Paul Terry

It seems to be mostly a stereotypical depiction of the Chinese-here portrayed as rats-and the way they run their laundry. (imdb comments)

Various anthropomorphic animals flock to the stadium to watch a horse race. Released November 16, 1930 (youtube)

The Pup of Arabia.

Farmer Al Falfa tries to save his Swiss cheese from thieving mice. (imdb)

Dinner Time is noted as the first sound cartoon short made after Warner Bros.' success with The Jazz Singer and produced even before Walt Disney's first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (though released after). (imdb)

A musical cartoon where we are in Hawaii with planes and flying elephants.... (imdb)

A Terrytoon cartoon with a western flavor with cowboys and indians.... (imdb)

This Terrytoon about golfing animals from 1930 is a synchronized sound film, with a decent sound track that could easily be omitted for a show in a theater which had not been wired for sound. There were still several thousand such theaters in the US in 1930. (imdb)

Men on horseback and their dogs are hot on the trail of a sly fox. In this takeoff on the old Pied Piper fable, the hungry fox gets in the way of the flute playing. (bcdb.com)

It's a snow day, so everyone gets on the ice near the giant waterfall; trouble ensues. (imdb)

When the old toymaker goes home, the toys in his shop come to life. Tin soldiers, a jack-in-the-box and wind-up dolls dance and cavort. A mean spider enters the shop, causing chaos which leads to a thrilling battle royale. (imdb)

It's the mice versus the cats in a football stadium. (imdb)

This early Terrytoon looks like a variation of a football cartoon like PIGSKIN CAPERS in which we get to see critters on their way to the stadium, then the cheerleaders, then the game. The primary distinctions seem to be that the background art indicates random classical ruins and the sight gags are a little more grotesque -- "Santa Lucia" is performed with a squeaky voice and one mouse doffs his ears and the top of his head to a female mouse. (imdb)

A Terrytoons cartoon from the dawn of sound cartoons with a lot of well-timed gags, even if they average more Western than Mexican. There is also a single gag referring to Mexican jumping beans. (imdb)

The first year of Terrytoons were cartoons all based around food titles - Swiss Cheese taking place in Switzerland, Hawaiian Pineapple is set in Hawaii - Hungarian Goulash combines the Hungarian Rhapsody with gypsy antics. Throw in some mice and a mechanical horse and you have a Terrytoon. (cartoonresearch.com)

In this one, we go from street musicians to dog races (with a silent slo-mo scene of the dogs chasing a bicycling hare that makes no sense) to a very bizarre, and funny, scene of chicken carcasses dancing at butcher Farmer Alfalfa's shop. (imdb)

"Canadian Capers" was produced by Terrytoons and released on August 23, 1931. Uniquely, this was assigned to only four animators: Frank Moser, Jerry Shields, Bill Tytla and Art Babbitt. (imdb)

A dog pilots an airplane to the South Pole where he and his mouse assistant encounter an angry walrus. (imdb)

As many insects happily go to work, a working bee sings and declares his love for a butterfly. A spider from a tree above who's jealous of the bee takes the butterfly and kidnaps her to a wooden place that he surrounds with his web. The bee gets help in rescuing his girlfriend from some horseradish flies and the firebugs who ride the flies to the spider's lair and light his web on fire as the bee and butterfly sing like Nelson Eddy and Jennette McDonald for the conclusion... (imdb)

If you've seen a strikingly good idea in a Heckle & Jeckle or Mighty Mouse cartoon, chances are it's not the first time Terrytoons used it. Here, 14 years before he debuted in the Mighty Mouse series as a cat, is the first appearance of Oil Can Harry.

Tale of a romantic rivalry with a lot of personality humor...and a Betty Boop voice!

The Farmer and his cat vs. the mice. A good example of the humor with which Philip A. Scheib used sound in the early days. Made during the short period when Terrytoons incorporated popular tunes from outside sources: in this case, "Good Evenin'".

An opera-singing firemouse rescues his lady fair. A stream of incongruous gags, including "ethnic" ones. A few Terrytoons employees were members of the real-life Larchmont (N.Y.) Volunteer Fire Dept. "The Flame" animated by Frank Moser.

A radio station catches fire, and the mouse-girl that does the exercise program is trapped on the studio's upper floor. A boy mouse listener pulls her to safety through his radio at home. (imdb)

The Farmer is abducted by a capering Jungle Goddess. As "pre-Code" as a Terrytoon ever got. Most animation is by Frank Moser; with him are Art Babbitt, Jerry Shields, Bill Tytla and others.

What can one say? Large-hipped girl roach animated by Frank Moser. Crooning roach by Bill Tytla

Pre-Mighty Mouse operetta-singing mice sink a ship of evil pirates. Some animators: Frank Moser, Jerry Shields, Bill Tytla ("What seems to be the trouble down below?", puppies at coda). Pretty weird.

Street brawlers pursue Terry mice in the big, bad city. Some animators: Bill Tytla (scenes with crooner), Jerry Shields, Frank Moser.

A rather wild tale of gypsy-loves-princess. Features the first use of the song "Gypsy Life", heard later in the Mighty Mouse cartoon.

Fairy Tale rehash in which Jack encounters a gang of pseudo-jazz skeletons (animated by Eddie Donnelly). The pre-sound stylings of Frank Moser & Jerry Shields highly contrasts with Bill Tytla's advanced, otherworldly Giant.

Terrytoons version of the Robinson Crusoe story with Farmer Al Falfa.

Exceedingly bizarre cartoon with the second appearance of the title character (the first was CINDERELLA) and the debut of Fanny Zilch's design (soon to start the first "Oil Can Harry" miniseries.) Whether the King's character was "inspired" by the debut of Van Beuren's Little King series, no one alive can say.

The mice hold an Atlantic City convention to decide who bells the cat. Very inventive cartoon, filled with incident and East Coast references.

Mad Doctor who rooms with a house of skeletons plans mischief. M.D. animation largely by Bill Tytla.

The Farmer tries to keep his pet from eloping. The "star attraction" here, as far as I'm concerned, is the ballad "Agnes", probably an original song by Philip A. Scheib (during a period when they were working hard to introduce them in these films; "Gypsy Life" being the only one anyone remembers). The scenes with the couple on a bicycle was an early one by "Connie" Rasinski, exhibiting his learning from Bill Tytla.

A sailor's whimsical remembrance of his mermaid wife. Told with charm. Includes an incongruous riff from Disney's MUSIC LAND. Some animators: Milton Stein, Eddie Donnelly, John Foster, "Connie" Rasinski, Jerry Shields.

A mouse, perhaps a distant relative to Mickey, appears onstage to play piano for an audience. Throughout the cartoon, he plays old songs from the early 20th century as we see short stories to go along with them.

A Christmas cartoon from Terrytoons.

Two tramp puppies horn in on a blue ribbon show. Features two original songs by Philip A. Scheib, "Rhythm of the Rails", and a short reprise of "Five Puplets" (from the earlier cartoon of the same name). Contrast of old and new: the first scene of the puppies riding the rails was by "Connie" Rasinski, just breaking in as a full-fledged animator; the following shot of them walking the rails is by co-producer Frank Moser, who went back to the silents.

A group of drinking, smoking and card-playing society women are getting obesely flabby. They go to a gym where various methods are used to reduce their fat. (imdb)

An early Terrytoon that is, typically, all over the map. There are grotesque mutant fish, singing skeletons, and, finally, Farmer Al Falfa drinking some bad booze and hallucinating about mermaids.

A Terrytoons cartoon involving bullfighting.

Based on the German legends, there are visual references to the Ring cycle and to anything even vaguely Germanic, including Rip Van Winkle.

Aboisterous gang of animals in various wacky aircraft compete in a race to see who can get to Ireland first. The winners unfortunately wind up in a haunted house when they get there. (imdb)

A cat, frustrated at his inability to catch a bird, drinks a potion that turns him into a Hyde-like beast. Then he goes after Cock Robin. (imdb)

A Terrytoon cartoon released on July 27, 1934.

A young man takes his girlfriend to a bullfight where the toreador, matador and picadors all suffer defeat at the hands (uh - feet) of the bull. The gallant suitor enters the arena and wins a great victory, via grotesque cartoon imagery, and earns the plaudits of the crown and his girlfriend. (imdb)

Terrytoons make a modern variation of Red Riding Hood.

It's the Army Mice vs. the Navy Cats in a wild, free-for-all football game. The cats battle and steamroll the mice until some gimmicks are employed.

Rip Van Winkle, a lazy American man, wanders off one day with his dog Wolf into the Kaatskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of men drinking and playing bowls. He drinks some of their mysterious brew and passes out. When he wakes up under a tree he is astonished to find that 20 years have passed and things are a lot different. This is a charming story about how America changed due to the cival war, only in a different and more subtle way than ever told before. (imdb)

A clown saves a beautiful circus performer from a lion and wins her heart. (imdb)

Princess Fanny is held captive by a giant in a castle. He's musical, playing the top of the castle like a piano, but that doesn't make him nice or her happy. She sends a letter to her father the king, with the help of a musical bird. The king calls for a volunteer, and the smallest knight steps forth. He traps the giant's guard dragon under the castle gate, then ties the dragon's tail around the giant's ankle and has the dragon haul him into the sea. (imdb)

A pair of convicts, a cat and a mouse, get rid of their striped prison suits and head for the hills. They hide in a tree but two skunks live there and have no intention of vacating. The escaped prisoners soon decide they prefer returning to the jail.

While the music background is "Old Dog Tray," the cartoon features a little pup who gets into some fantastic adventures and mishaps with soap bubble, and old farmer Alfalfa to go along. They sail off into the air on their bubbles until their bubbles burst. (imdb)

Thie Terry-Toon (titled "Five Puplets" as a pun and takeoff on Canada's famous Dionne quintuplets, and is not titled "Five Puppets")has a stork delivering five puppies (and not puppets)to a town, with all the dog-population householders blocking up their chimneys so the heavy consignment of quintuplets can't be delivered to them. Finally a proud daddy is found for them, and the town gives him a great parade and ovation, with the doctor and his horse joining in. Parody reigns. (imdb)

Uncle Sam personally sends off a cat pilot for a flight to the Orient, to much crowd acclaim. Along the way he drops a heavy mailbag that nearly sinks Hawaii, and when he arrives in China, he has bags of laundry for them to wash. (imdb)

Tanks, cannon and all sorts of odd war machines are in this mice-filled cartoon as Romeo attacks the castle where Juliet is living with her parents. Romeo and Juliet are about to be married, but Juliet's father rejects Romeo and blows him away... in more ways than one. The story is sung in operatic fashion. (bcdb.com)

Oil Can Harry captures Fanny and throws her into a cellar full of barely caged lions. However, over the next few months, Fanny has befriended the lions and other animals, and when Harry checks up on her, is playing cards with them. She gets the animals to attack Harry and, ultimately, lock him into a room. Meanwhile, Strongheart's dog has located Fanny and brings Strongheart to the rescue. (imdb)

A cartoon series produced in the style of old serial melodramas, with Fanny as our heroine, and Oil Can Harry as the villain you love to boo and hiss. Can Strongheart save his beloved Fanny? (bcdb.com)

Headin' way out west with an early sound Terrytoon!

It's another Terry festival of cats against the mice in large numbers. (imdb)

Farmer Al Falfa heads out west.

Farmer Al Falfa has the entire farm animal community working in a fully automated environment. Since they're working for peanuts, they all decide to quit. In a bizarre scene, flying wolves dressed as Indians decide to take over the farm. They all have a funny change of heart to rescue the farmer from the burning stake. Songs include "Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me" and "Home On the Range." (bcdb.com)

While King Louis, who is a cat, mistreats the mice, they revolt against him in this mediocre Terrytoon operetta. (imdb)

Lots of old-fashioned, country-style shooting, singing and comedy at the Hill Billy Goat Inn. (bcdb.com)

It's a big night in Animal-Land: the opening performance of Der Meistersinger at the Opera House! (bcdb.com)

The usual gang of small Terrytoon animal characters is down at Joe's lunch diner when in walks a tough racketeer who eats all the food and demands to know who supplies the baked goods in this decent Terrytoons. (imdb)

The usual story of Aladdin is truncated to 1: Aladdin gets bopped with the lamp and the genie pops up; 2: a large number of riding thieves steal the lamp and Aladdin pursues; 3: Aladdin's lady love is taken to the Sultan, where she is rescued by Aladdin. (imdb)

The melodramatic attempts of Oil Can Harry to foil the nuptials of Fanny and Strongheart comes to an end (except for a one-shot reappearance a couple of years later) with this Terrytoon. (imdb)

Forbidden love blossoms in the Forbidden City in this fairly typical black & white Terrytoon. (imdb)

A Terrytoons cartoon with Farmer Al Falfa, released 30 November 1934

A Terrytoons cartoon released 5 February 1933.

A Terrytoons cartoon released February 8, 1931 featuring Farmer Al Falfa.

Monkeys have their play in this brief cartoon specialty. There is nothing of a story in evidence, so it's just a matter of showing the monkeys playing various instruments to the tune of "I Am Always Blowing Bubbles."

This Soviet themed cartoon was the first animated short from Terrytoons.

A Terrytoons cartoon with a Turkish theme.

A mouse invites his girlfriend to a bullfight and ends up in the ring when the matador is defeated.

Some friendly rabbits are frolicking in the winter snow when a hungry fox appears with rather nasty plans. There's even a scene where the rabbits are playing ice hockey and use the fox for a puck! But alas, the fox snatches the baby rabbits, and you guessed it... Mighty Mouse to the rescue!

It is winter time in the outdoors, and everybody comes to the frozen lake to do some skating. Also going there is Kiko who pulls his sled which his bear cub friends are riding on. While everybody else simply skate, Kiko and the bears play hockey. Despite lacking a goal to send the puck into, they are contented of just hitting it around. They are so focused in their game that they often obliviously collide with other skaters. (wikipedia.org)

An old buzzard who has aspirations of having a chicken-dinner converts his trailer into a beauty shop in order to lure the hens from the barnyard hen-house. He not only lures all the hens but a rooster looking for a make-over. Dinky the Duck comes to the rescue.

Terry Toon short cartoon about fire fighting, released on February 22, 1935

Here is a midway entry in Paul Terry's Aesop's Fables series, with Farmer Alfalfa. (youtube)

This early Terrytoons tells the story of sailors out at sea. They have a sword fight and even battle a shark. (imdb)

Mosquitos get educated.

An Aesop’s Film Fables cartoon.

Farmer Al Falfa is the proprietor of a lunchroom, and Thomas Cat and Milton Mouse (and his little mice friends) all help Al. But the mice, as cartoon mice are known for doing, get mischievous and throw too much yeast into Al's bread-dough, and it swells up and bursts. Al's summary lesson is that "Life and Hash are what we make them."

A Aesop's Fables Studio cartoon.

Mice sold into slavery and driven to pick cotton by whip-cracking cats plot their escape to freedom.

The evil spider summons his bat to attack the fly circus. When the populace flees, it's up to the performers to save the day. (imdb)

Deep Sea fisherman is called to help land a big one.

On Al Falfa's not so real farm, he is able to grow such delicacies as a pitcher of beer and an alcoholic cocktail. He feeds the cocktail to his willing cow, Clara. But that drink makes her go a little wild, she who starts to chase Al Falfa through his vast and geographically diverse property. But since his farm isn't really real, Al Falfa can use some interesting techniques to get away from Clara.