''Those Were Wonderful Days'' is a

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

cartoon released in theaters on April 26, 1934 by

Warner Bros. Studios Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

. The film was supervised by

Bernard B. Brown Bernard B. Brown (July 24, 1898 – February 20, 1981) was an American sound engineer and composer, who wrote the scores for many early animated cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions for distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures. H ...

. The sound was recorded by him in the uncredited. The characters were animated by Paul Smith and Don Williams. The musical score was by Norman Spencer.

Plot

Set in 1898, the cartoon offers a nostalgic look at the United States at the

turn of the century Turn of the century, in its broadest sense, refers to the transition from one century to another. The term is most often used to indicate a distinctive time period either before or after the beginning of a century or both before and after. Acc ...

. It starts with a barbershop quartet, composed of four men with

handlebar moustache A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy and upwardly curved extremities. These moustache styles are named for their resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a spaghetti moustache, because of its st ...

s who play old-fashioned music on found objects, leading up to the annual

Fourth of July Independence Day ( colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United State ...

celebration at the local fairground, where a hero and villain fight for the heart of a woman. The original “So Long Folks” sequence was thought to have been missing due to a splice between an airing of '' Honeymoon Hotel'' which features that short's closing sequence. The original short, except for the titles, was found on a

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

''Looney Tunes'' airing from 1990. However, a restored print with the correct closing sequence was featured in a 2021 episode of

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

's classic animation series '' Toon In with Me''.

References

External links

* 1934 films 1934 animated films American black-and-white films Films scored by Norman Spencer (composer) Films directed by Bernard B. Brown Films set in 1898 Films set in the United States Merrie Melodies short films 1930s Warner Bros. animated short films {{MerrieMelodies-stub