History WesternAnimation / SillySymphonies

* FollowTheLeader: This is hands down one of the most influential series of cartoons in the HistoryOfAnimation...and also one of the most ripped-off as a result. Almost ''every'' studio in the 1930's, sans TerryToons, was trying to rip off of these cartoons--none of them were successful, however.

* BearsAreBadNews: Done in "Little Hiawatha".

'''''Silly Symphonies''''' was a hugely popular and influential series of [[ClassicDisneyShorts Disney short subjects]] from TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, generally themed around music and lushly animated fairy tales. They were a very important part of Disney's history, pioneering many of their animation techniques, as well as giving animators preparation for work in the feature length animated films that the studio would later become famous for. The series would have a massive impact on the animation industry, inspiring many imitators, some of which would later evolve into future competitors for Disney, such as the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] franchise.

* EverythingsWorseWithBears: Done in "Little Hiawatha".

* EverythingsBetterWithChickens: Milked for all it's worth in "Cock O' the Walk".

* Funny Little Bunnies: March 24, 1934, Wilfred Jackson: Featuring the Easter Bunnies.

* EverythingsBetterWithBunnies: "Funny Little Bunnies" is a classic example of this.

* DeadBabyComedy: In the climax of "Who Killed Cock Robin?", when the three suspects are going to be hanged, the jury sings an eager ditty about hanging them, all to the tune of "The Farmer in the Tell".

In some ways, {{Fantasia}} and its sequel could be seen as the successors to these cartoons.

* Disney/ThreeLittlePigs: May 27, 1933, Burton Gillett: Featuring the namesake characters and the Big Bad Wolf. Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. One of The50GreatestCartoons.

* WhoKilledCockRobin: June 26, 1935, David Hand: Includes caricatures of Mae West (Jenny Wren), Bing Crosby (Cock Robin), Harpo Marx (the cuckoo), and Steppin Fetchit (the blackbird).

** Elmer Elephant has a throwaway gag with three pelicans doing a Jimmy Durante impression.
* OfficerOHara: Parodied in "Who Killed Cock Robin?".

* TheRemake: The Ugly Duckling, originally released in 1931, was a fun little action short, that had almost nothing to do with its inspirational source. Eight years later, the 1939 version completely revamped the art and the story to be both more believable and more faithful to the original tale; by being one of the most polished shorts, it effectively served as the series' GrandFinale.

* ShapedLikeItself: The "Nothin' But A Nothin'" song from "The Flying Mouse" demonstrates this:

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Delivered to the mouse in The Flying Mouse, although its more of a Reason You Suck ''Song''.

* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur:This happens with both furry and non-furry animals, including the following such as:

* TurtlePower: Toby Tortoise from "The Tortoise and the Hare" and it's follow-up "Toby Tortoise Returns".

* VillainSong: "You're nothin' but a nothin'" from ''The Flying Mouse'' (although the bats are more along the lines of bullies) and "Hades" from ''The Goddess of Spring''.
* VisualPun: In "Cookie Carnival", we get a glimpse of two figures representing the Devil's Foodcake--they being actual devil like figures.

* ActorAllusion: Pinto Colvig, then voice of {{Goofy}}, would sing the tune "The World Owes Me A Living" as Goofy, which was the song from "The Grasshopper and the Ants", where Pinto voiced the eponymous grasshopper.

* ArtShift: A very mild example, but in the follow-ups to Disney/ThreeLittlePigs, animator GrimNatwick managed to bring some of the East Coast style of design into the shorts, as evident in the designs of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Wolves, which wouldn't look so out of place in a [[FleischerStudios Fleischer cartoon.]] The girl from "Cookie Carnival" also has a Fleischer-esque look, due to her also being drawn by Grim.

* BittersweetEnding: The end of "The Golden Touch". Sure, the King may have lost his entire kingdom and fortunes, but hey, at least he dosen't have the Golden Touch anymore so he can eat--AND he got his hamburger--with onions, no less!
* BraggingThemeTune: "The World Owes Me A Living" from "The Grasshopper and the Ants".

** Toby Tortoise Returns has several cameos of characters from the Silly Symphonies series.

* DigitalDestruction: A very mild example--in the Treasures sets, theres some mild hints of DVNR every now and again, but you usually have to look for it to notice. Also, the aforementioned VHS edit of "Cock O' The Walk".

* DisProportionateRetribution: The Pied Piper, from the eponymous short, is so angered at being swindled out of his money, that he uses his music to ''take their children away forever.''

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: In "PeculiarPenguins"
* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: Demonstrated in "PeculiarPenguins."

* FollowTheLeader: This is hands down one of the most influential series of cartoons in the HistoryOfAnimation...and also one of the most ripped off as a result. Almost ''every'' studio in the 1930's, sans TerryToons, was trying to rip off of these cartoons--none of them were successful, however.

** In the 1939 version of TheUglyDuckling, after the titular character hatches; the father duck looks to the normal looking ducklings, then angrily back to the ugly one before engaging the Mother Duck in a heated argument that culminates with her slapping him and the Father Duck storming off in anger. Although the two of them are quacking rather than speaking, their gestures and tone of voice indicate that the Father Duck is claiming that the Ugly Duckling couldn't possibly be his and that the only reason the Ugly Duckling looks so different from the others was if the Mother Duck was having an extra-marital affair.

* HijackedByJesus: In a feat that would be echoed [[Disney/{{Hercules}} 63 years later by Disney]], ''The Goddess of Spring'' [[{{Flanderization}} flanderizes]] the mythical Greek figure Pluto, from a merely fearsome but noble being into an ersatz for {{Satan}}.

* IronicEcho: From the Golden Touch, "Give me gold, not advice!" comes back to bite King Midas in the back minutes later.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Jenny Wren from "Who Killed Cock Robin?" is a shameless caricature of actress Mae West--but was such a successful caricature of her that Mae herself praised it! Cock Robin ''might'' be a caricature of the then-popular crooner Bing Crosby. The crow from the short is also a caricature of black actor Stephen Fitchitt, and Harpo Marx of the Marx Brothers is caricatured here as a woodpecker.

* ActorAllusion: Pinto Colvig, then voice of {{Goofy}}, would sing the tune "The World Owes Me A Living" as Goofy, which was the song from "The Grasshooper and the Ants", where Pinto voiced the eponymous grasshopper.

* AnimationBump: Later installments of the series. After all, part of the modus operendi of making the cartoons was to pioneer animation techniques. More specific examples in the shorts are given below:

** Frolicking Fish is a progressive example--during the making of the cartoon, animator Norm Ferguson accidently discovered the principle of "Follow Through and Overlapping Action"--prior to this short, the characters started and stopped in a cyclish, machine like way, but Norm animated it so that when the fish were stopping one action, they were already beginning another action, creating a very smooth, lifelike effect. You can see Norm's work on the trio of fish doing an old vaudeville soft-shoe dance in the short. Walt was so pleased by this that he had his animators study Norm's animation.
** Cock O' The Walk is one of the most impressively animated shorts in the series, featuring succesful reinnactments of broadway dance routines, tricky drawing angles, and LOTS of crowd scenes. The most notable work is by Bill Tytla, who animated virtually all of the scenes with the rooster and the pullet dancing.
** Three Orphan Kittens has several backgrounds--complete with reflections in the floor tiles--that moved in perspective.

* ArtEvolution: The series initially started off with the standard issue rubberhose limb art style of the time period, but life drawing classes gradually evolved the series into a more naturalistic, lively art style that would go on to define Disney.
* ArtShift: A very mild example, but in the follow ups to Disney/ThreeLittlePigs, animator GrimNatwick managed to bring some of the East Coast style of design into the shorts, as evident in the designs of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Wolves, which wouldn't look so out of place in a [[FleischerStudios Fleischer cartoon.]] The girl from "Cookie Carnival" also has a Fleischer-esque look, due to her also being drawn by Grim.

** Simultaneaously played straight and subverted in both the 1931 and 1939 versions of TheUglyDuckling. The mother chicken in the 1931 version adores her chicken babies but is completely disgusted by the duckling whose egg somehow found its way into her nest. The 1939 version takes it even further when the ducklings hatch and the father is hugs and kisses all around. But then the Ugly Duckling hatches and his appearance alone is enough to cause a fiery marital spat between the duck parents.

* CaptainErsatz: It's quite possible that ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' borrowed many elements of its shorts from "The Country Cousin", which features full pantomime action and slapstick, and it's protagonist mouse bears a startling resemblence to Jerry in both appearance and personality. Also, Max Hare from "The Tortoise and the Hare" could be considered a prototype for the later [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] character BugsBunny--TexAvery even admitted that the idea for Bugs came from Max Hare.

* CurbStompBattle: Toby Tortoise is pretty much hopeless against beating Max Hare in "Toby Tortoise Returns"--it's only when Max Hare stuffs him full of fireworks and firecrackers and accidentely turns Toby into a makeshift rocket that the turtle finally gets the upper hand.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Demonstrated in "King Midas" (where Midas is forced to give up his kingdom--castle and all--just for a burger) and the 1939 version of "The Ugly Duckling".

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: In Peculiar Penguins
* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: Demonstrated in Peculiar Penguins.

* AbusiveParents: The mother duck towards her [[TheUnfavorite Unfavorite]] in "The Ugly Duckling".

* PintSizedKids: All of the children in "Babes in the Wood".

** Simultaneaously played straight and subverted in both the 1931 and 1939 versions of TheUglyDuckling. The mother chicken in the 1931 version adores her chicken babies but is completely disgusted by the duckling whose egg somehow found its way into her nest. The 1939 version takes it even further when the ducklings hatch and the father is hugs and kisses all around. But then the titular character hatches and his appearance leads to a fiery marital spat between the duck parents.

** Simultaneaously played straight and subverted in both the 1931 and 1939 versions of [[TheUglyDuckling]]. The mother chicken in the 1931 version adores her chicken babies but is completely disgusted by the duckling whose egg somehow found its way into her nest. The 1939 version takes it even further when the ducklings hatch and the father is hugs and kisses all around. But then the titular character hatches and his appearance leads to a fiery marital spat between the duck parents.

'''''Silly Symphonies''''' was a hugely popular and influential series of [[ClassicDisneyShorts Disney short subjects]] from TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, generally themed around music and lushly animated fairy tales. They were a very important part of Disney's history, pioneering many of their animation techniques, as well as giving animators preparation for work in the feature length animated films that the studio would later become famous for. The series would have a massive impact on the animation industry, inspiring many imitators, some of which would later evolve into future competitors for Disney, such as the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and MerrieMelodies franchise.

Silly Symphonies brought along ''many'' imitators, including the WarnerBros. cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''MerrieMelodies'', Max Fleischer's ''ColorClassics'', UbIwerks' ''ComiColorCartoons'', Columbia's ''[[ColumbiaCartoons Color Rhapsodies]]'', VanBeurenStudios ''Rainbow Parade'', WalterLantz's ''Cartune Classics'', and MGM's ''HappyHarmonies'' from former Disney employees HarmanAndIsing. The television series MickeyMouseWorks used the Silly Symphonies title for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. Disney also produced comic strips and comic books with this title.

* CaptainErsatz: It's quite possible that ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' borrowed many elements of its shorts from "The Country Cousin", which features full pantomime action and slapstick, and it's protagonist mouse bears a startling resemblence to Jerry in both appearance and personality. Also, Max Hare from "The Tortoise and the Hare" could be considered a prototype for the later MerrieMelodies character BugsBunny--TexAvery even admitted that the idea for Bugs came from Max Hare.

'''''Silly Symphonies''''' was a hugely popular and influential series of [[ClassicDisneyShorts Disney short subjects]] from TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, generally themed around music and lushly animated fairy tales. They were a very important part of Disney's history, pioneering many of their animation techniques, as well as giving animators preparation for work in the feature length animated films that the studio would later become famous for. The series would have a massive impact on the animation industry, inspiring many imitators, some of which would later evolve into future competitors for Disney, such as the LooneyTunes and MerrieMelodies franchise.

Silly Symphonies brought along ''many'' imitators, including the WarnerBros. cartoon series ''LooneyTunes'' and ''MerrieMelodies'', Max Fleischer's ''ColorClassics'', UbIwerks' ''ComiColorCartoons'', Columbia's ''[[ColumbiaCartoons Color Rhapsodies]]'', VanBeurenStudios ''Rainbow Parade'', WalterLantz's ''Cartune Classics'', and MGM's ''HappyHarmonies'' from former Disney employees HarmanAndIsing. The television series MickeyMouseWorks used the Silly Symphonies title for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. Disney also produced comic strips and comic books with this title.

[[folder: FILMOGRAPHY]]

* El Terrible Toreador: September 7, 1929, Walt Disney
* Springtime: October 24, 1929, Ub Iwerks

* The Merry Dwarfs: December 16, 1929, Walt Disney

* Summer: January 6, 1930, Ub Iwerks
* Autumn: February 13, 1930, Ub Iwerks
* Cannibal Capers: March 13, 1930, Burt Gillett
* Frolicking Fish: May 8, 1930, Burt Gillett: The first cartoon that introduced continuous movements or "[[TheTwelvePrinciplesOfAnimation overlapping action]]" in animation, instead of the old stop-and-go movements.

* MidnightInAToyShop: July 3, 1930, Wilfred Jackson
* Night: July 31, 1930, Walt Disney
* Monkey Melodies: August 10, 1930, Burt Gillett
* Winter: November 5, 1930, Burt Gillett
* Playful Pan: December 28, 1930, Burt Gillett

* Birds of a Feather: February 10, 1931, Burton Gillett

* The China Plate: May 25, 1931, Wilfred Jackson: A creative retelling of the Willoware legend.
* The Busy Beavers June 22, 1931, Burton Gillett
* The Cat's Out: July 28, 1931, Wilfred Jackson
* Egyptian Melodies: August 21, 1931, Wilfred Jackson
* The Clock Store: September 30, 1931, Wilfred Jackson
* The Spider and the Fly: October 16, 1931, Wilfred Jackson
* The Fox Hunt: November 18, 1931, Wilfred Jackson
* The Ugly Duckling: December 16, 1931, Wilfred Jackson: Based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen. Featuring Clarabelle Cow. A much more comprehensive, colorized version would be made in 1939.

* The Bird Store: January 16, 1932, Wilfred Jackson: The last Silly Symphony distributed by ColumbiaPictures.
* The Bears and the Bees: July 9, 1932, Wilfred Jackson: The first Silly Symphony distributed by Creator/UnitedArtists.

* FlowersAndTrees: July 30, 1932, Burton Gillett: First cartoon produced in full-color three-strip Technicolor. First cartoon to win the AcademyAward for Best Animated Short Film.
* King Neptune: September 10, 1932, Burton Gillett: Featuring Neptune (mythology) as the "King of the Sea".
* Bugs in Love: October 1, 1932, Burton Gillett: Last Silly Symphony shot in black-and-white.
* Babes in the Woods: November 19, 1932, Burton Gillett: Featuring Hansel and Gretel.
* Santa's Workshop: December 10, 1932, Wilfred Jackson: Featuring SantaClaus.

* Birds in the Spring: March 11, 1933, David Hand
* Father Noah's Ark: April 8, 1933, Wilfred Jackson: The "building the ark" music is an adaptation of Beethoven's Contradanse in C Major, WoO 14 No. 1.

* Old King Cole: July 29, 1933, David Hand
* Lullaby Land: August 19, 1933, Wilfred Jackson

* The Night Before Christmas: December 9, 1933, Wilfred Jackson: A follow up to "Santa's Workshop".

* The China Shop: January 13, 1934, Wilfred Jackson
* TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts: February 10, 1934, Wilfred Jackson: Based on a fable by Aesop. Pinto Colvig (Goofy) provides the voice for the grasshopper.
* Funny Little Bunnies: March 24, 1934, Wilfred Jackson: Featuring the Easter Bunnies.

* TheFlyingMouse: July 14, 1934, David Hand
* Peculiar Penguins: September 1, 1934, Wilfred Jackson

* [[Disney/TheTortoiseAndTheHare The Tortoise and the Hare]]: January 5, 1935, Wilfred Jackson: Featuring Max Hare and Toby Tortoise. Won the 1935 AcademyAward for Best Animated Short Film.

* Water Babies: May 11, 1935, Wilfred Jackson
* TheCookieCarnival: May 25, 1935, Ben Sharpsteen: A homage to the Atlantic City boardwalk parade and bathing beauty contest (what eventually became the Miss America pageant) of the 1920s and 30s. Pinto Colvis (Goofy) provides the voice for the gingerbread man.
* WhoKilledCockRobin: June 26, 1935, David Hand: Includes caricatures of Mae West (Jenny Wren), Bing Crosby (Cock Robin), Harpo Marx (the cuckoo), and Steppin Fetchit (the blackbird).
* MusicLand: October 5, 1935, Wilfred Jackson
* ThreeOrphanKittens: October 26, 1935, David Hand: Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
* Cock o' the Walk: November 30, 1935, Ben Sharpsteen
* Broken Toys: December 14, 1935, Ben Sharpsteen

* ElmerElephant: March 28, 1936, Wilfred Jackson

* TobyTortoiseReturns: August 22, 1936, Wilfred Jackson: Featuring Max Hare and Toby Tortoise. It is a sequel to The Tortoise and the Hare. It's also one of Disney's most cartoony short subjects, doing [[ZanyCartoon zany antics]] way earlier than in the LooneyTunes shorts that would make this style of cartoon famous.
* Three Blind Mousketeers: September 26, 1936, David Hand
* The Country Cousin: October 31, 1936, David Hand: Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
* Mother Pluto: November 14, 1936, David Hand: Featuring PlutoThePup mothering a number of newly-hatched chicks.

* Woodland Café: March 13, 1937, Wilfred Jackson: Contains animator [[DisneysNineOldMen Ward Kimball's]] first animating assignment.
* Little Hiawatha: May 15, 1937, David Hand: The last Silly Symphony distributed by Creator/UnitedArtists.
* TheOldMill: November 5, 1937, Wilfred Jackson: Disney's first use of the Multiplane Camera and the first Silly Symphony distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

* Moth and the Flame: April 1, 1938, Burton Gillett
* Wynken, Blynken, and Nod: May 27, 1938, Graham Heid
* Farmyard Symphony: October 14, 1938, Jack Cutting
* Merbabies: December 9, 1938, [[HarmanAndIsing Rudolf Ising]]: Vernon Stallings Outsourced to Harman and Ising after the studio donated inkers and painters to the Disney studio to complete Snow White.
* Mother Goose Goes Hollywood: December 23, 1938, Wilfred Jackson: Like Toby Tortoise Returns, this short is another [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent oddball in the series]], parodying the fairy tale stories of the series with caricatures of many Hollywood celebrities from the time period inserted into those classic stories.

* ArtShift: A very mild example, but in the follow ups to Disney/ThreeLittlePigs, animator GrimNatwick managed to bring some of the East Coast style of design into the shorts, as evident in the designs of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Wolves, which wouldn't look so out of place in a [[FleischerStudios Fleischer cartoon.]] The girl from "Cookie Carnival" also has a Fleischer-esque look, due to her also being drawn by Grim.

* TheCameo: Pluto (the character from "The Goddess of Spring") would make a cameo in a Floyd Gottfredson MickeyMouse comic, when Mickey was trying to call Pluto (the dog), who had been spirited away by a magic spell. This comic can be found in the book "Mickey and the Gang: Classic Stories in Verse".

* CountryMouse: Used in "The Country Cousin". Abner Mouse even provides the page image.

* DisProportionateRetribution: The Pied Piper, from the eponymous short, is so angered at being swindled out of his money, that he uses his music to ''take their children away forever.''

** In "Santa's Workshop", in the first minute or two, if you look in the background, you can see er...[[UnusualEuphemism reindeer chocolate]] being scooped out of one of the stalls.

* HijackedByJesus: In a feat that would be echoed [[{{Disney/Hercules}} 63 years later by Disney]], ''The Goddess of Spring'' [[{{Flanderization}} flanderizes]] the mythical Greek figure Pluto, from a merely fearsome but noble being into an ersatz for {{Satan}}.

* The Big Bad Wolf: April 14, 1934, Burton Gillett: A follow up to the ThreeLittlePigs. Was considered a failure.

* Three Little Wolves: April 18, 1936, David Hand: Another follow up to ThreeLittlePigs. Another failure.

* The Practical Pig: February 24, 1939, Dick Rickard: Yet another follow up to ThreeLittlePigs. Like the other Little Pigs shorts after the first, it was a failure.

* ArtShift: A very mild example, but in the follow ups to ThreeLittlePigs, animator GrimNatwick managed to bring some of the East Coast style of design into the shorts, as evident in the designs of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Wolves, which wouldn't look so out of place in a [[FleischerStudios Fleischer cartoon.]] The girl from "Cookie Carnival" also has a Fleischer-esque look, due to her also being drawn by Grim.

In some ways, {{Fantasia}} and it's sequel could be seen as the successors to these cartoons.

* The Bird Store: January 16, 1932, Wilfred Jackson: The last Silly Symphony distributed by Columbia Pictures.
* The Bears and the Bees: July 9, 1932, Wilfred Jackson: The first Silly Symphony distributed by UnitedArtists.

* Little Hiawatha: May 15, 1937, David Hand: The last Silly Symphony distributed by UnitedArtists.

In some ways, {{Fantasia}} and it's sequel, or, if you agree with [[Blog/CartoonBrew Jerry Beck]], ''{{Pixar}}'' could be seen as the successors to these cartoons.

** Cock O' The Walk is one of the most impressively animated shorts in the series, featuring succesful reinnactments of broadway dance routines, tricky drawing angles, and LOTS of crowd scenes.

* CaptainErsatz: It's quite possible that ''TomAndJerry'' borrowed many elements of its shorts from "The Country Cousin", which features full pantomime action and slapstick, and it's protagonist mouse bears a startling resemblence to Jerry in both appearance and personality. Also, Max Hare from "The Tortoise and the Hare" could be considered a prototype for the later MerrieMelodies character BugsBunny--TexAvery even admitted that the idea for Bugs came from Max Hare.
** Mammy Two-Shoes of TomAndJerry also makes her first appearances in the short "Three Orphan Kittens" and its follow up "More Kittens".

* ThreeLittlePigs: May 27, 1933, Burton Gillett: Featuring the namesake characters and the Big Bad Wolf. Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. One of The50GreatestCartoons.