Color Rhapsody Explained

Color Rhapsody is a series of usually one-shot animated cartoon shorts produced by Charles Mintz's studio Screen Gems for Columbia Pictures.^[1] They were launched in 1934, following the phenomenal success of Walt Disney's Technicolor Silly Symphonies and Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies. Because of Disney's exclusive rights to the full three strip Technicolor process, Color Rhapsody were produced in the older two-tone Technicolor process until 1935, when Disney's exclusive contract expired.

The Color Rhapsody series is most notable for introducing the characters of The Fox and the Crow in the 1941 short The Fox and the Grapes. Two Color Rhapsody shorts, Holiday Land (1934) and The Little Match Girl (1937), were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).^[2]

Filmography

1930s

No.	Title	Release date	Director	Character(s)	Notes
1	Holiday Land	November 11, 1934	Sid Marcus
2	Babes at Sea	December 12, 1934
3	The Shoemaker and the Elves	January 19, 1935
4	Make Believe Revue	March 25, 1935	Ben Harrison
5	A Cat, a Mouse and a Bell	May 14, 1935	Arthur Davis
6	Little Rover	June 26, 1935	Sid Marcus
7	Neighbors	August 17, 1935	Arthur Davis and Sid Marcus		Lost cartoon
8	Monkey Love	September 14, 1935	Arthur Davis		Soundtrack exists
9	The Bon Bon Parade	October 13, 1935	Ben Harrison
10	Doctor Bluebird	January 18, 1936		Scrappy
11	Football Bugs	February 17, 1936	Arthur Davis
12	Glee Worms	April 5, 1936	Ben Harrison
13	The Untrained Seal	May 28, 1936	Arthur Davis
14	Two Lazy Crows	June 14, 1936
15	In My Gondola	July 13, 1936	Sid Marcus	Scrappy
16	Merry Mutineers	August 13, 1936	Ben Harrison
17	Birds in Love	September 12, 1936
18	A Boy and His Dog	October 11, 1936	Sid Marcus	Johnny
19	The Novelty Shop	November 15, 1936	Ben Harrison
20	Gifts from the Air	December 12, 1936
21	Skeleton Frolics	January 23, 1937	Ub Iwerks
22	Merry Mannequins	March 16, 1937
23	Let's Go	April 17, 1937	Ben Harrison
24	Mother Hen's Holiday	May 7, 1937	Sid Marcus
25	The Foxy Pup	May 21, 1937
26	The Stork Takes a Holiday	June 11, 1937	Sid Marcus		Lost cartoon
27	Indian Serenade	July 16, 1937
28	Spring Festival	August 6, 1937	Ben Harrison
29	Scary Crows	August 20, 1937	Sid Marcus	Johnny
30	Hollywood Picnic	October 17, 1937
31	The Little Match Girl	November 6, 1937	Arthur Davis and Sid Marcus (uncredited)
32	The Air Hostess	November 22, 1937	Arthur Davis (uncredited)
33	Swing, Monkey, Swing	December 12, 1937	Ben Harrison
34	The Horse on the Merry-Go-Round	January 16, 1938	Ub Iwerks
35	Bluebird's Baby	February 14, 1938	Ben Harrison	Johnny
36	Snow Time	March 13, 1938	Ub Iwerks
37	The Foolish Bunny	April 16, 1938	Sid Marcus
38	The Big Birdcast	May 15, 1938	Ben Harrison
39	Window Shopping	June 8, 1938	Sid Marcus
40	Poor Little Butterfly	July 4, 1938	Ben Harrison
41	Poor Elmer	July 23, 1938	Sid Marcus
42	The Frog Pond	August 10, 1938	Ub Iwerks
43	Hollywood Graduation	August 27, 1938	Arthur Davis		Lost cartoon
44	Animal Cracker Circus	September 26, 1938	Ben Harrison	Johnny
45	Midnight Frolics	October 12, 1938	Ub Iwerks
46	Little Moth's Big Flame	November 12, 1938	Sid Marcus
47	The Kangaroo Kid	December 25, 1938	Ben Harrison
48	Peaceful Neighbors	January 29, 1939	Sid Marcus
49	The Gorilla Hunt	February 21, 1939	Ub Iwerks
50	The Happy Tots	March 25, 1939	Ben Harrison
51	The House That Jack Built	April 16, 1939	Sid Marcus
52	Lucky Pigs	May 16, 1939	Ben Harrison
53	Nell's Yells	June 21, 1939	Ub Iwerks
54	Hollywood Sweepstakes	July 22, 1939	Ben Harrison
55	Jitterbug Knights	August 12, 1939	Sid Marcus
56	Crop Chasers	September 22, 1939	Ub Iwerks
57	Dreams on Ice	October 20, 1939	Sid Marcus
58	Mountain Ears	November 12, 1939
59	Mother Goose in Swingtime	December 18, 1939	Manny Gould

1940s

No.	Title	Release date	Director	Character(s)	Notes
60	A Boy, a Gun, and Birds	January 13, 1940	Ben Harrison
61	The Happy Tots' Expedition	February 6, 1940
62	Blackboard Revue	March 13, 1940	Ub Iwerks
63	The Greyhound and the Rabbit	April 13, 1940	Sid Marcus
64	The Egg Hunt	May 21, 1940	Ub Iwerks
65	Ye Olde Swap Shoppe	June 22, 1940
66	The Timid Pup	July 16, 1940	Ben Harrison
67	Tangled Television	August 14, 1940	Sid Marcus
68	Mr. Elephant Goes to Town	October 14, 1940	Arthur Davis
69	The Mad Hatter	November 3, 1940	Sid Marcus
70	Wise Owl	December 8, 1940	Ub Iwerks
71	A Helping Paw	January 14, 1941	Sid Marcus
72	The Way of All Pests	February 22, 1941	Arthur Davis
73	The Carpenters	March 14, 1941	Paul Fennell
74	The Land of Fun	April 19, 1941	Sid Marcus
75	Tom Thumb's Brother	June 16, 1941		Tom Thumb
76	The Cuckoo I.Q.	July 23, 1941
77	Who's Zoo in Hollywood	November 17, 1941			Lost cartoon
78	The Fox and the Grapes	December 6, 1941	Frank Tashlin	The Fox and the Crow
79	Red Riding Hood Rides Again	December 21, 1941	Sid Marcus
80	A Hollywood Detour	January 24, 1942	Frank Tashlin
81	Wacky Wigwams	February 22, 1942	Alec Geiss
82	Concerto in B Flat Minor	March 24, 1942	Bob Wickersham
83	Cinderella Goes to a Party	May 17, 1942	Alec Geiss
84	Woodman, Spare That Tree	July 6, 1942	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
85	Song of Victory	September 8, 1942
86	Toll Bridge Troubles	October 20, 1942		The Fox and the Crow
87	Tito's Guitar	November 23, 1942		Tito, Burrito and Rosita
88	King Midas Junior	December 22, 1942	John Hubley and Paul Sommer
89	Slay it with Flowers	January 16, 1943	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
90	There's Something About a Soldier	February 26, 1943	Alec Geiss		Lost cartoon
91	Professor Small and Mr. Tall	March 28, 1943	John Hubley and Paul Sommer	Professor Small and Mr. Tall
92	Plenty Below Zero	April 19, 1943	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
93	Tree for Two	June 21, 1943
94	He Can't Make It Stick	July 25, 1943	John Hubley and Paul Sommer		Partially lost
95	A-Hunting We Won't Go	August 23, 1943	Bob Wickersham	The Fox and the Crow
96	The Rocky Road to Ruin	October 20, 1943	Paul Sommer
97	Imagination	November 16, 1943	Bob Wickersham
98	The Herring Murder Mystery	January 23, 1944	Dun Roman
99	The Disillusioned Bluebird	June 13, 1944	Howard Swift
100	Dog, Cat and Canary	January 5, 1945		Flippy
101	Fiesta Time	April 4, 1945	Bob Wickersham	Tito, Burrito and Rosita
102	Rippling Romance	June 20, 1945			Soundtrack exists
103	Hot Foot Lights	August 6, 1945	Howard Swift
104	Carnival Courage	September 8, 1945		Willoughby Wren
105	River Ribber	October 4, 1945	Paul Sommer	Professor Small and Mr. Tall
106	Polar Playmates	April 25, 1946	Howard Swift
107	Picnic Panic	June 20, 1946	Bob Wickersham	Tito, Burrito and Rosita
108	Loco Lobo	January 9, 1947	Howard Swift
109	Cockatoos for Two	February 1947	Bob Wickersham
110	Mother Hubba-Hubba-Hubbard	March 29, 1947
111	Up N' Atom	July 10, 1947	Sid Marcus
112	Swiss Tease	September 11, 1947
113	Boston Beanie[1]	December 4, 1947
114	Flora	March 18, 1948	Alex Lovy
115	Pickled Puss	September 2, 1948	Howard Swift
116	Lo, the Poor Buffal	November 14, 1948	Alex Lovy
117	The Coo-Coo Bird Dog	February 2, 1949	Sid Marcus
118	Grape Nutty	April 14, 1949	Alex Lovy	The Fox and the Crow
119	Cat-Tastrophy	June 30, 1949	Sid Marcus

Accolades

Film	Award	Category	Result
Holiday Land	7th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons		^[3]
The Little Match Girl	10th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons		^[4]
Imagination	16th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons		^[5]
Dog, Cat and Canary	17th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons		^[6]
Rippling Romance	18th Academy Awards	Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons		^[7]

Notes and References

1. Book: Lenburg . Jeff . The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons . 1999 . Checkmark Books . 0-8160-3831-7 . 6 June 2020 . 66–67.
2. Book: Crump . William D. . Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film . 2019 . McFarland & Co . 9781476672939 . 170–171.
3. Web site: THE 7TH ACADEMY AWARDS 1935 . Oscars.org . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science . March 7, 2023.
4. Web site: THE 10TH ACADEMY AWARDS 1938 . Oscars.org . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science . March 7, 2023.
5. Web site: THE 16TH ACADEMY AWARDS 1944 . Oscars.org . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science . March 7, 2023.
6. Web site: THE 17TH ACADEMY AWARDS 1945 . Oscars.org . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science . March 7, 2023.
7. Web site: THE 18TH ACADEMY AWARDS 1946 . Oscars.org . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science . March 7, 2023.