Tag Archives: 1930s

December 19, 1936 – The Silly Symphony More Kittens is Released to Theaters

On December 19, 1936, the Silly Symphony More Kittens was released to theaters. It was a sequel to the Academy Award winning Silly Symphony Three Orphan Kittens. Both shorts were directed by Dave Hand. The popular song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” makes a cameo appearance in this short.

The three orphan kittens are thrown out of a house, and hide in a nearby bloodhound’s doghouse. The bloodhound notices that one of the kittens has fallen into its bowl of milk, and rescues it before drinking the contents. As the kittens brush up against the bloodhound’s face affectionately, their tails tickle its nose and it sneezes, sending two of the kittens flying into the yard. The kittens look around, confused, as they realize they’ve landed on something moving, and look down to find themselves riding on the back of a turtle. The turtle itself is surprised and falls down the stairs, with the turtle and kittens tumbling about. The third kitten has been resting on the bloodhound’s back, when it chases a fly on the bloodhound’s nose. The bloodhound is bugged by the fly and tries to swat it, finally getting it with its ears. The kitten stalks the fly after it lands, and ends up falling on the turtle. The kitten and the turtle fight before the turtle turns tail and walks away.

The bird mocks the kitten for not only missing the turtle, but being unable to catch him as well

A bird mocks the kitten for losing to the turtle, and it turns its attention on the bird, pouncing and trying to attack it. The bird and the kitten end up within the bloodhound’s mouth, fighting, although the kitten gets pushed out, and the bird whistles triumphantly. The bird finally leaves the bloodhound’s mouth, and all three kittens chase after it, with two ending up in the laundry basket, and one on the clothesline. In the end, the kittens gets swept away when they knock over the washing bucket, and end up at the front door of the house, alerting the maid. Furious, she chases after the kittens, and they three ends up at the bloodhound’s once again, where it hides the kittens from the angry maid. The short ends with the bloodhound adopting the kittens, and they give it grateful kisses.

December 9, 1938 – The Silly Symphony Merbabies is Released to Theaters

On December 9, 1938, the Silly Symphony Merbabies was released to theaters. It is the only Silly Symphony to be outsourced for its production; although released as a Disney film, it was actually animated by former colleagues of Walt’s who had branched off to form their own studio, Harman-Ising Studios. After Harman-Ising ran into some problems with MGM cutting their contract, Walt, realizing that the workload for his own studio was too much for his animators to handle, asked Harman-Ising to help develop this Silly Symphony, which is considered a sequel to Water Babies, released in 1935. The short was directed by Rudolf Ising, with supervision by Ben Sharpsteen, Dave Hand, Otto Englander, and Walt Disney.

It’s a beautiful day at the ocean, and the merbabies emerge from the bubbles in the foam to play in the waves. They play about the rocks and seaweed, splashing around before diving underwater for the parade under the sea. They cheer and dance about as the parade passes through, with several octopi and other creatures travel by. Starfish and clownfish dance around, and an organ drives by playing a merry tune, leading into a circus tent. Several acts take place, including snails balancing pearls like trained seals, with one baby snail upset that they aren’t given an opportunity to perform. Near the end, several merbabies head out to do a synchronized swimming routine amongst the bubbles. Unfortunately, the celebrations ends when the baby snail accidentally causes a giant whale to sneeze, sending everyone flying back to the surface, where the bubbles pop, and the merbabies become one with the ocean again.