Kartunes

Title card of the series

Kartunes is a series of 12 theatrical short subjects produced by Famous Studios and released by for Paramount Pictures from 1951 to 1953.[1] These were identical in format to the studio's previous Screen Songs cartoons. The first half of each subject had various blackout gags related to the premise of the film, and the second half invited the audience to sing along "with the bouncing ball" as song lyrics were shown on the screen. The opening theme of each cartoon was "Sing a Song of Sixpence".

After Paramount Pictures lost the rights to the Screen Songs name, and the term "Bouncing Ball" couldn't be used anymore, the series became known as Kartunes. Even though the series ended in 1953, Famous quietly made two more "bouncing ball" shorts, Candy Cabaret (released in 1954) and Hobo's Holiday (released in 1963), as part of the Noveltoons series.

Filmography

Film Theme Song Director Story Animation Scenics Original release date
Vegetable Vaudeville Vegetables "Yes! We Have No Bananas" I. Sparber Larz Bourne Myron Waldman
Nick Tafuri
Robert Little November 9, 1951
Snooze Reel Newsreels "I Got Spurs that Jingle Jangle Jingle" Seymour Kneitel Joe Stultz Al Eugster
Wm. B. Pattengill
Robert Owen December 28, 1951
Off We Glow Insects "The Glow-Worm" I. Sparber Larz Bourne
Tex Henson
Dave Tendlar
Tom Golden
Robert Little February 29, 1952
Fun at the Fair Amusement Park "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" Larz Bourne Al Eugster
Wm. B. Pattengill
Robert Owen May 9, 1952
Dizzy Dinosaurs Prehistory "Sweet Adeline" Seymour Kneitel I. Klein Myron Waldman
Gordon Whittier
Robert Little July 4, 1952
Gag and Baggage Trains "I've Been Working on the Railroad" I. Sparber Larz Bourne Dave Tendlar
Tom Golden
August 8, 1952
Forest Fantasy Night "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" Seymour Kneitel I. Klein Myron Waldman
Larry Silverman
Anton Loeb November 14, 1952
Hysterical History U.S.A. History "Yankee Doodle Boy" I. Sparber Irving Spector Al Eugster
George Germanetti
Robert Owen January 23, 1953
Philharmaniacs Orchestra "Alexander's Ragtime Band" Seymour Kneitel I. Klein Tom Johnson
John Gentilella
Jack Henegan April 3, 1953
Aero-Nutics Airplanes "Come Josephine in My Flying Machine" Irving Spector Al Eugster
George Germanetti
Robert Owen May 8, 1953
Invention Convention Applied Science "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" I. Sparber I. Klein Al Eugster
Wm. B. Pattengill
Anton Loeb June 10, 1953
No Place Like Rome Italy "Oh Ma-Ma (The Butcher Boy)" Irving Spector Al Eugster
George Germanetti
Jack Henegan July 31, 1953

Note: Hysterical History is the only Kartunes short in the public domain.
Note 2: Dizzy Dinosaurs and Forest Fantasy are the only Kartune films which featuring Inchy the Worm.

TV distribution

The cartoons were later sold to TV distribution by Harvey Films to replace the original titles with the Harvey reissued ones, later being syndicated by Worldvision Enterprises. Currently, the Harvey reissued cartoons are distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution through its DreamWorks Animation subsidiary and their DreamWorks Classics unit.

References

  1. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 97. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.