Happy Harmonies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938. Produced in Technicolor, these cartoons were very similar to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. They would occasionally feature Bosko, a character who starred in the first Looney Tunes shorts that the duo produced for Leon Schlesinger. After the first few releases, the design of Bosko changed from an ink blot to a realistic African American boy. Thirty-six cartoons were made in this series. The only official home release 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 with Time Warner in 1996. The four-disc set contains 17 of the 36 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. Harman and Ising first worked in animation in the early 1920s at Walt Disney's studio in Kansas City. When Disney moved operations to California, Harman, Ising, and fellow animator Carmen Maxwell stayed behind to try to start their own studio. Their plans went nowhere, however, and the men soon rejoined Disney to work on his Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit films. It was during this time, that Harman and Ising developed a style of cartoon drawing that would later be closely associated with, and credited to, Disney. When producer Charles Mintz ended his association with Disney, Harman and Ising went to work for Mintz, whose brother-in-law, George Winkler, set up a new animation studio to make the Oswald cartoons. The Oswald cartoons which Harman and Ising produced in 1928 and 1929 already show their distinctive style, which would later characterize their work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon series for Warner Bros. For example, in Sick Cylinders (1929) there are sequences which were later remade very closely in such Harman and Ising Warner Bros. efforts as Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930) and Bosko's Holiday (1931). The Oswald cartoons that Harman and Ising worked on are completely different from the Oswald cartoons made before and after Disney and can easily be distinguished by anyone familiar with their work. Late in 1929, Universal Pictures who owned the rights to Oswald, started its own animation studio headed by Walter Lantz, replacing Mintz and forcing Harman and Ising out of work. Classic cartoons from the early 20th century until about 1950, and classical music, early jazz and blues, some mountain music and children's tunes. Everything here is child safe and child approved. We have just about every animated movie short there is available on the internet. They come from DePatie-Freleng and all their friends including Pink Panther, Ant and the Aardvark, Looney tunes, the Inspector and Merrie Melodies. There's Fable Studios, Harvey Entertainment, Henson Studios, Hugh Harmon Productions, Ub Iwerks Studios, Chuck Jones, Van Beuren, United Artists, Columbia, Walt Disney Studios, Famous Studios, Filmation Studios, Fleischer Studios, Fox Studios, Hanna-Barbera, MGM Studios, Paramount Studios, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios. Characters?? There are all to many to list here and do them any justice. If you can think of a character that has its origins in American Animation History, we either have it or we can find it. Some cartoon videos are gone forever, however, many that have that same character in a staring role are available. All you have to do is drop us a line, and we will do our best to locate it. So, Like, subscribe and follow us and we will keep you up with things that are better than TV. Andythebeagle.

• published: 21 Apr 2013
• views: 30372