Swing Symphony
The title card used from 1942 to 1945.
Produced byWalter Lantz
Music byDarrell Calker
Color processTechnicolor
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
1941–1945
Running time
7 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Swing Symphony is an American animated musical short film series produced by Walter Lantz Productions from 1941 to 1945. The shorts were a more contemporary pastiche on Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies,[1] and often featured top boogie-woogie musicians of the era.[2] While the first cartoon include the characters Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, it mainly features a variety of different characters created exclusively for the series, with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit making an appearance in one cartoon.

Background

Walter Lantz Productions first developed the format with Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat, released on March 28, 1941. The short is considered a precursor as it contains many elements seen in the series, such as utilizing a popular boogie-woogie song. Lantz also produced Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company 'B' later in September which followed the same formula and would be nominated for an Academy Award. The first cartoon that would go under Swing Symphony wouldn't be released until December of that year.

One of the main writers that worked on the series was Ben Hardaway, who left Warner Bros. in 1940 and was hired by Walter Lantz to work on the storyboards for Universal Studios' cartoons. From 1938 to 1940, Hardaway was notably one of the last holdouts to co-direct several Merrie Melodies cartoons that featured lengthy musical sequences. He also supplied his voice for Woody Woodpecker in 1944 until 1949.[3] Darrell Calker, who was involved in jazz circles, composed the music and brought in famous musicians like Nat King Cole, Meade Lux Lewis and Jack Teagarden to play them.[4] Pianist Bob Zurke did a recording for the cartoon Jungle Jive before he died aged 32.

In 1942, Juke Box Jamboree was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film but lost to Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face.[5] Few of Lantz's cartoons were highlighted for stereotyping and racism, but were said by Joe Adamson as not intended to be offensive.[6]

The series was discontinued in 1945 due to swing music fading in popularity following the end of World War II. Dick Lundy, who directed the last Swing Symphony cartoon, later developed Musical Miniatures, a musical series focusing on classical music. Four cartoons were produced in 1947–1948.[7]

Filmography

Title Drawn by (animator) Written by Directed by Characters Release date Availability
$21 a Day (Once a Month) Alex Lovy

Frank Tipper

 Lowell Elliot

Ben Hardaway

 Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker

Andy Panda

 December 1, 1941 DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
The Hams That Couldn't Be Cured Alex Lovy

R. Somerville

 Lowell Elliot

Ben Hardaway

Algernon Wolf

Three Little Pigs

 March 4, 1942 DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2
Juke Box Jamboree Verne Harding Ben Hardaway

Chuck Couch

 Alex Lovy Mouse July 27, 1942 DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2
Yankee Doodle Swing Shift Harold Mason Ben Hardaway

Milt Schaffer

 September 21, 1942
Boogie Woogie Sioux Robert Bentley November 30, 1942 DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 5
Cow-Cow Boogie Harold Mason January 3, 1943[8]
The Egg Cracker Suite Les Kline Milt Schaffer Emery Hawkins

Ben Hardaway

 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit March 22, 1943[9] DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 3
Swing Your Partner Paul Smith Ben Hardaway

Milt Schaffer

 Alex Lovy Homer Pigeon April 26, 1943[10] DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 4
Pass The Biscuits Mirandy! Paul Smith James Culhane Mirandy

The Foy's and Barton's[11]

 August 23, 1943[12] DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
Boogie Woogie Man

Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out

 Laverne Harding

Les Kline

 Boogie Woogie September 27, 1943 DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2
The Greatest Man In Siam Pat Matthews

Emery Hawkins

 March 27, 1944 DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
Jungle Jive Paul J. Smith

Emery Hawkins

 May 15, 1944 DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 6
Abou Ben Boogie Paul J. Smith

Pat Matthews

 Miss. X[13] September 18, 1944 DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
The Pied Piper Of Basin Street Laverne Harding

Pat Matthews

 The Pied Piper January 15, 1945 DVD - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
Sliphorn King Of Polaroo Pat Matthews Dick Lundy Jackson March 19, 1945 DVD - Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Volume 4

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Abou Ben Boogie - Cartoon Research". Jerry Beck. March 25, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  2. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 140. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons. Applause Theater & Cinema Books. p. 127. ISBN 9781557836717.
  4. ↑ Goldmark, Daniel; Taylor, Yuval (2002). The Cartoon Music Book. A Capella Books. p. 10. ISBN 9781556524738.
  5. ↑ "The 15th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  6. ↑ Cohen, Karl F. (2006). Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 50. ISBN 9781476607252.
  7. ↑ "Dick Lundy's "Kiddie Concert" (1948) |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
  8. ↑ Shull, Michael S.; Wilt, David E. (23 May 2014). Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939–1945. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 132. ISBN 9780786481699.
  9. ↑ "The Vault". www2.boxoffice.com. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  10. ↑ "Swing Your Partner (1943) - The Internet Animation Database". www.intanibase.com. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  11. ↑ "'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy". www.tvworthwatching.com. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
  12. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. The Library of Congress. 1970. p. 124.
  13. ↑ ""Abou Ben Boogie" (1944) |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
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