What B&W Disney shorts were colorized? And by whom?

[Javeman]

Because I clearly remember seeing "Orphan Benefit" (not the actual remake, this version I sawhad Mickey with black dot eyes) and "Mickey's Service Station" in color. It wasn't until a while I found out they were originally made in B&W.

Did Disney colorize these shorts themselves? Because the quality was certainly better than a Popeye or Porky redrawn.

[Cartman]

The cartoons were colorized by computer so, yes they would look better. As for b&w-colorized Disney shorts I can think of off hand:


Mickey's Nightmare
Shanghaied
The Gallopin' Gaucho
The Barnyard Broadcast
The Duck Hunt
Mickey's Good Deed
The Mad Doctor
Mickey Steps Out
The Whoopee Party
Playful Pan (Silly Symphony)
Mickey's Choo Choo
The Jazz Fool

[Geezil]

As for who did the colorizing, IIRC, that wasn't Disney (curiously enough) but an independent outfit called American Color Technologies. And those very handsomely done versions turned up quite often on the old & far superior Disney Channel.

(It's just too bad that CST never was able to get its hands on the B&W Popeyes as well, back when Ted Turner was so hot to slap on those pastels no matter what ... :( )

[Cool Cat]

You forget "Mickey's Birthday".

[Scaramanga]

I've also got a colorized version of Ye Olden Days.

[Daff Doc]

Also THE DOGNAPPER was one of a few Disney shorts redrawn. And there was a colorized GULLIVER MICKEY which I can't remember if it was redrawn or by computer. I think it was the former.:mickey:

[David Gerstein]

To the best of my knowledge, the colorized Mickeys are

1928
1 GALLOPIN' GAUCHO
2 THE BARN DANCE

1929
3 MICKEY'S CHOO-CHOO
4 THE JAZZ FOOL
5 WILD WAVES

1930
6 THE CHAIN GANG [not aired domestically in color AFAIK]
7 THE PICNIC

1931
8 THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
9 THE CASTAWAY
10 MICKEY STEPS OUT
11 BLUE RHYTHM
12 FISHIN' AROUND
13 THE BARNYARD BROADCAST
14 THE BEACH PARTY
15 MICKEY CUTS UP
16 MICKEY'S ORPHANS

1932
17 THE DUCK HUNT
18 THE MAD DOG
19 MICKEY'S REVUE
20 MICKEY'S NIGHTMARE
21 THE WHOOPEE PARTY
22 TOUCHDOWN MICKEY
23 THE WAYWARD CANARY
24 THE KLONDIKE KID
25 MICKEY'S GOOD DEED

1933
26 BUILDING A BUILDING
27 THE MAD DOCTOR
28 YE OLDEN DAYS
29 THE MAIL PILOT
30 MICKEY'S MECHANICAL MAN
31 MICKEY'S GALA PREMIERE
32 PUPPY LOVE
33 THE STEEPLECHASE
34 THE PET STORE
35 GIANTLAND

1934
36 SHANGHAIED
37 CAMPING OUT
38 PLAYFUL PLUTO
39 GULLIVER MICKEY
40 MICKEY'S STEAMROLLER
41 MICKEY PLAYS PAPA
42 THE DOGNAPPER
43 TWO-GUN MICKEY

1935
44 MICKEY'S SERVICE STATION
45 MICKEY'S KANGAROO

Forty-five cartoons is a nice round number, but I'm not convinced that's all of them. Javeman, you recall seeing ORPHANS' BENEFIT colorized; I think I recall Disney Channel execs once telling me that PIONEER DAYS and MICKEY IN ARABIA had been colorized as well, but that they chose not to show them (this was 1993). If I'm remembering right, that makes 48— a number that still looks suspiciously incomplete.

[Javeman]

I'm positive I saw Orphans Benefit colorized, and no, I'm not misremembering it for the remake, because Mickey and Donald didn't have the updated designs in this one. I also remember renting a tape entitled "Mickey's Golden Anniversary" (in spanish) which featured many title card-less Mickey cartoons with various narrative segments between some of the shorts. One of them featured a brief talk on how the design of Mickey changed through the years, and had side-by-side comparison of clips from both versions of Orphans Benefit, both of which were in color.

[Studio Toledo]

Also THE DOGNAPPER was one of a few Disney shorts redrawn. And there was a colorized GULLIVER MICKEY which I can't remember if it was redrawn or by computer. I think it was the former.:mickey:

The more I think about it, imagine how awful it would've been if the B&Ws were just sent over to Korea and given the same treatment that ruined other such B&W gems? Just have an ugly thought in my head of how the opening and closing title cards for Steamboat Willie might look if the background was a dark red and the circle Mickey and Minnie hold at the end was color blue or something. Lord knows what kind of wacky color choices could be concocted so easily.

[HorseFeathers]

:daffy: Not to mention those cartoons with a dark brown Daffy Duck. Yech! Now that was dithpicable!

[YPSmitGimmick]

Also a computer colorized version of "The Spider and the Fly" (1931, SS) exist.

[David Gerstein]

Hey, YPS— I didn't know about that one before, but DuckFilm cites it too; you've got it! And look how things work out now.

The 45 Mickeys I initially listed,
plus PLAYFUL PAN
plus THE SPIDER AND THE FLY
plus ORPHANS' BENEFIT 1934 version (thanks Javeman)
plus PIONEER DAYS (thanks Disney Channel)
plus MICKEY IN ARABIA (thanks Disney Channel)

equals a nice, round number of fifty colorizations!

So it seems likely that this might just be the whole lot. The only nit is that I don't entirely trust my memory re: Disney's word on PIONEER DAYS and MICKEY IN ARABIA, in which case I might be wrong about one of them and another episode (as yet unknown to me) could be colorized instead.

Back in the days of Vault Disney on the Disney Channel, some Ink and Paint Club episodes played black and white cartoons in colorized form with the color turned off. They still show signs of the color that was there (Mickey's shorts are dark gray instead of the original white, and the titles still mention American Color Technologies). Anyone got an I&PC recording of PIONEER DAYS to inspect for these telltale signs?

[David Gerstein]

The more I think about it, imagine how awful it would've been if the B&Ws were just sent over to Korea and given the same treatment that ruined other such B&W gems?In the mid-1980s, Disney actually did commission (http://calvincrowe.tripod.com/redrawn/misc.htm) Korean colorizations of ten Mickey cartoons. The Disney Channel aired them as filler now and then, as well as using their picture elements for some in-house music videos.

Sadly, this was before I had a VCR. But I can attest to having seen a redrawn BLUE RHYTHM— replete with a typical redrawing error (scene where Minnie's undies move up and down her legs while she dances: rather than moving up and down, they simply jitter in place).
Apparently PLANE CRAZY was also redrawn. I didn't see it personally, but a friend who did mentioned to me that the cow was colored purple!

It seems these redrawn Mickeys never went into regular rotation on any program (though I'd love to be proven wrong on this, as I'd like to get copies of them!). When the syndicated DIS KIDS/TOONTOWN KIDS (c. 1991) and the Disney Channel's MOUSE TRACKS and QUACK ATTACK (1992) began using colorized cartoons in large numbers, there were no redrawns among them.

[Studio Toledo]

In the mid-1980s, Disney actually did commission (http://calvincrowe.tripod.com/redrawn/misc.htm) Korean colorizations of ten Mickey cartoons. The Disney Channel aired them as filler now and then, as well as using their picture elements for some in-house music videos.

Surprised I don't remember any of it.

Sadly, this was before I had a VCR. But I can attest to having seen a redrawn BLUE RHYTHM— replete with a typical redrawing error (scene where Minnie's undies move up and down her legs while she dances: rather than moving up and down, they simply jitter in place).

That must've been a good hackjob on the Korean's part.

Apparently PLANE CRAZY was also redrawn. I didn't see it personally, but a friend who did mentioned to me that the cow was colored purple!

I just feel I want to mock what that cartoon would be like! Complete with flies that got stuck inbetween cel levels and characters that appear to be floating above the background, given the shotty equipment the Koreans had to execute these films (perhaps a finger or hand might get in the way if you're lucky)!

It seems these redrawn Mickeys never went into regular rotation on any program (though I'd love to be proven wrong on this, as I'd like to get copies of them!).

I would just die if someone send me those!

A redrawn version iof the re-release titles would also be amusing to see how well they could try to emulate the backgrounds and the lettering without any crazy misprints!

When the syndicated DIS KIDS/TOONTOWN KIDS (c. 1991) and the Disney Channel's MOUSE TRACKS and QUACK ATTACK (1992) began using colorized cartoons in large numbers, there were no redrawns among them.

Glad I only remember seeing them in black & white before then.

[Ray Pointer]

As for who did the colorizing, IIRC, that wasn't Disney (curiously enough) but an independent outfit called American Color Technologies. And those very handsomely done versions turned up quite often on the old & far superior Disney Channel.

(It's just too bad that CST never was able to get its hands on the B&W Popeyes as well, back when Ted Turner was so hot to slap on those pastels no matter what ... :( )

Back in 1990, I visited an outfit in Carlsbad, California that had just finished the colorization of the Disney black and white cartoons and was then doing the OSWALDs for Universal. I was taken through the facility, and had to sign a non-disclosure. To my recollection, this was not American Color Technologies, but some company by another name. This same company was bidding on ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES and was interested in me because I had experience in producing series television episodes. Since that was 15 years ago, and I was not hired, I may not have records of that any longer, but ACT does not seem right, unles they changed their name.

[Geezil]

Back in 1990, I visited an outfit in Carlsbad, California that had just finished the colorization of the Disney black and white cartoons and was then doing the OSWALDs for Universal. I was taken through the facility, and had to sign a non-disclosure. To my recollection, this was not American Color Technologies, but some company by another name. This same company was bidding on ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES and was interested in me because I had experience in producing series television episodes. Since that was 15 years ago, and I was not hired, I may not have records of that any longer, but ACT does not seem right, unless they changed their name.

Fair enough, but here's my source of the ACT name from earlier in this thread, which fooled me enough in turn to go back and edit my own previous reference to "Color Systems Technologies" (whatever that might have been):

Back in the days of Vault Disney on the Disney Channel, some Ink and Paint Club episodes played black and white cartoons in colorized form with the color turned off. They still show signs of the color that was there (Mickey's shorts are dark gray instead of the original white, and the titles still mention American Color Technologies). Anyone got an I&PC recording of PIONEER DAYS to inspect for these telltale signs?

So, is anyone else fearless enough to venture a guess as to which name we're all looking for here? (I've Google'd[TM] this one to death already, to little avail.) Thanks.