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Release dates | August 2, 1931 — June 13, 1997 |
Running time | 6–10 minutes (one reel) |
Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the partner series to Looney Tunes and featured many of the same characters.[1] It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it was revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black-and-white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.
Merrie Melodies was originally produced by Harman–Ising Pictures from 1931 to 1933 and Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, and the newly renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons continued production until 1963. It was outsourced to DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Format Productions from 1964 to 1967, and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation resumed production for its final two years of the golden age era.[2] When the series was revived in 1979, DePatie–Freleng produced new shorts briefly, but they were replaced by Chuck Jones Productions the following year. During its final years, the series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation.
The films Tweetie Pie, Speedy Gonzales and Birds Anonymous each won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and another three (Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and What's Opera, Doc?) have been inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.[3][4][5][6]
In 2013, TV Guide ranked the Warner Bros. Cartoons (ranked as Looney Tunes) the third Greatest Cartoon of All Time (out of 60), one of only six film series to make the list (the other five being the Pink Panther series, Popeye the Sailor, Mighty Mouse, Woody Woodpecker and Tom and Jerry).[7]
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
- ^ "Merrie Melodies".[permanent dead link] Bcdb.com, April 12, 2012
- ^ "1947 academy awards". Infoplease. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "1955 academy awards". Infoplease. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "1957 academy awards". Infoplease. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "National Film Registry List". The Library of Congress. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
- ^ Rich Sands (September 24, 2013). "TV Guide Magazine's 60 Greatest Cartoons of All Time". TV Guide.