ComiColor Cartoons

ComiColor
ComiColor
	Title card
Directed by	Shamus Culhane; Al Eugster; Ub Iwerks
Produced by	Pat Powers
Music by	Carl Stalling
Color process	Cinecolor
Production; company	Celebrity Productions
Distributed by	Celebrity Productions
Running time	6–7 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

ComiColor Cartoons is a series of twenty-five animated short subjects produced by Ub Iwerks from 1933 to 1936. The series was the last produced by Iwerks Studio; after losing distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, the Iwerks studio's senior company Celebrity Pictures (run by Pat Powers) had to distribute the films itself. The series was shot exclusively in Cinecolor.

Most of the ComiColor entries were based upon popular fairy tales and other familiar stories, including Jack and the Beanstalk, Old Mother Hubbard, The Bremen Town Musicians, and The Headless Horseman.

Production

Grim Natwick, Al Eugster, and Shamus Culhane were among the series' lead animators/directors, and a number of the shorts were filmed using Iwerks' multiplane camera, which he built himself from the remains of a Chevrolet automobile.

In the 1940s, the ComiColor cartoons received home-movie distribution through Castle Films. Cinecolor produced the 16 mm film prints for Castle Films, with red emulsion on one side and blue emulsion on the other. Later, in the 1970s, Blackhawk Films released these for home use, but this time using conventional Eastmancolor film stock.^[1] They are now in the public domain in the United States and are widely available on physical and digital media.

Filmography

No.	Title	Director	Release date	Distributor	Film	Original work	Notes
1	Jack and the Beanstalk ^[2]	Shamus Culhane, AI Eugster, & Ub Iwerks	November 25, 1933	Celebrity Productions	First ComiColor Cartoon	"Jack and the Beanstalk", an English fairy tale	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1945 - 1977.
2	The Little Red Hen ^[2]		February 17, 1934			"The Little Red Hen", an American fable	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
3	The Brave Tin Soldier ^[2]		April 7, 1934			"The Steadfast Tin Soldier", by Hans Christian Andersen, 2 October 1838	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
4	Puss in Boots ^[2]		May 19, 1934			"Puss in Boots", an French fairy tale	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1969.
5	The Queen of Hearts ^[2]		June 22, 1934			“The Queen of Hearts”, a english poem and nursery rhyme	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use, Renamed To “Queen Of Hearts”, Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
6	Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp^[2]	Shamus Culhane & Ub Iwerks	August 10, 1934			"Aladdin", a Middle-Eastern folk tale	Renamed To Aladdin’s Lamp By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use, Distributed From 1942 - 1972.
7	The Headless Horseman ^[2]	Shamus Culhane, Al Eugster, & Ub Iwerks	September 29, 1934			"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", by Washington Irving, 1820	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1948.
8	The Valiant Tailor ^[2]		October 27, 1934			“The Brave Little Tailor” by the Brothers Grimm, 1812	Renamed To “The King’s Tailor” By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use, Distributed From 1942 - 1948.
9	Don Quixote ^[2]		November 24, 1934			Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, 1605–1615	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1953.
10	Jack Frost^[2]		December 22, 1934			Jack Frost and Old Man Winter, the latter from ancient Greek mythology and Old World pagan beliefs	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1948.
11	Little Black Sambo ^[2]		February 2, 1935		Pitch Restored	The Story of Little Black Sambo, a children's book by Helen Bannerman, 1899	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1968. Though, The Color Version Was Discontinued After 1949.
12	The Bremen Town Musicians ^[2]		March 2, 1935			"Town Musicians of Bremen", a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
13	Old Mother Hubbard ^[2]		March 30, 1935			"Old Mother Hubbard", an English nursery rhyme	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1968.
14	Mary's Little Lamb ^[2]		April 27, 1935			“Mary Had a Little Lamb” by Sarah Josepha Hale, 1830	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1968
15	Summertime ^[2]		June 15, 1935			N/A	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
16	Sinbad the Sailor^[2]		July 26, 1935			Sinbad the Sailor, Middle Eastern origin, 8th and 9th centuries A.D.	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1977.
17	The Three Bears ^[2]		August 30, 1935			“Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, an English fairy tale	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
18	Balloon Land ^[2]	Ub Iwerks	September 30, 1935			N/A	Renamed To “The Pincushion Man” By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use, Distributed From 1942 - 1948.
19	Simple Simon ^[2]	Ub Iwerks	November 15, 1935			"Simple Simon", an English-language children's song	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1968.
20	Humpty Dumpty ^[2]	Al Eugster, Ub Iwerks	December 27, 1935			“Humpty Dumpty”, an English nursery rhyme	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
21	Ali Baba ^[2]	Shamus Culhane, Al Eugster, & Ub Iwerks	January 31, 1936			“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, Arabic folk tale
22	Tom Thumb ^[2]	Ub Iwerks	March 27, 1936			“Tom Thumb”, English folklore	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use Exclusively For The 1948 Season In 16mm B&W Sound Prints Only.
23	Dick Whittington's Cat ^[2]		May 29, 1936			“Dick Whittington and His Cat”, English folklore	Distributed By Castle Film’s For Home Movie Use From 1942 - 1948.
24	Little Boy Blue ^[2]		July 31, 1936		Pitch Restored	“Little Boy Blue”, English nursery rhyme	Renamed To “The Big Bad Wolf” By Castle Film’s To Not Confuse Customers With The Terrytoon Cartoon (Which They Also Sold From 1940 - 1942) Titled “Little Boy Blue”. Distributed From 1942 - 1977.
25	Happy Days^[2]		September 25, 1936		Final ComiColor Cartoon	Reg'lar Fellers, a newspaper comic strip by Gene Byrnes, 1917

Copyright status

The Comicolor cartoons are public domain due to copyright not being renewed.^{[citation needed]}

Home media

All of the ComiColor cartoons are now available in the 2004 Region 2 ComiColor DVD set released by Mk2/Lobster in France. Many are available in Region 1, in particular on the Cartoons That Time Forgot series.

Steve Stanchfield of Thunderbean plans on releasing the restored versions of the shorts across two Blu-ray sets called ComiColor Cartoons Collection V.1 & 2.^[3]

References

^ "Little Boy Blue: Using a Cinecolor Print for Color Reference |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 21, 2026.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, Penguin Books, 1987)
^ ""Jack Frost" (1934) from the Original Camera Negs |".

Other sources

Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy, The Hand Behind the Mouse (Disney Editions, 2001) and documentary of the same name (DVD, 1999)
Jeff Lenburg, The Great Cartoon Directors (Da Capo Press, 1993)

[1] "Little Boy Blue: Using a Cinecolor Print for Color Reference |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 21, 2026.

[omam-1987-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, Penguin Books, 1987)

[3] ""Jack Frost" (1934) from the Original Camera Negs |".

[1]

[2]

[3]

ComiColor
Title card
Directed by	Shamus Culhane Al Eugster Ub Iwerks
Produced by	Pat Powers
Music by	Carl Stalling
Color process	Cinecolor
Production company	Celebrity Productions
Distributed by	Celebrity Productions
Running time	6–7 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English