Happy Harmonies is the name of a series of animated cartoons

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising

Harman and Ising

Hugh Harman and Rudolf "Rudy" Ising were an American animation team best known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios...

 between 1934 and 1938.

Produced in Technicolor

Technicolor

Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

 (although the first two were in Cinecolor

Cinecolor

Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two color film process, based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and Alan M...

), these cartoons were very similar to Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

's Silly Symphonies

Silly Symphonies

Silly Symphonies is a series of animated short subjects, 75 in total, produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939, while the studio was still located at Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles...

. They would occasionally feature Bosko

Bosko

Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros...

, a character who starred in the first Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

 shorts that the duo produced for Leon Schlesinger

Leon Schlesinger

Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...

. After the first few releases, the design of Bosko changed from an ink blot to a realistic African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 boy. 36 cartoons were made in this series.

1934

All made in 2-strip Technicolor except where noted.

• The Discontented Canary
• The Old Pioneer
• Tales of the Vienna Woods
• Bosko's Parlor Pranks
  Bosko's Parlor Pranks
  Bosko's Parlor Pranks is a Happy Harmonies cartoon made by Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising at MGM starring Bosko. It is the first Bosko cartoon made at MGM after Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising moved from Warner Brothers...
  
  ²
• Toyland Broadcast

² Features Bosko

1935

All made in 2-strip Technicolor except where noted.

• Hey-Hey Fever² (the last cartoon featuring the original Bosko)
• When the Cat's Away
• The Lost Chick
• The Calico Dragon
  The Calico Dragon
  The Calico Dragon is a Happy Harmonies cartoon short. When a little girl falls asleep after reading a fairy tale to her doll, her toys come to life. The toys act out a fairy tale in which a prince has to fight a dragon. The cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject in 1935....
  
  
• Good Little Monkeys
• The Chinese Nightingale
• Poor Little Me
• Barnyard Babies (the last cartoon featuring MGM's "Coffee the Lion")
• The Old Plantation¹ (the first cartoon featuring MGM's "Tanner the Lion")
• Honeyland
  Honeyland
  Honeyland is a 1935 animated film in the Happy Harmonies series , based on the song, sung by the vaudevillian trio, the Brox Sisters.-Plot:...
  
  ¹
• Alias St. Nick¹
• Run, Sheep, Run^{1 2} (the first cartoon featuring the redesigned Bosko)

¹ Filmed in 3-strip Technicolor

² Features Bosko

1936

• Bottles
• The Early Bird and the Worm
• The Old Mill Pond
• Two Little Pups
• The Old House¹
• The Pups' Picnic
• To Spring
  To Spring
  To Spring is a 1936 animated musical short distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cartoon is a Harman and Ising production, released as part of the Happy Harmonies series...
  
  
• Little Cheeser
• The Pups' Christmas

¹ Features Bosko

1937

• Circus Daze¹
• Swing Wedding
  Swing Wedding
  Swing Wedding is a 1937 animated musical short by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Hugh Harman, it is part of the Happy Harmonies cartoon series.The cartoon portrays a wedding celebrated by a group of frogs in a swamp...
  
   - An abridged version exists, entitled Hot Frogs.
• Bosko's Easter Eggs¹
• Little Ol' Bosko and the Pirates¹
• The Hound and the Rabbit
• The Wayward Pups
• Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals¹

¹ Features Bosko

1938

• Little Ol' Bosko in Bagdad¹ (Final theatrical appearance of Bosko)
• Pipe Dreams
• The Little Bantamweight

¹ Features Bosko

Broadcast history

• Disney Channel
  Disney Channel
  Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
  
   (1991–2006)
• Cartoon Network
  Cartoon Network
  Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
  
   (1992–1994)
• Boomerang
  Boomerang (TV channel)
  Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
  
   (2000–present)

Home media

The only official home release containing a significant number of the Happy Harmonies film shorts is the Happy Harmonies Cartoon Classics laserdisc

Laserdisc

LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...

 box set. The laserdisc set was released in 1994 by MGM/UA Home Videohttp://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/05553/ML104688/Happy-Harmonies:-MGM-Cartoon-Classics-#1, which predated the merger of Turner Broadcasting System

Turner Broadcasting System

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...

 with Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

 in 1996. The four-disc set contains 17 of the 36 Happy Harmonies shorts while the remaining 25 shorts include one side of six Barney Bear

Barney Bear

Barney Bear was a series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. The titular character was an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a sluggish, sleepy bear who often is in pursuit of nothing but peace and quiet....

 cartoons, the 1939 animated short Peace on Earth and the 1940 animated short The Milky Way.http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/05553/ML104688/Happy-Harmonies:-MGM-Cartoon-Classics-#1