Harry Bailey

Waffles the Cat and Don the Dog fiddle around with a magic pencil, producing drawings that come to life.

In this early synchronized sound cartoon from the Van Beuren cartoon factory, a dog and cat encounter huge, strange and terrifying creatures in the jungle. They seek refuge in a missionary hits, where they play an organ, which causes the animals to dance. They are captured by cannibals, but escape and lead the jungle animals in song.

Early sound cartoon with an all-insect cast. An eager-to-please young bugler inadvertently annoys the king during a parade and tournament, but redeems himself by rescuing the king's daughter, who's been abducted by a really horrid-looking spider.

The Fly's Bride was produced in 1929, one year following Van Beuren's edict that all cartoons would be produced in sound. The RCA Photophone System is the credited process, and Carl Edouarde is credited with "synchronization." The film continues the long-running silent series of Aesop's Fables ("sugar coated pills of wisdom" as the end titles remarked) that the studio turned out. This entry displays the lively brand of "rubber hose" animation that was common in the early sound era. The story opens as a swarm of white shoe-clad flies cavort in a kitchen (gags include a soft-shoe number danced over spilled salt and a cop fly directing traffic around a piece of flypaper). The story shifts outside as a fly calls his gal on the phone. Here some rare lip-synch is attempted during the dialogue; Van Beuren usually avoided dialogue in the years to come in favor of songs to help the story along.

Some "jazz tonic" restores Grandma's youth. When the Big Bad Wolf pays a visit, he and Grandma decide to marry on the spot; but Little Red Riding Hood finds a way to stop the wedding.

An animated short, part of Van Beuren's Aesop Fables collection.

Early cartoon from the Aesop's Fables series featuring Sentinel Louie, the "topper" to Otto Soglow's Little King comic strip.

Van Beuren's Mickey Mouse clone is at it again, this time in a Western setting. They're all riding those wacky mechanical horses that always seem to appear in early Van Beuren and TerryToons cartoons.