#happy harmonies

[dorothydalmati1]

Obscure Animation Subject #88: Happy Harmonies

A series of theatrical cartoon shorts created by the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies creators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising after leaving Warner Bros for MGM. The series lasted for 37 shorts from September 1, 1934 to March 12, 1938. It’s basically a continuation of Harman-Ising era of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, but the differences are that the shorts are produced in color, they have MGM lion logos at the beginning of the shorts, it doesn’t feature a signature theme and there is no signature closing sign-off. The original Looney Tunes star Bosko also returns as well, still his usual self in his first two shorts of the series. But by his third short, well, will talk about that later.

The series was produced in Technicolor, and originally started using the 2-hue process due to Disney’s deal with the 3-hue system. These 2-hue cartoons featured the Coffee the Lion logo at the beginning, which originally debuted on 1932’s Wild People, where Coffee roared three times. It was shortened to two for his remaining appearances.

By 1935, Disney had lost their exclusive contract with the 3-hue process, which resulted in other studios now using the process for free. Now with the 3-hue process used, Coffee is replaced with Tanner. Tanner in the Happy Harmonies still uses Coffee’s roar track, but his own roars are heard elsewhere. This logo was in use on all 3-hue productions until 1953, but a second version was created by that year, and retired in 1956. However, his roar track continued to be in use for future lions until 1982. A year before Happy Harmonies goes 3-hue, the logo already started use with an extended version, featuring Tanner roaring more, and by 1938, this logo appeared on MGM’s first feature-length film in 3-hue Technicolor, Sweethearts. This logo made its appearance on screen with its extended version on Holland in Tulip Time.

Speaking of Disney, by the end of the series, Disney did make a contract with Harman and Ising to produce three Silly Symphonies cartoons, but only one of the shorts (Merbabies) had been given to Disney. The other two shorts were given to MGM.

To date, the only home media release for the series is the Happy Harmonies Cartoon Classics LaserDisc box set, released in 1994 with only 17 of the 37 Happy Harmonies shorts while the remaining 25 shorts include one side of six Barney Bear cartoons, the 1939 short Peace on Earth and the 1940 animated short The Milky Way. Talk about not being a complete harmony huh? Thankfully every short is found online with most being on YouTube.

Oh yeah, and what about Bosko you may ask? Well, after the switch to 3-hue, Bosko had turned into a full-blown African-American child stereotype, and his remaining shorts ultimately killed the reputation of the character, all of his 3-hue shorts are hated by the general public and his redesign is basically the MGM equivalent to Buddy, but in BLACKFACE!

Well, talk about problematic if you ask me.

[bronze-and-silver-keys]

save me himiko yumeno. save me

[fawfulydoo]

im sorry i had a vision

[newspdm]

Cartoon: To Spring, 1936

To Spring is a 1936 animated musical short produced by Harman and Ising for the MGM cartoon studio’s Happy Harmonies series. Although the production credit goes to Harman and Ising this short was actually the first cartoon to be directed by the future cartoon giant William Hanna, along with animator Paul Fennell. The title is a play on words used to represent the season of spring and action the…

[kiwibongos]

chapter three culprits

[originalharmonysalad]

Happy Harmonies: To Spring (1936)

To Spring is a 1936 animated musical short produced by Harman and Ising for the MGM cartoon studio's Happy Harmonies series.

Although the production credit goes to Harman and Ising this short was actually the first cartoon to be directed by the future cartoon giant William Hanna, along with animator Paul Fennell.

[justsomedumbstuff]

Protags :3

Old versions under the cut

Left: January 2023

Right: July 2021

[redactedhaunt]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ONE AND ONLY JUNKO ENOSHIMA!!!!!! 💟🔪💖🪓🩸🎀 (12/24) I think her biggest wish is to watch the protagonists die/get executed XD

[scribbl-it]

AAAHHGGHGG HAPPY BIRTHDAY KOREKIYO MY BELOVED!!!! I wish I had more time to work on a birthday pic for him, but I still like how this turned out! <3

[ambonexus]

Happy birthday Shuichi!!!

[vhsghostricks]

Meow

[dorothydalmati1]

More OAS will be coming, its like HenryBean’s schedule posted on DA but the more well known ones are replaced with lesser known ones.

Monday and Sunday will remain as they are as the shows are definitely obscure.

Tuesday will feature Care Bears: Unlock the Magic.

Wednesday contains Soviet Winnie the Pooh.

Thursday has Happy Harmonies.

Friday is The Little Mermaid from Toei Animation.

Saturday is 1001 Arabian Nights from UPA.

And for October 16th to celebrate Disney turning 100 years old, the only WDAS feature film not on Disney+, Make Mine Music!

[skeletonnerdy]

Chapter Three Culprits,,

I was gonna save these a little longer, but it's Mikan's birthday, so we have it a little sooner. Celestia's so detailed, which she pulls off well, but is such a pain in the ass to draw. She's very beautiful, tho. I think Mikan's is the weakest of the group. I feel like her pose and expression are the least interesting, but she's still cute. Kiyo is my favorite guy, I don't draw him as much as I want to. I like his expression, it's all in the eyes and his body language

[lampochkaart]

This is one of my favorite scenes in the fic

If this intrigues you, you should go and read 13 Students Remain by @whattheskyknows 👀

[tanyaluca]

April Glimpses…by Tanya Luca

[journey-to-the-attic]

the rest of the cast got their new song covers, so i wanted to try putting the others in a band :>

i did want to make it look a bit like an album cover but i have no idea how those are designed so eh?? i also couldn't think of any band or album/song names so. if anyone has any ideas...