ComiColor Cartoons is a series of twenty-five animated short subjects produced by Ub Iwerks from 1933 to 1936. This cartoon series was the last produced by Iwerks' studio, Animated Pictures, under the studio's main financial backer who handled distribution rights of the films, Celebrity Pictures. The cartoons were all photographed exclusively in Cinecolor.
Most of the ComiColor entries were based upon popular fairy tales and other familiar stories, including Jack and the Beanstalk, Old Mother Hubbard, The Bremen Town Musicians, and The Headless Horseman.
Production Animated Pictures, the studio run by ex-Walt Disney Productions director and Mickey Mouse co-creator Ub Iwerks, had been producing black-and-white Flip the Frog cartoons for a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 1930 with extensive financial backing from Pat Powers, who was also formerly associated with Disney, through Powers' own company, Celebrity Productions.Barrier, 1999, p. 165 As early as June 1934, Iwerks' studio announced plans for two new series: one a black-and-white series of cartoons featuring Willie Whopper, as an extension with their MGM deal, and the other an all-color series of ComiColor cartoons.
Walt Disney had an exclusive contract with Technicolor for use of their three-strip process for his studio's short cartoons, so other studios had to opt for different color processes, which particularly used only two strips of color and resulted in more limited palettes. The ComiColor cartoons were shot with the cheaper Cinecolor process, a process which used two red-orange and green-blue strips of film for color.Barrier, 1999, p. 167 As a result of extensive financial backing from Pat Powers, the cartoons' soundtracks were recorded with Powers' Cinephone system. A number of the shorts were filmed using Iwerks' early attempt at a multiplane camera, which he built himself from the remains of a Chevrolet automobile. Several shorts also utilized the technique of rotoscoping, a process where animation is drawn over live-action footage. Circus performer Wellington Mack served as a live-action reference for such sequences.
Staff was enlarged and Iwerks' Beverly Hills studio expanded to accommodate the increased production. In the beginning, Shamus Culhane and Al Eugster, animators hired from Fleischer Studios, were appointed as the series' lead animators and directors, while Grim Natwick and Berny Wolf, two other ex-Fleischer animators, directed most entries in the Willie Whopper series.Culhane, 1986, p. 80 Culhane and Eugster fulfilled the role for at least four credited ComiColor films. Iwerks' deal with MGM ended on the Willie cartoons in 1934, with Culhane leaving for a directorial job offer at The Van Beuren Corporation soon after. With the ComiColor cartoons as Iwerks' remaining series, Grim Natwick was subsequently credited as lead animator in two cartoons, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp and The Valiant Tailor, and he contributed to the series until he resigned from the studio later that year, taking up a job offer to animate for Walt Disney on his first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.Barrier, 1999, p. 192
With no distribution deals from larger studios like MGM for the ComiColor series, distribution duties of the cartoons were primarily negotiated by Pat Powers' Celebrity Productions. Distribution rights for the series were sold to multiple smaller production companies based on state and location, organizations including Allied Pictures Corporation in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Gold Medal Film Company in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and Principal Film Exchange in New York City, among many others.
Aftermath Pat Powers continued distributing these cartoons even after financially backing out of Iwerks' studio. In the 1940s, the ComiColor cartoons received home-movie distribution of 16 mm Cinecolor prints through Castle Films. Blackhawk Films continued releasing them for home film use in the 1970s, but this time using conventional Eastmancolor film stock.
Copyrights were not renewed on most of the ComiColor cartoons, so most of them has fallen into the public domain in the United States. As a result, they are widely available on a variety of physical and digital media. All of the ComiColor cartoons are now available in the 2004 Region 2 ComiColor DVD set released by Mk2/Lobster in France. Many are available in Region 1, in particular on the Cartoons That Time Forgot series. Steve Stanchfield of Thunderbean plans on releasing the restored versions of the shorts across two Blu-ray sets called ComiColor Cartoons Collection V.1 & 2.
Filmography No.TitleRelease dateFilm if in the public domainOriginal work1Jack and the BeanstalkNovember 25, 1933"Jack and the Beanstalk", an English fairy tale2The Little Red HenFebruary 17, 1934"The Little Red Hen", an American fable3The Brave Tin SoldierApril 7, 1934"The Steadfast Tin Soldier", by Hans Christian Andersen, 2 October 18384Puss in BootsMay 19, 1934"Puss in Boots", a French fairy tale5The Queen of HeartsJune 22, 1934"The Queen of Hearts", an English poem and nursery rhyme6Aladdin and the Wonderful LampAugust 10, 1934"Aladdin", a Middle-Eastern folk tale7The Headless HorsemanSeptember 29, 1934"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", by Washington Irving, 18208The Valiant TailorOctober 27, 1934"The Brave Little Tailor" by the Brothers Grimm, 18129Don QuixoteNovember 24, 1934Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, 1605–161510Jack FrostDecember 22, 1934Jack Frost and Old Man Winter, the latter from ancient Greek mythology and Old World pagan beliefs11Little Black SamboFebruary 2, 1935The Story of Little Black Sambo, a children's book by Helen Bannerman, 189912The Bremen Town MusiciansMarch 2, 1935"Town Musicians of Bremen", a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm13Old Mother HubbardMarch 30, 1935"Old Mother Hubbard", an English nursery rhyme14Mary's Little LambApril 27, 1935"Mary Had a Little Lamb" by Sarah Josepha Hale, 183015SummertimeJune 15, 1935N/A16Sinbad the SailorJuly 26, 1935Sinbad the Sailor, Middle Eastern origin, 8th and 9th centuries A.D.17The Three BearsAugust 30, 1935“Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, an English fairy tale 18Balloon LandSeptember 30, 1935N/A19Simple SimonNovember 15, 1935"Simple Simon", an English-language children's song20Humpty DumptyDecember 27, 1935"Humpty Dumpty", an English nursery rhyme 21Ali BabaJanuary 31, 1936"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", Arabic folk tale22Tom ThumbMarch 27, 1936"Tom Thumb", English folklore23Dick Whittington's CatMay 29, 1936"Dick Whittington and His Cat", English folklore24Little Boy BlueJuly 31, 1936"Little Boy Blue", English nursery rhyme25Happy DaysSeptember 25, 1936Reg'lar Fellers, a newspaper comic strip by Gene Byrnes, 1917
See also Golden Age of American animation Color Classics Color Rhapsody Happy Harmonies Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies Noveltoons Screen Songs Phantasies Rainbow Parade Silly Symphonies Swing Symphony Modern Madcaps Puppetoons Burt Gillett's Toddle Tales Aesop's Fables
References Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, Penguin Books, 1987)
Sources
Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy, The Hand Behind the Mouse (Disney Editions, 2001) and documentary of the same name (DVD, 1999) Jeff Lenburg, The Great Cartoon Directors (Da Capo Press, 1993)