Silly Symphonies was a series of animated short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoon universe (with the exception of The Three Little Pigs and most notably Donald Duck who made his first appearance in the 1934 short, The Wise Little Hen) Silly Symphonies did not have recurring characters and each one was depicted as a stand alone production. A total of 75 Silly Symphonies cartoons were made and the series is mostly remembered as being a platform which Disney used to experiment with different processes, techniques, characters, stories, and technologies for which the then fledgling company could use to refine and perfect its animation style; making the series a key part in aiding Walt Disney's efforts to expand into feature length animated films. Over its ten year run, Silly Symphonies would go on to win Disney seven Academy Awards for best Animated Short Film and spawned numerous imitators, some of which (such as Warner Bros' Merrie Melodies) would go on to be major competitors with Disney.
Filmography
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
Non-Canonical Silly Symphonies
The Silly Symphonies series may have ended, but that did not stop Disney from making more Silly Symphony-esque cartoons years later. Here is the list:
1950
1952
1953
- Adventures In Music: Melody
- Football (Now and Then)
- Adventures In Music: Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
- Ben and Me
1954
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
New Era Silly Symphonies
These cartoons were made after the Animated Short Department was closed in 1962. Some were made for film festivals and have generally stayed out of public viewing since their release.
1978
1982
1986
- Oilspot and Lipstick (Created for the 1987 SIGGRAPH convention in Anaheim)
1992
- Pedal to the Metal (Released with the movie Three Ninjas)
1998
- Redux Riding Hood (Released at many film festivals)
- Three Little Pigs (Released at many film festivals)
2000
- John Henry (Released with the Direct-to-Video Short Compilation "Legends and Tall Tales")
2003
- Destino (Released at many film festivals)
2004
- Lorenzo (Released with the movie Raising Helen)
Mickey Mouse Works Silly Symphonies
These are shorts released as part of episodes of Mickey Mouse Works which were titled as Silly Symphonies. These shorts feature the familiar Disney characters (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, etc.) as opposed to being one-shot cartoons of the past, and they generally do not have any dialogue.
1999
2000
Legacy
Silly Symphonies brought along many imitators, including Warner Bros. cartoon series Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and MGM's Happy Harmonies. The television series Mickey Mouse Works used the Silly Symphonies title for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. Disney also produced comic strips and comic books with this title.
The Symphonies also changed the course of Disney Studio history when Walt's plans to direct his first feature cartoon became problematic after his warm-up to the task The Golden Touch was widely seen (even by Disney himself) as stiff and slowly paced. This motivated him to embrace his role as being the producer and providing creative oversight (especially of the story) for Snow White while tasking David Hand to handle the actual directing.
Years later after the Silly Symphonies ended, Disney occasionally produced a handful of one-shot cartoons, playing the same style as the Silly Symphony series. Unlike the Silly Symphonies canon, most of these one-shot shorts have a narration, usually by Disney legend Sterling Holloway.