''Willoughby's Magic Hat'' is a ''

Phantasies ''Phantasy'' is a series of animated cartoons produced by the Screen Gems studio for Columbia Pictures from 1939 to 1946. The series, featuring characters such as Willoughby Wren and Superkatt, is notable as being the last theatrical animate ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short subject A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film or ...

directed by Bob Wickersham, produced by

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...

, and released to theatres by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

on April 20, 1943. The short features the character of a diminutive, weak man named Willoughby Wren, who finds he is granted super-strength by wearing a cap woven from the hair of

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

. He then uses his newfound powers to save a young woman from the clutches of an evil

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's ...

-like robot, but finds that his powers vanish when the hat falls off or is removed from his head, which seems to happen often. At these times, the announcer would call to Willoughby, "Willoughby! Willoughby! The hat, Willoughby! The hat!" The film is notable for its use of stylistic design and unusual camera angles, the influence of Screen Gem employees who had defected from

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

following the 1941 Disney animator's strike. The designer for ''Willoughby's Magic Hat'', Zack Schwartz, later became one of the co-founders of

United Productions of America United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio and later distribution company founded in 1941 as Industrial Film and Poster Service by former Walt Disney Productions employees. Beginning with industrial a ...

(UPA), a company that specialized in experimental and avant-garde animated shorts. Several later Screen Gems shorts featured the Willoughby character, something of an unusual

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

References

External links

* 1943 animated short films American animated short films Columbia Pictures short films American black-and-white films Screen Gems short films Columbia Pictures animated short films {{short-animation-film-stub