theatrical specials?

[MF TOON]

Apart from the 3 Flesicher two-reelers and the various Disney featurettes, did any of the other Hollywood studios try their hand at producing longer mini-features or extended short specials that surpassed the general seven minute entry of classic theatrical cartoons?

With the exception of Carrotblanca which is the only Warner production that I can think of which fits the context.


Were there any others, I'm curious?

[Kaleido]

Do WB's rejected television pilots Philbert and The Adventures of the Road Runner count?

[Sogturtle]

Apart from the 3 Flesicher two-reelers and the various Disney featurettes, did any of the other Hollywood studios try their hand at producing longer mini-features or extended short specials that surpassed the general seven minute entry of classic theatrical cartoons?

With the exception of Carrotblanca which is the only Warner production that I can think of which fits the context.

Were there any others, I'm curious?

MF Toon~

Well Kaleido already mentioned "Philbert" and "Adventures Of The Roadrunner" both of which were released theatrically but began life as TV pilots that went unsold (and thus greatly hastened the closing of the Warner's cartoon studio).

The other one that jumps to my mind was Harman-Ising's independent "The Nutcracker", a 2-reeler that was about half done when they signed their MGM contract in 1934. Because of their MGM commitment it was never finished though at least one of the animators held onto some of his artwork from it till death.

We can stretch your defintions quite a bit and include Warners "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" if you like....:)

[JERRY BECK]

Apart from the 3 Flesicher two-reelers and the various Disney featurettes, did any of the other Hollywood studios try their hand at producing longer mini-features or extended short specials that surpassed the general seven minute entry of classic theatrical cartoons?

With the exception of Carrotblanca which is the only Warner production that I can think of which fits the context.


Were there any others, I'm curious?


Welll... First of all there were 5 Fleischer two-reelers (Are you forgetting THE RAVEN and RAGGEDY ANN AND RAGGEDY ANDY?).

Next, Paramount released a "special" called ABNER THE BASEBALL in 1961. Though it was sold as a "two reeler" it was really a long one-reeler (about ten full minutes long).

Warner Bros. made a DAFFY DUCK VS. MARVIN THE MARTIAN 15 minute 3-D short, but technically it wasn't released in the U.S. (it was just shown at the New York Warner Bros. store - and the Australian theme park it was originally commisioned for).

[MF TOON]

Ah woops, I did forget about Raggedy Ann & The Raven!

:o


Soggy, that's just the sort of info I was hoping to dig up!

Has the existing footage ever been seen by anyone outside of those involved in the production and has it ever turned up publically in any form to date? That's really fascinating, I would have loved to see how it was handeled. I imagine it would have played similar to an extended reel of some of the earlier musical-oriented MGM Happy Harmony shorts. I assume it would have been in black & white also, right? Really interesting - do you know of any resources where I might find some early sketches or layouts or any production stills from the film, if they still exist?


Jerry, thanks for the info about the Paramount special. I'd never heard of that one either. I imagine by 1961 it would have been ordered on a pretty tight budget... was this cartoon any good? I'm gonna try to keep an eye out for it.

Thanks for the interesting info guys!

[MF TOON]

Btw, does anyone know if the 1942 Fleicher film, "The Raven", is currently under Republic's license?

I would really love to see this offered as a bonus feature on DVD someday...

[Sogturtle]

Ah woops, I did forget about Raggedy Ann & The Raven!

:o

Soggy, that's just the sort of info I was hoping to dig up!

Has the existing footage ever been seen by anyone outside of those involved in the production and has it ever turned up publically in any form to date? That's really fascinating, I would have loved to see how it was handeled. I imagine it would have played similar to an extended reel of some of the earlier musical-oriented MGM Happy Harmony shorts. I assume it would have been in black & white also, right? Really interesting - do you know of any resources where I might find some early sketches or layouts or any production stills from the film, if they still exist?


Jerry, thanks for the info about the Paramount special. I'd never heard of that one either. I imagine by 1961 it would have been ordered on a pretty tight budget... was this cartoon any good? I'm gonna try to keep an eye out for it.

Thanks for the interesting info guys!

MFToon~

Answering as best I can from scant information on "The Nutcracker", I discovered its production from an article written back in 1934 (that I tracked down many, many years back)... Since "The Nutcracker" was in production after the Harman-Ising LT/MM and Van Beuren periods and just before the MGM era then we have to ASSUME that it would have been a sort of transitional film..."Merrie Melodies meets Happy Harmonies";) kind of mini-epic.

I don't THINK there was any totally finished footage... Being honest I have one (maybe two) animation drawings from it, while Mike Barrier estimates that it was about half done. From what that implies it means that storyboarding and directing were fully completed and the animation team was hard at work on it. (Which for a 20 minute toon would have meant about 7000 drawings completed).

Do I know of any extant footage? Nooooo... Although since Hugh and Rudy were anxious to attain to Disney's ever rising standards then we have to ASSUME that pencil tests were underway for each animator's footage. I don't KNOW of any that survive though. As far as 'resources' for examples/samples of still existing art goes... Barrier during the final "Funnyworld" days did attain a model sheet (as I recall) and published it in an article entitled "Cartoons That Never Were".

Lastly... it's intriguing that Hugh Harman kept the nearly completed and unreleased Cubby Bear "Mischievous Mice" and then started selling prints of it on his own in the Forties (despite his non-ownership of Cubby Bear). Buuuuut he failed to ever try to followup and finish the very film that would've followed "Mischievous Mice", namely "The Nutcracker"!! :bosko: