| Rainbow Parade | |
| Director: | Burt Gillett Ted Eshbaugh Steve Muffatti Tom Palmer Shamus Culhane Dan Gordon |
| Producer: | Amadee J. Van Beuren |
| Music: | Winston Sharples |
| Studio: | Van Beuren Studios |
| Distributor: | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Released: | July 27, 1934 — October 2, 1936 |
| Runtime: | 7–8 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Rainbow Parade is a series of 26 animated shorts produced by Van Beuren Studios and distributed to theaters by RKO between 1934 and 1936.[1] This was the only color cartoon series produced by Van Beuren, and the final series of the studio.
The Van Beuren Corporation was struggling to make successful cartoon series and had multiple production struggles throughout the early 1930s, with a lawsuit from Walt Disney Productions over copyright infringement, and ill-fated attempts at cartoon series like Tom and Jerry and Cubby Bear. In 1933, when Walt Disney received universal praise for the cartoon short Three Little Pigs, the short's director, Burt Gillett, was also seen as a top commodity in the animation industry.[2]
Gillett was lured by the Van Beuren studio with prospects of higher pay and full creative control over the animation staff, and he joined around April 1934.[3] Right away, the animation output of Van Beuren's studio took a drastic change. Older series ended and were replaced with the short-lived series Toddle Tales, notable for including live-action wraparounds with child actors interacting with animated characters, and the Rainbow Parade cartoons, which became their main series throughout the rest of the studio's existence.
Production was troubled, as Gillett was known for being hard to work with, having large emotional outbursts and mood swings, constantly firing crew members, as well as demanding harsh work environments for animators. This caused the constant rejection of large chunks of animation or full cartoons well into production, resulting in enormous overtime hours to compensate and replace animation, voices, and music, often gone unpaid. Because of this, animators working at the studio called for union action and held strikes against the studio, which Gillett and Van Beuren combated long throughout production.[4]
In addition, Disney held a contract with Technicolor for exclusive use of their three-strip process when the Rainbow Parades started, so Van Beuren opted for the cheaper two-color Cinecolor process for their first season, a process which featured a somewhat more limited but still appealing palette of hues. Once Disney's contract expired in 1935, Van Beuren quickly switched to Technicolor for the rest of the series.
Many of the Rainbow Parade cartoons were one-shot stories with no recurring characters, but some of the films featured originally created characters like the Parrotville Parrots and Molly Moo-Cow, or established characters repurposed for color animation like the Toonerville Folks and Felix the Cat. Notable cartoon directors like Shamus Culhane and Dan Gordon contributed to this series when they were still establishing themselves in the industry.
Ultimately, production on the cartoons cancelled in 1936 when Disney, long a rival of the Van Beuren cartoon studio, signed an exclusive deal to produce cartoons with Van Beuren's distributor, RKO Radio Pictures. The Rainbow Parade cartoons wrapped production with the staff let go in May 1936[5] and the final cartoons distributed until October of the same year, with some cartoons still unproduced.[6]
The producer Amedee J. Van Beuren died in 1938, not long after the studio's closure, and copyrights on the series lapsed shortly after. This prompted independent distributors like Walter O. Gutlohn[7] and Commonwealth Pictures[8] to pick up rights for the films to be sold in home movie catalogues and syndicated for television throughout the decades. Low-budget home video distributors used any film prints of these cartoons they could find to cheaply include in cartoon compilations in the wakes of VHS and DVD.
Efforts have been taken in recent years to restore these cartoons as in 2021, Thunderbean Animation, in association with Blackhawk Films and the UCLA, released a Blu-ray collection of the first 13 Rainbow Parade cartoons from the existing master materials, updating their DVD collection from 2009. The second half of the series is also in the process of being restored by Thunderbean, and is currently available from the best existing prints released by Image DVD/Blackhawk Films/Film Preservation Associates.
| Title | Characters | Original release date | Director | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pastry Town Wedding | Bride, Groom, Pastry Chefs | July 27, 1934 | Burt Gillett Ted Eshbaugh |
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| The Parrotville Fire Department | The Flasher, Firefighters | September 14, 1934 | Burt Gillett Steve Muffatti |
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| The Sunshine Makers | Gnomes, Goblins | January 11, 1935 | Burt Gillett Ted Eshbaugh |
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| Parrotville Old Folks | Mrs. Birdkins, Captain, Friend, Old Folks | January 25, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| Japanese Lanterns | Japanese Children, Father, Stork | March 8, 1935 | Burt Gillett Ted Eshbaugh |
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| Spinning Mice | Wizard/Rabbit, Lizards/Doves, Toad/Squirrel, Throwback Mice/Devils, Girl, Boy, Mice | April 5, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| The Picnic Panic (a.k.a. The Stupid Teapot) | Molly Moo-Cow, Teapots, Flashback Teapots, Teacups | May 3, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| The Merry Kittens | Three Kittens, Terrier | May 31, 1935 | Burt Gillett Shamus Culhane |
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| Parrotville Post-Office | Captain, Black Parrot, Mrs. Birdkins, Mr. Birdkins' Children | June 28, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| The Rag Dog | Three Kittens, Two Terriers | July 19, 1935 | Burt Gillett |
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| The Hunting Season | Molly Moo-Cow, Ducks, Hunters | August 19, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer | ||
| Scotty Finds a Home | Scotty, Family, Bully | August 23, 1935 | Burt Gillett | ||
| Bird Scouts | Birds, Cat | September 20, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| Molly Moo-Cow and the Butterflies | Molly Moo-Cow, Collector, Butterflies | November 15, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| Molly Moo-Cow and the Indians | Molly Moo-Cow, Indian Squaw, Papoose, Indian Brave, Two Ducks | November 15, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer | ||
| Molly Moo-Cow and Rip Van Winkle | Molly Moo-Cow, Rip Van Winkle, Little Men | December 17, 1935 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer | ||
| Toonerville Trolley | Toonerville Trolley, Skipper, Katrinka, Molly Moo-Cow (cameo), Bull | January 17, 1936 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| Felix the Cat in "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg" | Felix the Cat, Goldie, Captain Kidd, Pirates | February 7, 1936 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| Molly Moo-Cow and Robinson Crusoe | Molly Moo-Cow, Robinson Crusoe, Cannibals | February 28, 1936 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| Neptune Nonsense | Felix the Cat, King Neptune, Annabelle, Octopus, Electric Eel, Mermaid | March 20, 1936 | Burt Gillett Tom Palmer |
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| Bold King Cole | Felix the Cat, Old King Cole, Ghosts | May 29, 1936 | Burt Gillett |
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| A Waif's Welcome | Orphan, Mother, Father, Son | June 19, 1936 | Tom Palmer |
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| Trolley Ahoy | Toonerville Trolley, Skipper, Mr. Bang, Katrinka | July 3, 1936 | Burt Gillett |
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| Cupid Gets His Man | Dan Cupid, Edna May Oliver, W.C. Fields | July 24, 1936 | Tom Palmer |
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| It's a Greek Life | Centaur, Mercury, Two Ducks | August 2, 1936 | Dan Gordon |
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| Toonerville Picnic | Toonerville Trolley, Skipper, Mr. Bang, Katrinka, Dog, Octopus | October 2, 1936 | Burt Gillett |
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