Happy Harmonies

Happy Harmonies
Directed by
Produced by
  • Hugh Harman
  • Rudolf Ising
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
September 1, 1934 –
March 12, 1938
Running time
7–10 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Happy Harmonies is a series of thirty-seven animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938.[1]

Produced in Technicolor, these cartoons were very similar to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies and Warner Brothers’ Merrie Melodies musical series. They occasionally featured Bosko, a character who starred in the first Looney Tunes shorts that the duo produced for Leon Schlesinger. After the first two cartoons, the design of Bosko changed from an "inkblot" to a more realistic African-American boy.[2]

The two final titles in the series were originally produced by Harman and Ising as Silly Symphonies cartoons. Disney originally had Harman and Ising create three shorts for Disney, but when they only kept one of their three shorts (Merbabies), the copyrights to the other two (Pipe Dreams and The Little Bantamweight) were sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies.[3]

  1. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 89. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Happy Harmonies". www.bcdb.com, February 2, 2012
  3. ^ Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film and Television's Award-Winning and Legendary Animators