This is a list compiling the various cartoons bootlegged by the pirate distributor Astra TV/Cinepix Inc./Cinema-Vue for television sometime in the 1950s, and released as part of their "Whimseyland" package*. According to industry trade publications, 150 cartoons were at least initially included as part of this package - although, per those same publications, the company added cartoons to the package over time. One quick squib in an issue of Variety from 1956 reveals the library was expanded to about 350 black-and-white cartoons and 52 color shorts (including some Mutt and Jeffs, more than likely likely the redrawns released by "Modern Film Sales"/Screen Attractions in the 30s). The package was distributed as late as 1962 as per a listing of the company in the International Television Almanac, although the number of cartoons offered is listed as 200 as opposed to 350 (maybe some were withdrawn from the package due to legal concerns?)
In addition to distributing the cartoons as a stand-alone package to television stations, the Astra/Cinepix outfit also packaged various holiday-themed cartoons in their package into a hour-long special called "Jingle Dingle's Christmas Party", featuring a puppet character by that name who introduced said cartoons. A 16mm print is known to exist in the collection of Mark Kausler, but the special itself is not currently online for my viewing. The company also planned to distribute cartoons featuring Dutch cartoonist Marten Toonder's "Tom Puss" character, but these cartoons aren't the concern of this thread, and I'll direct you to an article linked at the bottom of this post about those.
Some years after the distribution of this package, many prints from the Astra collection were acquired by NY entity Radio and Television Packagers and were used as the source prints for a good deal of the infamous redrawn colorized versions of various cartoons prepared for their "When Funnies Were Funny" package.
Mention must be briefly made of a company called Screen Attractions, a predecessor to this outfit and run by the same person who later founded Astra, Morris Kleinerman. Many of the films included in the "Whimseyland" package (like the Mutt and Jeff and Pat Sullivan "Charley" cartoons) were previously handled by this previous venture of his, either released to theaters or as prints for home use. This outfit was also the one that released the colorized versions of the silent Huemer-era "Mutt and Jeff" cartoons in the 30s.
The print of "Egyptian Daze" (actually "Mummy O'Mine") R&TVP used for their redrawn version even features the text "A Screen Attraction" on its end slate, and it's more than likely that whenever a cartoon was distributed by them, it's a sure bet it was eventually included as part of this package.
Anyhoo, now that we've gotten the Astra backstory out of the way, here's the list!
(*A company known as Brumburger also distributed a series of cartoons under the "Whimseyland" name, and featuring the exact same graphics on the cover as the 16mm Whimseyland boxes I've seen before. However, these were 8mm prints meant for home use often duped from older 8mm releases from Exclusive, Novelty Film Co., and others, and a closer inspection of the cartoons offered suggests a closer relationship with the home movie companies Atlas Films and Carnival Films, judging by the titles listed. I have no idea what the relationship Brumburger must've had with Astra, but these cartoons will not be listed despite the exact same brand name as the Astra package.)
A Duck Came Along = "Along Came a Duck" (Van Beuren, 1934) (likely)
A Fireman's Life = "Hook and Ladder Hokum" (Van Beuren, 1933)
A Fox Gets Caught = ??? (unknown European cartoon. )
A Good Time = "A Royal Good Time" (Van Beuren, 1934)
A King’s Christmas = “Pals" (Van Beuren, 1934)
African Daze = ???
African Safari = "On the Pan" (Van Beuren, 1934)
Alaska Daze = "Snow Time" (Columbia, 1932)
Animal Rhythm = "Alaskan Knights" (Columbia, 1930)
April Showers (Fables Studios, 1929)
Baby Sitting = ???
Batter Up = "The Magnetic Bat" (Fables Studios, 1928)
Bunk and Bunk = "Barnyard Bunk" (Van Beuren, 1933)
Cat in Toyland = ??? (most likely "Felix Trips Thru Toyland" [Sullivan, 1925])
Cats and Cats = "Cats in a Bag" (Terry, 1936)
Charley at the Circus (Pat Sullivan, 1918)
Cholly Polly (Columbia, 1942)
Christmas Up North = ???
Cigar Store Indian = ??? (Maybe "The Last Indian" [Terrytoons, 1938])
Cinderella = “Once Upon a Time” (Audio Productions, c. 1937)
Country Boy Rabbit = “Country Boy” (WB, 1935)
Day at the Circus = ???
Dog Missing = “Dog Gone” (Mutt and Jeff, 1926)
Egyptian Daze = “Mummy O’Mine” (Mutt and Jeff, 1926)
Felix at Home = "Felix Busts a Bubble" (Sullivan, 1926)
Felix Minds the Baby = "Felix Minds the Kid" (Sullivan, 1922, sourced from an Official reissue)
Felix on the Water Wagon = combo of "Woos Whoopee" and "Whys and Otherwise" (Sullivan, 1930 and 1927 respectively)
Felix Revolts (Pat Sullivan, 1923)
Felix Seeks Solitude (Sullivan, 1926)
Felix Seeks the Future = "Futuritzy" (Sullivan, 1928)
Felix Trumps the Ace (Sullivan, 1926)
Goats and Whiskers = “Billy Goat’s Whiskers” (Terry, 1937)
Heavenly Daze = “Koko’s Paradise” (Fleischer, 1926)
Home Sweet Home = ??? (Maybe the Bubble and Squeak of the same name?)
Icy Daze = ???
Imitation Kitty = ??? (possibly "Copy Cat" [Fleischer, 1941])
Invisible Revenge (Mutt and Jeff, 1925) (Presuming this is originally an Astra print, by way of the "Charley at the Circus" music appearing in this.)
Junior Camera Bug = ???
The Lady in Red (WB, 1935) (retitle unknown, if any)
Lumberjack = “The Saw Mill Mystery” (Terry, 1937)
Magazine Rack= “I Like Mountain Music” (WB, 1931)
Mexicalli Lilly (Boyd La Vero "Marty Monk" cartoon, 1932)
Midnight Frolics (earlier prints)/Midnight Follies (later prints) = "We're in the Money" (WB, 1933)
Midsummer Day Dream = "Bosko’s Woodland Daze" (WB, 1931) (possibly also distributed under the latter name as well, given the print sourced for the R&TVP redrawn has the original name accompanied by Astra's fanfare)
Misses His Swiss = “Felix Misses His Swiss” (Sullivan, 1926)
Missing Links (McCrory "Life Cartoon Comedy", 1926)
Mister Do-All = “Jack from All Trades” (Sullivan, 1927) (A 16mm print with Screen Attractions has also been sighted of this cartoon, titled "Jack of All Trades".)
Moonlight for Two (WB, 1932) (I know of no print with Astra titles, but Goopy Geer is prominently featured on the graphic seen on extant "Whimseyland Cartoons" boxes. R&TVP's print calls it "Barnyard Frolics", but until an Astra/Cinepix print shows up with that title, I'll just label it by its original name.)
Music and Charm = "The Villain Still Pursued Her" (Terry, 1937)
Off to the Races = “Ups and Downs” (WB, 1931)
Old Folks at Home = ??? (Maybe "Parrotville Old Folks"?)
On Duty = “One More Time” (WB, 1931)
Peppers and Peppers ="The Dog and the Bone" (Terry, 1937)
Playful Pup = "His Off Day" (Terrytoons, 1938)
Racing Fever = ??? (TBA McCrory "Life Cartoon Comedy")
Rag Dog (Van Beuren, 1935)
Saddle Daze = "Cactus King" (Van Beuren, 1934)
Sailing, Sailing - TBA Carpenter-Goldman "Sailor Jack" cartoon
Santa's Arrival = ???
Scare Crow and the Wolf = ???
Simon and His Goose = ??? (probably “Simple Simon” [Iwerks, 1935])
Soda Clerks (Mutt and Jeff, 1925)
Spring Cleaning = “Kiko’s Cleaning Day” (Terry, 1937)
Springtime (Disney, 1929)
Swiss Daze = ???
Sunken Treasure = "Felix Braves the Briny" (Sullivan, 1926)
Tee Time (Sullivan, 1930)
The Dancing Bear (Terry, 1937)
The Happy Kittens = ???
The Inventor = “Felix Turns the Tide” (Sullivan, 1922)
The Magic Fish = "The Tale of Emeylia" (Russian cartoon, 1938)
The Magic Lamp = "Maid in China" (Terry, 1938)
The Non Stop Fright (Sullivan, 1927)
The Shanty Where Santa Claus Lives (WB, 1933) (likely retitled, rename unknown)
The Slight Fantastic = "Three's a Crowd" (WB, 1932)
The Scared Rabbit = “The Timid Rabbit” (Terry, 1937)
The Under Dog (Fables Studios, 1929)
Tray for Dog = ??? (Likely "Old Dog Tray" [Terry, 1935])
Tuning In (Van Beuren, 1929)
Wanted a Doggie = "Happy and Lucky" (Terry, 1938)
Where Am I? (Mutt and Jeff, 1925) (B&W version of c. 1934/5 redrawn version)
Zoo Logical = "Bonzo the Dog" cartoon (Geo. Studdy/New Era Films, 1925-6)
In addition, according to archivist Tommy Stathes, Astra duped many Stuart/Guaranteed Pictures reissues of various "Aesop's Fables" by Paul Terry's studio (of which "Batter Up" could very well be). When titles from that package are confirmed to have been including in the "Whimseyland" package at some point, they will be added.
LIKELY:
Aroma of the South Seas
Mixing in Mexico
Slick Sleuths
The Globe Trotters
The Skating Instructors
Westward Whoa (all Mutt and Jeff, 1925-6) (These films were previously handled by Screen Attractions and redrawn by them in the 1930s. It's likely, considering they were in Kleinerman's film inventory when he was compiling this package, that he used either the colorized or original B&W versions in it.)
Christmas Tree (Russian cartoon, 1942) (Part of this cartoon's score was recycled for "A King's Christmas", stands to reason they had this in the package at some point since the odd European/Russian film did turn up in this package before.)
MAYBE:
"Accidents Won't Happen" (Mutt and Jeff, 1925) (R&TVP print keeps the original titles, but uses the loop of Sharples cues Astra got a lot of mileage out of for background music. Astra has been known to leave the original titles in on occasion [e.g. "Charley at the Circus"] so it's plausible this is one of the rare Astras with the titles intact. Could just be an instance of an anonymous editor at R&TVP lifting these from another print and using them as soundtrack however.)
"Goode Knight" (Van Beuren, 1934) (One Official Films reissue print found on a few public domain cartoon compilations has an Astra end title at the end, but may have been spliced onto the print later on, considering the picture and sound quality on the ET isn't as sharp as the actual cartoon.)
Some of these I don’t have access to the original B&W Astra prints that were used as sources for Fred Ladd’s redrawns, but I can tell they were sourced from this distributor because of the distinctive title cards.
Thanks to Tommy Stathes, S.C. MacPeter, "hidden36" and "Blinkyenjoyer" for additions and corrections to this list, and just helpful information regarding these cartoons. Cartoon researcher extraordinary "Don M. Yowp" also deserves a bit of thanks, for his article
"The Other Cartoon Tom Cat" , which talks about this fascinating company a bit, and was the source for a good bit of information in this post.
Edited by user
16 days ago
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Reason: april showers
"With all respect to the great mousetrap."- Popeye, "The Spinach Overture" (1935)