I'm looking for the cartoon in which these two characters appeared.



At first glance, the design of the characters strongly resembles Van Beuren's, but I don't know of any cartoons released by the studio in 1933 featuring these characters, and VB had already built a series around the very similar characters Cubby and Honey Bear, so I don't really see what use these characters could have had. Another possibility for the origin of these characters is that they were designed by John Foster when he was director of the Audio-Cinema studio between 1933 and 1934, but I don't know enough about the studio's history to say for sure.

Can anyone help me ?

John Foster did not design those characters. My friend Anthony White figured out that these were done by Frank Patrick Little for Van Beuren, but were never used. Perhaps they were to be who became Cubby and Cuddles? Whatever the case may be, no Van Beuren cartoon was ever produced using them

I'm looking for the cartoon in which these two characters appeared.



At first glance, the design of the characters strongly resembles Van Beuren's, but I don't know of any cartoons released by the studio in 1933 featuring these characters, and VB had already built a series around the very similar characters Cubby and Honey Bear, so I don't really see what use these characters could have had. Another possibility for the origin of these characters is that they were designed by John Foster when he was director of the Audio-Cinema studio between 1933 and 1934, but I don't know enough about the studio's history to say for sure.

Can anyone help me ?

Looks like something from Max Fleischer.

John Foster did not design those characters. My friend Anthony White figured out that these were done by Frank Patrick Little for Van Beuren, but were never used. Perhaps they were to be who became Cubby and Cuddles? Whatever the case may be, no Van Beuren cartoon was ever produced using them

Thanks to you and your friend for this information, I didn't know that Frank Little had worked for Van Beuren. However, I don't think these characters were prototypes of Cubby and Honey as these were designed in late 1932 so it doesn't add up. I suppose these characters were supposed to appear in the Aesop's Fables series directed by Harry Bailey, but they had no further use after that series was abruptly cancelled due to Bailey's dismissal.

Looks like something from Max Fleischer.

You're right : the Fleischer studio's influence on the design of these characters is very strong, especially on Lily Lion, who seems to be a rip-off of Betty Boop (she actually has exactly the same dress as Betty). The Fleischer studio was located right across the street from the Van Beuren studio, and many animators worked for both studios, so it's not surprising that there were cross-influences. What's more, VB had already designed another character strongly influenced by Betty, Countess Cat, who made a one-off appearance in the cartoon The Farmerette (1932), in which Frank Little was probably involved.

Looks like something from Max Fleischer.

You're right : the Fleischer studio's influence on the design of these characters is very strong, especially on Lily Lion, who seems to be a rip-off of Betty Boop (she actually has exactly the same dress as Betty). The Fleischer studio was located right across the street from the Van Beuren studio, and many animators worked for both studios, so it's not surprising that there were cross-influences. What's more, VB had already designed another character strongly influenced by Betty, Countess Cat, who made a one-off appearance in the cartoon The Farmerette (1932), in which Frank Little was probably involved.

The Farmerette is an excellent example of why Van Beuren was never as successful with audiences as the Fleischers. There are some good ideas in this cartoon that could have resulted in something very cute if they had been properly exploited, but the execution is so lamentable that it spoils the whole viewing experience !
The animation in this cartoon borders on amateurish, making it impossible to appreciate the sensuality of the cat as its design changes with each scene, while the poor direction, recycling of scenes from earlier cartoons and numerous technical problems are just as hard to ignore. The early Betty Boops also had changing character designs, but the big difference was that they were WELL realized, unlike VB, where very few animators seemed to know how to draw well. Van Beuren really should have hired more of Fleischer's key animators like Grim Natwick and Dick Huemer, but unfortunately VB seemed more interested in distributing its cartoons on time.

The Farmerette is an excellent example of why Van Beuren was never as successful with audiences as the Fleischers. There are some good ideas in this cartoon that could have resulted in something very cute if they had been properly exploited, but the execution is so lamentable that it spoils the whole viewing experience !
The animation in this cartoon borders on amateurish, making it impossible to appreciate the sensuality of the cat as its design changes with each scene, while the poor direction, recycling of scenes from earlier cartoons and numerous technical problems are just as hard to ignore. The early Betty Boops also had changing character designs, but the big difference was that they were WELL realized, unlike VB, where very few animators seemed to know how to draw well. Van Beuren really should have hired more of Fleischer's key animators like Grim Natwick and Dick Huemer, but unfortunately VB seemed more interested in distributing its cartoons on time.

I was talking about Fleischer's influence on Van Beuren, not the quality of their animations.

Although I have to admit that an experienced animator like Grim Natwick could have brought a lot of know-how to the VB studio, I don't find that these animations were particularly bad, although it's clear that some of them were very jerky. John Foster still managed to do some very good animation, and his character designs were very original, it's a real shame that Foster stopped animating when he went to work for Paul Terry.

And it's totally untrue to say that Van Beuren was simply interested in money, since he worked hard to make these cartoons a success with the public; the studio always tried to experiment with new ideas, and that's one of the main reasons why I love VB more than any other studio.