Swing Symphony

Swing Symphony is a group of musical 14 cartoon shorts, created in 1941 till 1945, which often featured top boogie-woogie musicians.[1] Directed by Walter Lantz the Swing Symphony cartoons are a more contemporary pastiche on Disney's Silly Symphonies.[2] Some of those short include the characters Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda.

Swing Symphony
The classic Swing Symphony title card from 1941–1945
Directed by	Walter Lantz Alex Lovy Ben Hardaway Emery Hawkins Shamus Culhane
Produced by	Walter Lantz
Story by	Ben Hardaway L. E. Elliot Milt Schaffer Chuck Couch
Starring	Kent Rogers Mel Blanc Zedra Conde King Jackson June Foray Sara Berner Patricia Kay Dick Nelson Walter Tetley
Music by	Darrell Calker
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Walter Lantz Productions Universal Studios
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	December 1, 1941 — March 19, 1945
Running time	7 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Background

When Ben Hardaway left Warner Bros. in 1939, he was hired by Walter Lantz to work on the storyboards for Universal Studios' cartoons, including Swing Symphony. He also supplied his voice talents for Woody Woodpecker in 1942 till 1948.[3] Darrell Calker who was involved in jazz circles, composed the music and brought in famous musicians like Nat King Cole and Meade Lux Lewis to play them.[4] A pianist Bob Zurke did a recording for the cartoon Jungle Jive before he died aged 32.

In 1943 Juke Box Jamboree was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film but lost to Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face.[5] Few of Lantz's cartoons were highlighted for stereotyping and racism, but were said by Joe Adamson as not intended to be offensive.[6]

Filmography

#	Title	Drawn By (Animator)	Characters	Identification Numbers	Release date	Availability
1007	$21 a Day - (Once a Month)	Alex Lovy, Frank Tipper	Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda	07585	December 1, 1941	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
1010	The Hams That Couldn't Be Cured	Alex Lovy, R. Somerville	Algernon Wolf, Three Little Pigs		March 4, 1942	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2
1015	Juke Box Jamboree	Verne Harding	Mouse		July 27, 1942	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2
C-1	Yankee Doodle Swing Shift	Harold Mason			September 21, 1942
C-4	Boogie Woogie Sioux	Robert Bentley	Boogie Woogie		November 30, 1942	DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 5
C-7	Cow-Cow Boogie	Harold Mason	Boogie Woogie		January 3, 1943[7]
C-10	The Egg Cracker Suite	Les Kline	Oswald the Lucky Rabbit		March 22, 1943[8]	DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 3
C-13	Pass The Biscuits Mirandy!	Paul Smith		09275	August 27, 1943[9]	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
D-1	Boogie Woogie Man	Laverne Harding, Les Kline			September 27, 1943	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2
D-3	The Greatest Man In Siam	Pat Mathews, Emery Hawkins, Grim Natwick		09585	March 27, 1944	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
D-5	Jungle Jive	Paul J. Smith, Emery Hawkins, Laverne "Verne" Harding, Lester "Les" Kline, Pat Matthews, Don Williams			May 15, 1944	DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 6
D-7	Abou Ben Boogie	Paul J. Smith, Pat Matthews, Grim Natwick, Don Williams, Les Kline, Dick Lundy, Laverne Harding	Boogie Woogie	09876	September 18, 1944	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
D-10	The Pied Piper Of Basin Street	Laverne Harding, Pat Mathews		10120	January 15, 1945	DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
D-13	Sliphorn King Of Polaroo	Pat Mathews			March 19, 1945	DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 4

See also

• Phantasies
• Noveltoons
• Modern Madcaps
• Animated Antics
• Cartune Classics
• ComiColor Cartoons
• Color Classics
• Happy Harmonies
• Merrie Melodies
• Looney Tunes
• Rainbow Parade
• Silly Symphonies
• Color Rhapsody
• Puppetoons

References

1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 140. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
2. "Abou Ben Boogie - Cartoon Research". Jerry Beck. March 25, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
3. Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons. Applause Theater & Cinema Books. p. 127.
4. Goldmark, Daniel; Taylor, Yuval (2002). The Cartoon Music Book. A Capella Books. p. 10.
5. "The 15th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
6. Cohen, Karl F. (2006). Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 50.
7. Shull, Michael S.; Wilt, David E. Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939–1945. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 132.
8. "The Vault". www2.boxoffice.com. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
9. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. The Library of Congress. 1970. p. 124.

External links

• Swing Symphony at IMDB
• Swing Symphony at BCDB