1939 in animation

This is a list of events related to film and television animation of 1939.

Years in animation:	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
Years:	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942

Events

January

• January 27: Walter Lantz's Life Begins for Andy Panda premiers, which marks the debut of Andy Panda.[1][2]
• January 28: Tex Avery's Hamateur Night premiers.[3]

February

• February 18: Hamilton Luske's Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Surprise Party premiers.[4]
• February 23: 11th Academy Awards: The Walt Disney Company's Ferdinand the Bull, directed by Dick Rickard, wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.[5]

March

• March 11: Tex Avery's A Day at the Zoo premiers.[6]
• March 17: The Walt Disney Company releases Goofy and Wilbur, directed by Dick Huemer, which is the first cartoon to star Goofy solo, launching the Goofy animated series.[7]
• March 25: Chuck Jones' Prest-O Change-O premiers.[8]

April

• April 7: Walt Disney's The Ugly Duckling, directed by Jack Cutting and Clyde Geronimi, premiers.[9]
• April 22: Chuck Jones' Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur premiers.[10]

June

• June 10: Harman & Ising's The Bear That Couldn't Sleep is released, which marks the debut of Barney Bear.[11]

July

• July 1: Chuck Jones' Porky Pig cartoon Old Glory premiers, which stands out for being a very serious and educational propaganda cartoon about the Pledge of Allegiance.[12]
• July 7: The final Betty Boop cartoon Rhythm on the Reservation premiers.[13]
• July 21: Clyde Geronimi's Mickey Mouse cartoon The Pointer premiers. In the cartoon Mickey and Pluto go hunting and encounter a bear.[14]

September

• September 1:
  • Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon The Autograph Hound premiers.[15]
  • BBC One broadcasts the Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Premier on television. Afterwards it ceases all broadcasting because of the outbreak of World War II.[16] An urban legend about this final broadcast claims that due to the sudden outbreak of the war the BBC cut the cartoon short, and when BBC-TV resumed after the conflict, it was picked up at the very point it had been interrupted. Despite this widespread belief, the cartoon was shown in its entirety and then followed by tuning signals. On 7 June 1946, the day BBC television broadcasts resumed after the war, Mickey’s Gala Premier was shown again.[17]

December

• December 9: Hugh Harman's Peace on Earth premiers, which will become a classic.[18]
• December 22: The Fleischer Studios release Gulliver's Travels, the second American feature-length animated film.[19]

Specific date unknown

• In Antwerp Ray Goossens, Henri Winkeler, Jules Luyckx and Edmond Roex establish their own animation studio, AFIM (Antwerpse Filmmaatschappij). It will exist until 1944.[20]
• Kenzō Masaoka's Benkei tai Ushiwaka premiers.[21]

Films released

Deaths

January

• January 20: Victor Bergdahl, Swedish animator and comics artist (Kapten Grogg), dies at age 60.[22][23]

October

• October 10: Benjamin Rabier, French comics artist, illustrator, animator and advertising artist (Gédéon, Tintin-Lutin, designed La Vache Qui Rit), passes away at age 74.[24]

December

• December 30: Charles Mintz, American animated film producer (Winkler Pictures, continued Oswald the Lucky Rabbit), dies at age 50.[25][26]

Notes

1. Glenn Collins (March 23, 1994). "Walter Lantz, 93, the Creator Of Woody Woodpecker, Is Dead". The New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
2. Charles Solomon (1989). Enchanted drawings: the history of animation. Knopf. pp. 90. ISBN 0-394-54684-9.
3. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031401/
4. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168072/
5. "The 11th Academy Awards (1939) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031213/
7. "Cartoons of 1939: 035 Goofy and WIlber". The Cartoons of Project: 1939. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
8. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031822/
9. "The Ugly Duckling". www.bcdb.com
10. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031202/
11. http://www.toonopedia.com/b_bear.htm Barney Bear
12. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031749/
13. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031855/
14. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031803/
15. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031064/
16. Thomson, Ernest C (1 September 2016). "Au Revoir, Television". Transdiffusion. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
17. The TV Room Plus: TV Listings Archived 2012-07-15 at Archive.today
18. "Hugh Harman, 79, Creator Of 'Looney Tunes' Cartoons". New York Times. November 30, 1982.
19. Bendazzi, p. 91
20. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/goossens_ray.htm
21. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418497/
22. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/bergdahl_victor.htm
23. Bendazzi, p. 45
24. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/r/rabier_benjamin.htm
25. "In Memoriam: Charles Mintz". Scrappyland. 2012-09-24. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
26. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Social Security Administration.

References

• Bendazzi, Giannalberto (1994). Cartoons: One hundred years of cinema animation. Translated by Anna Taraboletti-Segre. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-20937-4.

See also

• List of anime by release date (1939–1945)