ComiColor Cartoons

The ComiColor Cartoon series was a series of 25 animated short subjects produced by the Ub Iwerks studio from 1933 to 1936. The series was the last produced by the studio; after losing distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, the Iwerks studio's senior company Celebrity Pictures (run by Pat Powers) had to distribute the films itself. The series was shot exclusively in Cinecolor.

ComiColor opening title, 1933.

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. Grim Natwick, Al Eugster, and Shamus Culhane were among the series' lead animators/directors, and a number of the shorts were filmed using Iwerks' multiplane camera, which he built himself from the remains of a Chevrolet automobile.

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.

Filmography

Some of these short films are in the public domain. An asterisk (*) next to the original release date indicates that such titles are in the public domain. All shorts produced and released in the years 1934, 1935 and 1936, with the exception of "Little Black Sambo", are in the public domain.

1933–34

Film	Original release date
Jack and the Beanstalk	November 25, 1933 *
The Little Red Hen	February 17, 1934
The Brave Tin Soldier	April 7
Puss in Boots	May 19 *
The Queen of Hearts	June 22
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp	August 10 *
The Headless Horseman	September 29 *
The Valiant Tailor (The King's Tailor - Castle Films)	October 27 *
Don Quixote	November 24
Jack Frost	December 22 *

1935

Film	Original release date
Little Black Sambo	February 2, 1935 *
The Bremen Town Musicians	March 2 *
Old Mother Hubbard	March 30 *
Mary's Little Lamb	April 27 *
Summertime	June 15 *
Sinbad the Sailor	July 26 *
The Three Bears	August 30 *
Balloon Land (The Pincushion Man - Castle Films)	September 27 *
Simple Simon	November 15 *
Humpty Dumpty	December 27 *

1936

Film	Original release date
Ali Baba	January 31, 1936 *
Tom Thumb	March 27 *
Dick Whittington's Cat	May 29 *
Little Boy Blue (The Big Bad Wolf - Castle Films)	July 31 *
Happy Days	September 25 *

See also

• The Golden Age of American animation
• Cartune Classics
• Color Classics
• Color Rhapsodies
• Happy Harmonies
• Merrie Melodies
• Rainbow Parade
• Silly Symphonies
• Swing Symphony
• Puppetoons

References

• Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy, The Hand Behind the Mouse (Disney Editions, 2001) and documentary of the same name (DVD, 1999)
• Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (Penguin Books, 1987)
• Jeff Lenburg, The Great Cartoon Directors (Da Capo Press, 1993)