''Screen Songs'' (formerly known as ''KoKo Song Car-Tunes'') are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 1945, now in color, and released them regularly through 1951. Two of Paramount's one-shot cartoons quietly revived the format later: ''Candy Cabaret'' (1954) and ''Hobo's Holiday'' (1963).

History

The ''Screen Songs'' are a continuation of the earlier Fleischer series '' Song Car-Tunes'' in color. They are sing-along shorts featuring the famous " bouncing ball", a sort of precursor to modern karaoke videos. They often featured popular melodies of the day. The early Song Car-Tunes were among the earliest sound films, produced two years before '' The Jazz Singer''. They were largely unknown at the time because their release was limited to the chain of 36 theaters operated by The Red Seal Pictures Company, which was equipped with the early Lee DeForest Phonofilm sound reproduction equipment. The Red Seal theater chain—formed by the Fleischers, DeForest, Edwin Miles Fadiman, and Hugo Riesenfeld—went from the East Coast to

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. Between May 1924 and September 1926, the Fleischers released 36 ''Song Car-Tunes'' series, with 19 using the Phonofilm

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...

process. The films included ''Oh Mabel'', ''Come Take a Trip in My Airship'', '' Darling Nelly Gray'', '' Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?'', and '' By the Light of the Silvery Moon''. Beginning with '' My Old Kentucky Home'' (1926), the cartoons featured the "follow the bouncing ball" gimmick, that lead the audience singing along with the film. The other 17 films in the Song Car-Tunes series were silent, designed to be shown with live music in movie theaters. The Fleischers were ahead of the sound revolution, and just missed the actual change when Red Seal Pictures filed for bankruptcy in the fall of 1926.

Releases after Red Seal Pictures

In 1928, the Weiss Brothers reissued through their Artclass Pictures company and other independent distributors a number of the silent "Ko-Ko Song Car-tunes" with new animation created for the beginnings, removing the original titles and opening original footage. * '' For Me and My Gal'' (1926) * ''I Love to Fall Asleep'' (1926) * ''In My Harem'' (1926) * ''Just Try to Picture Me'' (1926) * ''My Sweetie'' (1926) * ''Old Pal'' (1926) * '' Alexander's Ragtime Band'' (1926) * '' The Sheik of Araby'' (1926) * ''

Annie Laurie "Annie Laurie" is an old Scottish song based on a poem said to have been written by William Douglas (1672 - c1760 ) of Dumfriesshire, about his romance with Annie Laurie (1682–1764). The words were modified and the tune was added by Alicia Ann ...

'' (1926) * '' Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning'' (1926) * '' When I Lost You'' (1926) * ''

Margie Margie is a feminine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of the related names Margaret, Marjorie, or Margarita, all of which mean "pearl". Margie may refer to: People * Margie Abbott (born 1958), Australian businesswoman * Margie Ac ...

'' (1926) * ''When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam (1926) * ''Oh! What a Pal Was Mary'' (1926) * ''Everybody's Doing It'' (1926) * ''Yak-A-Hula-Hick-A-Doola'' (1926) * ''My Wife's Gone to the Country'' (1926) * '' My Old Kentucky Home'' (1926) * ''Beautiful Eyes'' (1926) * '' Finiculee Finicula'' (1926) * ''Micky'' (1926) * ''When the Angelus Was Ringing'' (1926) * ''When I Leave This World Behind'' (1926) * ''Tumbledown Shack in Athlone'' (1927) * '' The Rocky Road to Dublin'' (1927) * ''Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon'' (1927) * ''Oh I Wish I Was in Michigan'' (1927)

New contract with Paramount Pictures

The Fleischers signed a new contract with

in late 1928. Beginning in February 1929, the song cartoons returned under a new name, ''Screen Songs'', using the Western Electric sound-on-film process. The first was '' The Sidewalks of New York'' (''East Side, West Side'') released on 5 February 1929. In the 1930s, the shorts began to feature such musical guest stars as Lillian Roth,

Ethel Merman Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann; January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American singer and actress. Known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and her leading roles in musical theatre, musical theater,Obituary ''Variety Obitua ...

, Cab Calloway, Rudy Vallée, The Mills Brothers, the Boswell Sisters, and others. The series, which eventually focused on many of the "

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

s" of "The Swing Era" continued until 1938. In 1945,

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was established as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contr ...

, successors to the Fleischers, revived the Screen Songs as an all animated series. The earliest Screen Song released as part of the '' Noveltoons'' series, ''When G.I. Johnny Comes Home'', was released on February 2, 1945.Pointer, Ray (2016) "The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer", McFarland & Co. Publishers

Filmography

Fleischer Studios

Famous Studios

For all the shorts, the musical arrangements were made by Winston Sharples.

Notes

References

External links

''Screen Songs''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on March 29, 2017.