BoxOffice Magazine, Octber 21, 1939

BoxOffice, October 21, 1939

p26
"Other labor developments: The jurisdictional fate of animators and other film cartoonists is being disputed by the Screen Cartoonists Guild and the lATSE cameramen's local, with the Society of Motion Picture Film Editors and the Federation of Screen Cartoonists the latter comprising members of Walt Disney's staff exclusively also on the fringes of the debate. Both the SCG and the LA claim jurisdiction over these craftsmen in all animated cartoon plants and have filed
certification petitions with the NLRB. The waived its rights over cutters in cartoon units to the film editors, but tlie lA cameramen claim in their petition that cutters must be included within the lA
fold.

The lA

local also insists that Dis-
ney's FSC be disbanded and that its members apply for lA cards. Unit Managers Guild met to discuss the status of its members at Republic and other independent studios and to lay plans for a drive to sign the top independent plants to the SDG basic agreement under which the operates. Society of Motion Picture Art Directors is preparing a draft of demands for a closed shop to be submitted shortly to the producers. Office workers at Universal have filed a certification petition with the NLRB."


p?(after 62) "Ed Reed, manager of the Straiid in Providence, is already ballyhooing "Gulliver's Travels." Reed's exploitation reads, ""


p78
"Juvenile Trade Will Be

RAY CARMICHAEL

picture exhibitors as a body do not interfere in politics, because there are undoubtedly as many shades of political opinion amongst them as amongst any other group of citizens. Nevertheless all exhibitors are watching closely the progress of the campaign for the coming Quebec provincial elections, and where possible they are putting in a word to influence candidates to favor easing the ban on juvenile admissions to theatres. Relaxation of this ban in favor of "The

Won

fluenced many of their elders to take in the show. Theatre managers exp>ect that permission will be given children to witness Paramount's "Gulliver's Travels" when it is released around Christmas, and also Walt Disney's "Pinnochio."

Ovila Cote, secretary -treasurer of the Victoria and Empire theatres, Quebec, was in Montreal on business a few days ago. Tom Dowbiggin predicts that Paramount

— Motion

Wizard of Oz" was announced recently, and there is just a suspicion that the provincial government's willingness to allow children to see this picture may have been prompted by the usual desire to please electors which precedes election day.



views of the Roman Catholic clergy as to the desirability of keeping children away from the theatres, while at the same time encouraging the display of 16mm pictures in various church and church school halls throughout the province. Many exhibitors are inclined to think that a change of government might be beneficial to their interests, and though, of course, they will vote as individuals, it is likely they will not altogether ignore their material welfare. As announced from time to time in these columns a few exhibitors are amongst the candidates nominated by the Liberal party headed by"

p88

"The

Cohimbia

Little

Lost

Sheep

1

(KrazyKat)

Mins.




Just another cartoon. Little Bo Peep discovers a little lamb missing from the fold. It is at this very moment that a wolf, disguised in sheep's clothing, is about to perform a mean act. Krazy Kat


is enlisted as detective and justice triumphs."

"One

M-G-M

Mother's Family

(M-G-M

Cartoon)

9

Mins.

Animation and humor are cleverly sustained here for one reel and the result is an entertaining cartoon in Technicolor. The tale is about a hen and her brood and the difficulty she has keeping them

out of danger. One chick, in particular, proves to be the bane of her existence."

"Sheep

20tli-Fo.r

Little

in the

I

Meadow

7

little

Terry -Toons*

Mitts.

Boy Blue rescues Mary's lamb from the bad wolf. It should be amusing cartoon stuff for children and fairly diverting for the adults."

132 Dreams On Ice

Title: Dreams On Ice
Studio: Columbia
Date: 10/20/39
Credits: -
Series: Color Rhapsody
Running time (of viewed version): 5:31

Synopsis: Boy floods home, it ices over (at least in dreams), and objects come alive to skate.





















Comments: I notice the retitle claims color by Technicolor. BoxOffice lists it as a Color Rhapsody. We start with a caricature of Sonja Henie skating. It's like a Scrappy cartoon with a bunch of movement. And color, in theory, I suppose. It's a precursor to the Tom and Jerry cartoon where they freeze the house, mixed with a standard "things come alive" gag gag gag cartoon. Jack Beaver from The House That Jack built shows up as living toy. Kid has a hot mom (or at least she has nice legs). Too much moving camera work. The puppy skates like Henie. I think the five girls in boxes are the famous quintuplets.

Bonus Puppetoon: Philips Cavalcade

Here we come to an interesting conundrum. I want to cover the George Pal shorts I have access to from 1939 as an aside, as they were not American productions and are outside the regular count of this blog.

But, there is divergence in the sources as to what was released in 1939, and it's not as simple as being off a few weeks here or there.

On one side is the Puppetoon Site's filmography, from 1996/1997.
http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/PAL/GP2.htm
The only short it has listed for 1939 is "Love on the Range". (It also lists Philips Cavalcade as potentially being from 1939, or as "1934-39?"; many sources list it as '34, some as '39, at least some sources list it as '38, and a French George Pal program you can apparently rent and show list it as 1940 http://www.afca.asso.fr/IMG/pdf/prog-Lobster-Pal.pdf .)

On the other side is the Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald George Pal Puppetoon filmography that appeared in Wild Cartoon Kingdom #3 in early 1994. It lists Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, South Seas Sweethearts, and Philips Cavalcade as being released in 1939. It lists Love on the Range as being from 1938. The Puppetoon Site lists Aladdin as being 1936 (as does most of the internet, tho that doesn't make it right) and SSS as 1938.

In "The History of British Film", "South Sea Sweetheart" (spelled that way, three words, no ending 's'-s) is listed as 1938, and "for Horlicks (J.W.T. Prods.) 1 reel 1938 Tech. puppets m. Debroy Somers and the Hawaiian Islanders." The same book also lists Love on the Range as 1937:

http://books.google.com/books?id=w3T6sfFjLb0C&pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&dq=%22George+pal%22+%22south+sea+sweetheart%22&source=bl&ots=80zNdGPTyr&sig=HQXl1LCWr-Kc6p3ZiEfoyOrTGMo&hl=en&ei=i5JgTNaTBIO0lQfDq_igBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22George%20pal%22%20%22south%20sea%20sweetheart%22&f=false

All in all, this leaves me with nothing firmly dated to 1939. The History of British FIlm seems specialized enough (and has enough itchy production data in the entries) to disqualify SSS and LOTR (in an absolute sense; it is still possible they were released in the US in some way in 1939). None of the other sources gives any indication as to the source of their dating.

As for titles, LOTR unfortunately is known to me only in a Pictoreels version that gives its copyright as 1946, which must be the date the home movie version was issued. The Aladdin version I have access to has no visible copyright. South Sea Sweethearts is titleless from the Puppetoon Movie.

Philips Cavalcade seems reasonable as a 1939 release based on the version I've viewed, which ends with "All the World's Entertainment At Your Fingertips on the Shortwaves With Philips 1940 Super 3 Radioplayers incorporating Exclusive Electrical Bandspread Tuning". I'm assuming 1940 models came out in the fall of 1939. Of course they could have repurposed an older production for a 1940 English language release (and it could of course have been released in 1940, although Pal apparently did not return to Europe after the beginning of WWII; both the Puppetoon Site and the Beck Friedwald filmographies list 1940 releases, however; I'm sure the studio would have muddled through as best they could without the boss, but there could be other reasons for 1940 datings).

So, in the end, Philips Cavalcade has presented enough evidence for me to believe it may have been released somewhere in 1939, and as it is a side entry for the blog, that's good enough. And so, here is the bonus entry for Philips Cavalcade:




Title: Philips Cavalcade
Studio: George Pal
Date: Possibly maybe kinda 1939
Credits: A George Pal Production (tho this seems to be a retitle at least in part; I don't think "Puppetoon" was used until later, altho this may be a Paramount naming split that was not true for Pal's pre US releases)
Music: Jack Hylton and His Band
Series: Philips
Running time (of viewed version): 5:42

Synopsis: All singing, all dancing stop motion puppets, trying to sell you radios.





















Comments: Jack Hylton was a popular band leader in Britain in the '30s and '40s. I wonder if this could have had other bands in other languages doing the soundtrack. Any evidence of multiple soundtrack language versions of Pal's work? The undulating gospel crowd looks impressive. I supopse it would have minimized the number of parts needed as well since they could reuse puppets in alternate positions. Philippa Ray was an advertising mascot, not a real person. The animation in this is not as fluid as in cel cartoons; but that's true even in more modern stop motion animation. The human hand seems to choose several radio presets, that all play the same song, but have not only visuals, but different visuals on each channel (the continuous music might tend to support a dubbed into English theory). The opening shot is a pretty impressive pull out crane shot, that was probably a lot easier to pull off in a stop motion cartoon than it was on a soundstage (and it of course showcases the benefits of stop motion 3D backgrounds compared to regular non Fleischer stereoptical 2D cel animation backgrounds; hell, even compared to the stereoptical backgrounds, there were many more choices, like this pull out crane shot, or the moving through opening doors shot). Stop motion animators liked to put paintings of naked women in backgrounds, too. The one jack o lantern on a tree reminds me of a later stop motion piece...

The distortions of the puppets in Philips Broadcast of 1938 seem more cartoony than in this; I'm not sure if that implies it's earlier or later. It's possible they hadn't developed the cartooniness by the time of Cavalcade, but they might have also just been trying for a more controlled look and intentionally cut down on the cartooniness.

(Top photo: George Pal and horrific real world Philipa Ray.)

131 Officer Duck

Title: Officer Duck
Studio: Disney
Date: 10/10/39
Credits: -
Series: Donald Duck
Running time (of viewed version): 7:37 (without Leonard)

Synopsis: Officer Donald dresses up as a baby to arrest Pegleg Pete.




















Comments: This is the final Disney theatrical short for the year. It's possible the Standard Oil short could have come out after this tho, but it's not quite the same thing. I assume Disney had to redirect most of their energies to finishing off Pinocchio, released about four months after the release of this cartoon. The dispatcher has a certain drawl reminiscent of Lionel Barrymore, tho it's clearly not a vocal caricature. The dashboard clock in Donald's car is great. Don drives recklessly. For some reason, Donald isn't afraid of Tiny Tom (played by Pegleg Pete) when he doesn't believe he's the object of his arresting needs, but is afraid once he realizes Tom is Tom. Pete's a pretty good caregiver. Lone Ranger reference (Pete says "hi ho Silver"). Donald wins at the end for no good reason.

There is a draft on Hans Perk's site for this:
http://afilmla.blogspot.com/2006/09/prod-2230-officer-duck.html

I have a note on my sheet to check
http://afilmla.blogspot.com/search?q=1939
but I can't figure out exactly why. I don' thtink there is Officer Duck material. There is however a draft of Bill Posters dated October 1939 at
http://afilmla.blogspot.com/2006/12/prod-2231-bill-posters.html
so that may have been my intention. Or the note may have been made before the last post to hit 1939, and the Officer Duck stuff got bumped. Odd, I can't find a link to more results on the search '39 page...