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The Van Beuren Corporation, headed by producer Amedee J. Van Beuren, was a New York City-based film studio that produced theatrical cartoons and live-action short-subjects from th…
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Investigate this subjectThe Van Beuren Corporation, headed by producer Amedee J. Van Beuren, was a New York City-based film studio that produced theatrical cartoons and live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
The Van Beuren Corporation, headed by producer Amedee J. Van Beuren, was a New York City-based film studio that produced theatrical cartoons and live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
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. Amedee J. Van Beuren bought into Terry's studio in 1928. Terry ran the animation studio while Van Beuren focused on other parts of the business. Van Beuren wanted to make cartoons in the then-new sound format but Terry, already accustomed to silent-film economics, was reluctant. Van Beuren released Terry's first sound cartoon Dinner Time (1928) (a month before Disney's Steamboat Willie) through Pathé Exchange, which later became part of RKO Radio Pictures. Van Beuren broke away from Terry and formed his own company, Van Beuren Studios, releasing through Pathé. Terry started his own Terrytoons studio, while Fables alumnus (and eventual Terrytoons storyman) John Foster took over the animation department.
The early sound Van Beuren cartoons are almost identical to the late silent cartoons: highly visual, with little dialogue and occasional sound effects. Bandleader Gene Rodemich and his assistant and successor Winston Sharples supervised the music. The company's main cartoon characters were "Tom and Jerry", a tall-and-short pair of stylized humans, usually vagrants who attempted various occupations. They share no relation to MGM's more successful cat-and-mouse Tom and Jerry, and the older series was renamed "Dick and Larry" (by home-movie distributor Official Films) and more recently "Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry". 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. 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. Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples assembled new orchestral scores. RKO released the Van Beuren Chaplins from August 1932 to July 1934. 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 or Shemp Howard, and other musical or comedy acts.
By mid‑1933, RKO had grown dissatisfied with the creative direction of the Van Beuren cartoons, in particular the Tom and Jerry shorts, viewing them as too surreal and lacking in broad commercial appeal. According to animator Mannie Davis, RKO installed Hiram S. Brown, Jr. (nicknamed "Bunny" and the son of RKO executive Hiram Brown) as business manager in 1933. Brown clashed with director John Foster, and Foster's name disappeared from credits after 1933. He was replaced by music director Gene Rodemich.
Film Daily announced on September 1, 1933 that the Tom and Jerry series had been discontinued, to be replaced by Otto Soglow's popular comic-strip character "The Little King". In fact, Soglow's comic strips had already been adapted into animation, and the first cartoon, entitled “A Dizzy Day,” was released in theaters on May 5, 1933. Although the film was praised by critics for its modernist musical accompaniment, Hiram Brown felt that the cartoon was too eccentric and requested changes for future productions. Rodemich therefore removed the modernist musical accompaniment and attempted to give the character of Sentinel Louey a gentler personality, resulting in the release of “AM to PM” on July 28, 1933. However, Brown was still not satisfied with the result and increased pressure on Rodemich to make his cartoons less strange, which, in his opinion, would make them easier to market.
Gene Rodemich finally completed “The Fatal Note” on September 29, 1933. The film was a mediocre operetta in the vein of the Silly Symphonies series produced by Disney Studios at the same time. This time, the protest came from Otto Soglow himself, who felt that the cartoon completely disregarded the spirit of his comic strips. Exasperated by these complaints and the increasingly restrictive pressure from Hiram Brown, Rodemich decided to resign from his position as studio director and was replaced by George Stallings.
On September 21, 1933, supervisor Brown slashed the payroll by discharging 10 animators and assistants (from a staff of 96, according to head animator Harry Bailey). Film Daily expressed surprise: "Harry D. Bailey, one of the head animators who has been with the company 12 years, and George Rufle, another chief animator, were among the departures." Supervisor Brown went on to head the serial unit at Republic Pictures.
Van Beuren remained dissatisfied, and after licensing The Little King he signed the radio comedy act Amos 'n' Andy to provide their voices for animated cartoons. Neither series was successful.
With the availability of "perfected" Technicolor (now with three basic colors instead of two), Van Beuren saw an opportunity to challenge Walt Disney, who led the field of animation. Van Beuren then h
Source: The Van Beuren Corporation (CC BY-SA)
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The Van Beuren Corporation People Joseph Barbera
The Van Beuren Corporation People Joseph Barbera
