Former animation studio
The Van Beuren Corporation
was a
New York City
-based
[2]
animation
studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action
short-subjects
from the 1920s to 1936.
History
[
edit
]
In 1920, the
Keith-Albee
organization formed
Fables Pictures
for the production of the
Aesop's Film Fables
cartoon series with
Paul Terry
, who himself owned 10 percent of the studio.
[2]
Producer
Amedee J. Van Beuren
bought out the studio in 1928, retaining Terry and renaming the business after its new owner.
[2]
Van Beuren released Terry's first sound cartoon
Dinner Time
(1928) (a month before Disney's
Steamboat Willie
) through
Pathe Exchange
, which later became part of
RKO Pictures
. Terry ran the animation studio while Van Beuren focused on other parts of the business. In 1929, Terry quit to start his own
Terrytoons
studio and John Foster took over the animation department.
Van Beuren released his films through
RKO Radio Pictures
. The early sound Van Beuren cartoons are almost identical to the late silent cartoons: highly visual, with little dialogue and occasional sound effects. Bandleaders
Gene Rodemich
and
Winston Sharples
supervised the music. The company's main cartoon characters were "
Tom and Jerry
", a tall-and-short pair, usually vagrants who attempted various occupations. They share no relation to
MGM
's more successful
Tom and Jerry
, a cat and mouse, and the older series has been renamed "Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry" and "Dick and Larry" in various future incarnations. Van Beuren was keenly aware that successful cartoons often featured animated "stars", and urged his staff to come up with new ideas for characters. Cubby, a mischievous little bear, resulted.
In 1932, Van Beuren planned to release a series of wild-animal shorts featuring celebrity explorer
Frank Buck
. RKO executives were so impressed by these Van Beuren shorts that they decided to combine them into a feature film,
Bring 'Em Back Alive
. This was a very successful business move, but it left both Van Beuren and RKO with a void in their short-subject schedule. Van Beuren, forced to act quickly, found an existing series of two-reel comedies:
Charlie Chaplin
's 12 productions for the Mutual film company, produced in 1916-17.
[3]
Van Beuren paid $10,000 each for the shorts, and assigned his animation department to create new music and sound effects for the silent films. Bandleader
Gene Rodemich
and Rodemich's assistant and successor
Winston Sharples
assembled new scores. RKO released the Van Beuren Chaplins in 1933?34. Chaplin did not own these films; author Michael J. Hayde discloses that Chaplin had declined several opportunities to purchase them.
The Van Beuren Corporation acquired and produced live-action features such as
Adventure Girl
(1934) and two more Frank Buck safaris,
Wild Cargo
(1934) and
Frank Buck's Fang and Claw
(1935). Other Van Beuren live-action productions included a "Van Beuren Vagabond" travelogue series, a series of novelty shorts narrated by the radio comedy team
Easy Aces
(
Goodman Ace
and Jane Ace) and musical comedy shorts featuring
Bert Lahr
,
Shemp Howard
, among others.
Van Beuren remained unsatisfied, and agreed to license the popular comic-strip character
The Little King
and the radio comedy act,
Amos 'n' Andy
to adapt into animated cartoons. Neither series was successful. Van Beuren then hired
Walt Disney
director
Burt Gillett
and animator
Tom Palmer
to create a new series of color cartoons. These "Rainbow Parade" cartoons featured established characters:
Felix the Cat
,
Parrotville Parrots
,
Molly Moo-Cow
, and the
Toonerville Folks
.
Closure
[
edit
]
These full-color Van Beuren efforts were well received, and Van Beuren had finally succeeded in sponsoring a popular cartoon series, but RKO later entered into a deal to distribute new color cartoons produced by industry leader
Walt Disney
. RKO, no longer needing Van Beuren's cartoons, abandoned the Rainbow Parade shorts.
Amedee J. Van Beuren
fell ill during this time. In July 1938, he had a stroke that would eventually lead to his death on November 12 of the same year by heart attack.
[4]
[5]
During his recovery from his stroke, Van Beuren closed his studio rather than accept unionization that had caused the
studio problems in 1935
.
[6]
The Van Beuren library was sold to various television, reissue, and home-movie distributors in the 1940s and 1950s, including Unity Pictures, Walter Gutlohn/Library Films,
Commonwealth Pictures
, and
Official Films
.
[
citation needed
]
The library eventually lapsed into the
public domain
.
[
citation needed
]
Productions
[
edit
]
Animation
:
Live-action
:
Live-action shorts
:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Lenburg, Jeff (2006).
Who's Who in Animated Cartoons
. Hal Leonard Corporation.
ISBN
9781557836717
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Animation from Van Beuren Studios"
.
Turner Classic Movies
. Archived from
the original
on August 26, 2018
. Retrieved
August 25,
2018
.
- ^
Michael J. Hayde,
Chaplin's Vintage Year
, BearManor, 2016.
ISBN
978-1593937539
- ^
A. J. VAN BEUREN, 58, FILM OFFICIAL, DIES. New York Times. November 13, 1938, Sunday p 45
- ^
THEATER GOSSIP. Evening Independent - Google News Archive - Feb 20, 1938
- ^
pp. 116?117 Black, James Eric
Walt Kelly and Pogo: The Art of the Political Swamp
McFarland, 30 Dec 2015
External links
[
edit
]