''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is a series of black and white theatrical short sound films produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

with

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

from 1930 to 1932. Each short is hosted by

Robert Ripley LeRoy Robert Ripley (February 22, 1890 – May 27, 1949) was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist, who is known for creating the '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' newspaper panel series, television show, and radio sho ...

, creator and founder of the franchise of the same name. These shorts were usually shown in Ripley's Museums. The shorts were then sold to

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

, who in turn sold to

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, who in turn sold these shorts to

Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...

under

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Co. is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner Entertainment on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was lar ...

, and ran these shorts on

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

. In addition, the rights were given back to Warner Bros. in 1996 after their merger with Turner Entertainment.

Episodes

The titles of the series were all numbered accordingly: ** No. 1 / Vitaphone No. 1005, released May 4, 1930 ** No. 2 / Vitaphone No. 1038, June 11, 1930 ** No. 3 / Vitaphone No. 1053, August 31, 1930 (Film Daily review date) ** No. 4 / Vitaphone No. 1067, released September 5, 1930 ** No. 5 / Vitaphone No. 1093, released September 12, 1930 ** No. 6 / Vitaphone No. 1109, November 5, 1930 ** No. 7 / Vitaphone No. 1148, January 5, 1931 (features Medal of Honor recipient

Daniel R. Edwards Daniel Richmond Edwards (April 9, 1897 – October 21, 1967) was an American soldier serving in the United States Army during World War I who received the Medal of Honor for bravery. Biography Edwards was born April 9, 1897, in Mooreville, Te ...

) ** No. 8 / Vitaphone No. 1172, February 20, 1931 ** No. 9 / Vitaphone No. 1189, released May 2, 1931 ** No. 10 / Vitaphone No. 1197, released July 5, 1931 ** No. 11 / Vitaphone No. 1211, released July 12, 1931 ** No. 12 / Vitaphone No. 1267, released September 1931 (with extensive travelogue footage of Egypt) ** No. 2-1 / Vitaphone No. 1282, released November 5, 1931 (focuses on Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco) ** No. 2-2 / Vitaphone No. 1294, released December 3, 1931 ** No. 2-3 / Vitaphone No. 1304, released December 1931 ** No. 2-4 / Vitaphone No. 1320, released January 2, 1932 (features child actor Billy Hayes visiting "Believe It or Not Land") ** No. 2-5 / Vitaphone No. 1336, released March 20, 1932 ** No. 2-6 / Vitaphone No. 1346, released March 13, 1932 ** No. 2-7 / Vitaphone No. 1361 ** No. 2-8 / Vitaphone No. 1362 ** No. 2-9 / Vitaphone No. 1363, April 23, 1932 ** No. 2-10 / Vitaphone No. 1364, April 23, 1932 ** No. 2-11 / Vitaphone No. 1412, released June 1932 ** No. 2-12 / Vitaphone No. 1427, July 1932

Home media

A 2-DVD release featuring 24 of these theatrical shorts is available in the United States beginning March 16, 2010, from

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

, through their Warner Archive manufacture-on-demand program. Directors on the shorts included

Murray Roth Murray Roth (November 2, 1893 - 1938) was a writer and director of films in the United States. Roth was the writer for film producer and director Bryan Foy, and by the late 1920s began directing shorts in Brooklyn such as ''Lamchops''. He direct ...

(on the first five),

Roy Mack Roy Francis McGillicuddy (August 27, 1888 – February 11, 1960), known as Roy Mack, was an American baseball team executive owner who co-owned the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League with his father Connie Mack and brother Earle Mack ...

and Alfred J. Goulding (latter half of second season). Leo Donnelly assisted later in the commentary.

References

{{Ripley's Believe It or Not! Ripley's Believe It or Not! Warner Bros. short films Vitaphone short films Film series introduced in 1930