dances along on top of the words."

References

External links

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''My Old Kentucky Home'' at SilentEra
1926 short films American musical comedy films 1920s musical comedy films American black-and-white films 1920s American animated films Phonofilm short films Fleischer Studios short films American silent short films 1926 animated films Short films directed by Dave Fleischer 1926 comedy films Early sound films 1920s English-language films American animated short films Silent American comedy films {{1920s-short-animation-film-stub