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70-606: OKeh was founded by Otto (Jehuda) Karl Erich Heinemann (Lüneburg, Germany, 20 December 1876 – New York, USA, 13 September 1965) a German-American manager for the U.S. branch of Odeon Records , which was owned by Carl Lindstrom . In 1916, Heinemann incorporated the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, set up a recording studio and pressing plant in New York City, and started the label in 1918. The first discs were vertical cut , but later

140-487: A U.S. trademark the same year. While other companies were making single-side discs, Odeon made them double-sided. In 1909 it created the first recording of a large orchestral work — and what may have been the first record album  — when it released a 4-disc set of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite with Hermann Finck conducting the London Palace Orchestra. Between 1910 and 1911 Odeon

210-475: A couple of years. Epic took over management of Okeh in 1965. Among the artists during OKeh's pop phase of the 1950s and 1960s were Johnnie Ray and Little Joe & the Thrillers . With soul music becoming popular in the 1960s, OKeh signed Major Lance , who gave the label two big successes with " The Monkey Time " and " Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um ". Fifties rocker Larry Williams found a musical home at OKeh for

280-533: A member of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, making the jazz-era sound of the 1920s a quintessential element in the early Lantz cartoons. He remained as the permanent studio musical director until 1937. Lantz and Nolan worked in a character called "Fanny the Mule" for a 13-cartoon series announced by Laemmle in early 1930; these cartoons were never produced. In 1931, Lantz faced economic difficulties and

350-482: A period of time in the 1960s, recording and producing funky soul with a band that included Johnny "Guitar" Watson . He was paired with Little Richard , who had been persuaded to return to secular music. Williams produced two Little Richard albums for OKeh in 1966 and 1967, which returned Little Richard to the Billboard album chart for the first time in ten years and produced the hit single "Poor Dog". He also acted as

420-510: A producer as Bray attempted to compete with Hal Roach and Mack Sennett by making live-action comedies. Bray Productions closed shop in 1928, and Lantz moved to Hollywood, trying to start a studio while trying to make a living in a succession of odd jobs, including driving Universal owner Carl Laemmle 's limousine. The chauffeur job also landed Lantz at the Winkler Studio, which produced cartoons for Universal. In early 1929, Universal

490-411: A profit, Lantz himself decided to shut down company operations, and threw a farewell luncheon with his staff at the announcement on March 10 the same year, with him handing Woody watches to them. In 1985, Lantz sold everything outright to MCA Inc. He painted landscapes in retirement and still lifes of his cartoon characters. Since then, Universal has continued to used Woody and also used Woody in

560-443: A week, on Thursday afternoons, replacing the first half hour of the shortened The Mickey Mouse Club . Lantz integrated his existing cartoons with new live-action footage, giving the show an updated look that satisfied both viewers and Lantz himself. The live-action and animation segments created for the show, called 'A Moment with Walter Lantz', featured an informative look at how the animation process for his "cartunes" worked and how

630-631: The Chicago Defender , the Atlanta Independent , New York Colored News , and others popular with African-Americans (though Smith's records were part of OKeh's regular 4000 series). Okeh had further prominence in the demographic, as African-American musicians Sara Martin , Eva Taylor , Shelton Brooks , Esther Bigeou , and Handy 's Orchestra recorded for the label. OKeh issued the 8000 series for race records . The success of this series led OKeh to start recording music where it

700-614: The Brunswick label, the OKeh name was revived to replace it, and the script logo was introduced on a demonstration record announcing that event. The label was again discontinued in 1946 and revived again in 1951. In 1953, OKeh became an exclusive R&B label when its parent, Columbia, transferred OKeh's pop music artists to the newly formed Epic Records . OKeh's music publishing division was renamed April Music. In 1963, Carl Davis became OKeh's A&R manager and improved OKeh's sales for

770-520: The Kellogg's cereal account and Lantz soon met with the Kellogg's people to sign the contract. At first, Lantz was not very eager and admitted that he was only working in the medium because he was "forced into TV" and "cartoons for theaters would soon be extinct". The Woody Woodpecker Show debuted on ABC on the afternoon of October 3, 1957, and lasted until September 1958. The series was seen once

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840-777: The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris. Straus and Zuntz bought the company from Carl Lindström that he had founded in 1897. They transformed the Lindström enterprise into a public company, the Carl Lindström A.G. and in 1903 purchased Fonotipia Records , including their Odeon-Werke International Talking Machine Company. International Talking Machine Company issued the Odeon label first in Germany in 1903 and applied for

910-610: The Theme Parks or merchandising. Universal has since produced new projects, including television series and movies. Unlike other American major animation studios, the Lantz studio never continued full-time during the classic period of American animation, closing down in 1949 and reopening its doors the following year. It was finally shut down permanently in 1972, after the end of the Golden Age of American animation . Since then,

980-476: The 1939 cartoon Life Begins for Andy Panda became an instant hit, and Andy Panda became a successful substitute for Oswald, who was retired in 1938. Lantz also switched to all-color production in 1939, shortly before Andy's debut. In 1940, the Walter Lantz studio was in trouble. Universal once again was facing severe financial difficulties and possible bankruptcy and decided to cut their weekly advance to

1050-810: The Balkan countries etc. In the 1920s and 1930s about 70% of the German Odeon production was exported. Some Odeon recordings were leased to the American Okeh Records for distribution in the United States. Odeon discs were first manufactured in America, for export only, in 1905 or 1906 by the American Record Company, which produced lateral-cut, 10¾-inch 78 discs made of blue shellac. This business ceased in 1907 when ARC

1120-468: The Bear and The Beary Family before he left too in 1962. His role was assumed by writer Sid Marcus. Lantz eventually reduced the number of units back to one, leaving Smith as the sole director of all theatrical shorts by 1966. By 1969, other film studios had discontinued their animation departments, leaving Walter Lantz as one of the only two producers still making cartoons for theaters. The other studio

1190-529: The Lantz library) sold the trademark rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit along with the copyright to the original 26 cartoons produced by Walt Disney to The Walt Disney Company . The sale was part of a deal that centered around both the rights to Oswald and NBC 's acquisition of the rights to the NFL's weekly Sunday night game ; in exchange for NBCUniversal selling the rights to Oswald to Disney, Al Michaels

1260-588: The OKeh label was again retired, and G. Love & Special Sauce was moved to Epic. It was re-launched in 2013 as a jazz line under Sony Masterworks. In January 2013, Sony Music reactivated the OKeh label as Sony's primary jazz imprint under Sony Masterworks . The imprint is part of Sony Masterworks in the U.S., Sony Classical's domestic branch, focusing on both new and established artists who embody "global expressions in jazz". The new artists include David Sanborn , Bob James , Bill Frisell , Regina Carter , Somi , and Dhafer Youssef . Sony Music Entertainment owns

1330-457: The Odeon label continued as an EMI subsidiary in many non-English-speaking markets, such as West Germany , France , Spain , Scandinavia , Japan and Latin America . The dome logo was still used in most of those places, although they also had their own label designs. With the sale of most EMI properties to erstwhile rival Universal Music Group (UMG) in September 2012, Universal retained

1400-476: The Seven Dwarfs (1937), the Lantz studio planned to make a feature, Aladdin and His Lamp , featuring the ascendant comedy duo of Abbott and Costello , but after Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941) failed at the box-office, Aladdin never made it to actual production. Late in the decade, Lantz attempted to do a feature-length cartoon again, but it never came to fruition. The Lantz unit was perhaps considered

1470-541: The UK. While musicians did not receive much payment for entering the studio, they copyrighted the songs they did record with the hopes that other bands would record the piece; in turn, they would make a steady stream from royalties In 1926, OKeh was sold to Columbia Records . Ownership changed to the American Record Corporation (ARC) in 1934, and the race records series from the 1920s ended. CBS bought

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1540-399: The United States on the Odeon label. During the 1920s, Odeon issued American jazz records in other countries, such as Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. During the 1930s and 1940s Odeon sold its Swing Music Series. Odeon recorded and issued over 2,700 titles of Indian music from the period 1900–1940. Odeon's shellac disc issues were in two phases: (1) 1912–1916 and (2) 1932–1938. During

1610-458: The artistic acclaim of Walt Disney Productions , Warner Bros. Cartoons , MGM Cartoons , Fleischer Studios or UPA . However, the studio benefited from gaining talent from the other studios who were tired of the management there and usually found the Lantz studio a more enjoyable working environment. Tex Avery was just one of the many talents Walter Lantz Productions benefited from on the rebound. In February 2006, NBCUniversal (who still owns

1680-428: The brass pop band Querbeat 's third album Randale & Hurra . Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio that was active from 1928 to 1949 and then from 1950 to 1972. It was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures . The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative of Universal movie mogul Carl Laemmle , who

1750-479: The change in management, Lantz seized the opportunity to ask Universal for permission to make his studio independent. Universal agreed, and on November 16, 1935, Lantz broke off and claimed the studio for his own, even though it remained on the Universal lot. During the mid-to-late 1930s, Oswald's popularity declined, and Lantz experimented with other characters to replace him. After a succession of failed attempts,

1820-452: The character was refined by Avery the following year. Former MGM animators Ray Patterson and Grant Simmons also directed two shorts before they left to form Grantray-Lawrence Animation in 1954. During the mid-50s, the film industry was suffering and losing money, meaning lower budgets for cartoons. Avery left Lantz in 1955 over pay disputes, and was succeeded by a returning Alex Lovy. By 1956, there were only seven animation producers in

1890-581: The company in 1938. OKeh was a label for rhythm and blues during the 1950s, but jazz albums continued to be released, as in the work of Wild Bill Davis and Red Saunders . The OKeh Laughing Record was recorded in Germany by Beka Records in 1920, by most accounts, and then purchased from that record label by OKeh Records in the US. It features who are likely opera singer Lucie Bernardo and Otto Rathke simply laughing for nearly three minutes while accompanied by cornetist Felix Silbers. They recorded six recordings on

1960-463: The copyright for his characters. The cartoons continued to be distributed by Universal through 1947, changing to United Artists distribution in 1947–49, and by Universal again from 1950 to 1972. The most prominent characters for the studio were Woody Woodpecker , Andy Panda , Chilly Willy , and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . The music-oriented Swing Symphony cartoons were another successful staple but ended after swing music 's popularity faded after

2030-559: The dire straits of the Depression . Pooch never became very popular and the series was dropped in 1933. The following year, Nolan left the studio, and the Cartune Classics series of Technicolor shorts began, lasting for a year. Control of Universal by founder Carl Laemmle and his family was slipping away because of financial difficulties and came to an end in 1936. John Cheever Cowdin became Universal's new president. With

2100-475: The end of 1949 until the loan was reduced. He asked Universal to reissue his older films during the hiatus, a request accepted by Universal president Nate Blumberg. In the interim, Lantz made a series of film ads for Coca-Cola and introduced "The Woody Woodpecker Song" as the theme song for the character. He also went to Europe to look for studios that could animate his films there, approaching government incentives not found stateside, and lower labor costs. However,

2170-403: The end of World War II. Lantz began his career at the art department of William Randolph Hearst 's New York American during the 1910s, having his start in the cartoon industry at Hearst's International Film Service , which in 1918 transferred its entire staff to Bray Productions . By the mid-1920s, Lantz was directing (and acting in) the studio's top cartoon, Dinky Doodle , also becoming

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2240-479: The end, was able to reach a satisfactory settlement with them. By autumn 1940, Lantz's studio was back in business again. The year also marked the debut of Lantz's biggest star: Woody Woodpecker , who debuted in the Andy Panda cartoon Knock Knock . Woody quickly became extremely popular, being given his own series in early 1941, and became one of the most famous examples of the "brash bird" cartoon characters of

2310-876: The first phase their engineers visited many cities to record the diverse regional music of India, and after production in Berlin shipped records back to India. The company was based in Mumbai and Madras during the second phase. However the outbreak of World War II , and the subsequent trade embargoes, meant that the company had to wind-up its operations in India. The company's output included "drama songs, speeches, folk music, classical music, drama sets, skits and plays, vocal and instrumental music". It has been estimated that about 600 titles have survived in private collections. The British Museum have digitised some of these records which are free in an online archive. After World War II,

2380-621: The first was "Fiddlin'" John Carson , who is believed to have made the first country music recordings there in June 1923. A double sided record with " The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane " and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Going To Crow." OKeh releases were infrequent after 1932, although the label continued into 1935. In 1940, after Columbia lost the rights to the Vocalion name by dropping

2450-525: The following year, provided that they all feature Woody Woodpecker. Lantz and his crew immediately set to work on the new batch of shorts. Two of these new films — Puny Express and Sleep Happy — were previously storyboarded by Ben Hardaway and Heck Allen during the United Artists period. In 1951, the new cartoons were finally released and became instant hits with audiences. They were so successful that Universal commissioned six more shorts for

2520-548: The following year. Overall, 1951 marked the beginning of a new era for the Walter Lantz studio. Lantz served as the director, writer and producer for these new shorts until the roles were given to animator Don Patterson , and writer Homer Brightman . Patterson's shorts were often praised for showing a level of ambition despite the meager budgets. The 50s brought changes to other studios that helped benefit Lantz' own output. In 1953, MGM closed Tex Avery 's unit while Warner Bros. briefly closed there entire animation facility over

2590-591: The global rights to the OKeh Records catalogue through Epic Records and Sony's Legacy Recordings reissue subsidiary. EMI 's rights to the OKeh catalogue in the UK expired in 1968, and CBS Records took over distribution. Odeon Records Odeon Records is a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. The label's name and logo come from

2660-466: The immense popularity of 3-D films. Lantz was able to hire some of the displaced staff to the point he was able to open a second unit, with animator Paul J. Smith placed as director. Some of the men he was able to hire include writer Michael Maltese , animators Herman Cohen, Gil Turner and Robert Bentley , and Avery himself, who replaced Patterson from his role of director. Smith created the studio's second most popular star, Chilly Willy , in 1953, and

2730-461: The label issued a series of race records directed by Clarence Williams in New York City and Richard M. Jones in Chicago. From 1921 to 1932, this series included music by Williams, Lonnie Johnson , King Oliver , and Louis Armstrong . Also recording for the label were Bix Beiderbecke , Lillie Delk Christian , Bennie Moten , Frankie Trumbauer , and Eddie Lang . One of the more popular series

2800-425: The label was quietly retired by Columbia in 1970. In 1993, Sony Music reactivated the OKeh label (under distribution by Epic Records ) as a new-age blues label. OKeh's first new signings included G. Love & Special Sauce , Keb' Mo , Popa Chubby , and Little Axe . Throughout the first year, in celebration of the relaunch, singles for G. Love, Popa Chubby and Keb' Mo were released on 10-inch vinyl. By 2000,

2870-688: The larger record companies. OKeh produced lines of recordings in German, Czech, Polish, Swedish, and Yiddish for immigrant communities in the United States. Some were pressed from masters leased from European labels, while others were recorded by OKeh in New York. OKeh's early releases included music by the New Orleans Jazz Band. In 1920, Perry Bradford encouraged Fred Hager, the director of artists and repertoire ( A&R ), to record blues singer Mamie Smith . The records were popular, and

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2940-480: The late 1930s/early 1940s such as Donald Duck (also created by Disney). The success of Scrub Me Mama With A Boogie Beat and Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy (the former becoming subject to controversy and even protest soon after its release over racial stereotypes and the latter earning an Academy Award ) also led to the introduction of the Swing Symphony series that fall, often featuring popular musicians of

3010-611: The more common lateral-cut method was used. The label's parent company was renamed the General Phonograph Corporation, and the name on its record labels was changed to OKeh. The common 10-inch discs retailed for 75 cents each, the 12-inch discs for $ 1.25. The company's musical director was Frederick W. Hager , who was also credited under the pseudonym Milo Rega. OKeh issued popular songs, dance numbers, and vaudeville skits similar to other labels, but Heinemann also wanted to provide music for audiences neglected by

3080-596: The music director for Little Richard's live performances at the OKeh Club in Los Angeles. Bookings for Little Richard during this period skyrocketed. Williams also recorded and released material of his own and with Watson, with some moderate chart success. Much of the success of OKeh in the 1960s was dependent on producer Carl Davis and songwriter Curtis Mayfield . After they left the label (due to disputes with Epic/OKeh head Len Levy), OKeh sales gradually slipped, and

3150-515: The new vice-president of Universal. The deal was interrupted when new ownership transformed the company into Universal-International and did away with most of Universal's company policies. The new management insisted on getting licensing and merchandising rights to Lantz's characters. Lantz refused and withdrew from the parent company by 1947, releasing 12 cartoons independently through United Artists during 1947 and early 1949. The cartoons from this period stand out for their slicker animation compared to

3220-484: The now-independent Lantz studio. This left Lantz scrambling for alternative sources for funds, forcing him to shut down the studio for a while. Lantz was able to gain the rights to the characters of his films (including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) and an Andy Panda cartoon, Crazy House , was developed into Lantz's first independently financed film. Lantz used the film as a final appeal to the heads of Universal and, in

3290-587: The postwar economic situation of these countries as well as the presence of stronger unions than in Hollywood led him to back out and keep making films in America. In 1950, the Walter Lantz studio opened its doors once again. The first effort the studio produced was a brief sequence featuring Woody Woodpecker for the George Pal feature Destination Moon , released on June 27 the same year. Lantz then renegotiated with Universal for seven cartoons to be released

3360-410: The previous Universal releases, mostly because of the influence of the studio's latest director, Ex-Disney animator Dick Lundy , as well as the addition of Disney veterans, such as Ed Love and Fred Moore . This era also marked the end of the Andy Panda cartoons, whose popularity was waning. Under the deal with United Artists, Lantz was supposed to receive percentages of box-office receipts to pay for

3430-501: The production costs of his cartoons. UA however attributed a tiny portion of the dollar amounts to Lantz's shorts from the features. This was because UA was, at the time, a struggling studio attempting to re-establish the position in the industry it had in the 1920s. The result was that Lantz exceeded his standing loan of $ 250,000 from Bank of America (he had left Irving Trust in 1942). At the recommendation of BAC president Joe Rosenberg, Lantz decided to shut down his studio temporarily at

3500-519: The production of the DVD releases, has stated that plans for further volumes are currently on hold. In 2008, Illumination , an animation production company founded by Chris Meledandri , made a deal with Universal Pictures which positioned Illumination as NBCUniversal's family entertainment arm that would produce one to two films per year starting in 2010. Like Walter Lantz Productions, Illumination retains creative control, and Universal exclusively distributes

3570-470: The remaining demand with reissues of his older cartoons. Bye Bye Blackboard , a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, was part of the final slate of cartoons made at the Walter Lantz studio. Thirteen were completed for the 1972 season: one with Chilly Willy, four starring the Beary Family, and the rest with Lantz' star character, Woody Woodpecker. Upon discovering that it would take a decade for his shorts to show

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3640-775: The right to reissue from namely Odeon's post-war Japanese, Latin American, German and select European catalogues, while another former competitor Warner Music Group (WMG) acquired the rights to the remainder of EMI in February 2013 and with that, reissues from Odeon's French, Scandinavian, Spanish and most other European releases, to comply with the European Commission 's divestiture conditions. Universal Music Enterprises manages UMG's Odeon catalogue with Parlophone and WEA International handling WMG's own. In October 2018, Universal Music Germany revived Odeon to release

3710-445: The same day. It became a best-seller in the US in 1922, and is estimated to have sold around a million records. OKeh Records soon followed with the "Second Laughing Record", "The OKeh Laughing Dance Record" and "The OKeh Crying Record". Other record labels also released similar records. It may have influenced studios to include live audiences and laugh tracks in their shows. It was issued in the UK as The Parlophone Laughing Record and it

3780-488: The short-subjects business, and by the end of the decade that number dwindled to three. Walter Lantz and his distributor, Universal Pictures, knew that the only way to subsidize the rising costs of new shorts was to release their product to television. Norman Gluck, from Universal's short-subjects department, made a deal with the Leo Burnett Agency to release some older Lantz product on television. Burnett handled

3850-571: The smallest major animation studio at that time, as Lantz and animator Alex Lovy produced cartoons with a single unit. In 1943, Lovy was drafted into the Navy and was replaced by James "Shamus" Culhane . Culhane quickly developed a distinct direction and art style characterized for its use of Russian avant-garde influences, minimalistic backgrounds and fast cutting. Culhane eventually left Lantz in late-1945 over pay disputes. In 1947, Lantz renegotiated his seven-year Universal contract with Matty Fox,

3920-492: The studio's characters have continued to be used in syndicated television series, and in licensed merchandise. Lantz re-issued six of the 1931–32 Disney Oswald cartoons, including Trolley Troubles , Great Guns! and The Ocean Hop . Throughout the studio's history, it maintained a reputation as an animation house of medium quality. Lantz's animated shorts (dubbed "Cartunes") were considered superior to Terrytoons , Screen Gems and Famous Studios , but they never gained

3990-415: The time. The series ended in 1945 at the twilight of the big band era. After the studio's 1930s cartoons were scored by a succession of composers, including James Dietrich, Victor Records producer Nat Shilkret and Harman-Ising veterans Frank Marsales and Darrell Calker took over in late 1940. Calker's arrangements became noted for their distinctive swing flavor. After Disney's success with Snow White and

4060-499: The tradition of the earlier Disney and Winkler Productions shorts. The conversion of Oswald cartoons into musicals was a different matter, but by mid-1930, Lantz and his staff achieved this goal. In the process however, Oswald's personality became less consistent. It could and did change drastically to fit a particular gag. Lantz's musical directors changed as well. To replace David Broekman, Lantz brought in James Dietrich,

4130-558: The writers came up with stories and characters. The live-action segments were directed by Jack Hannah , who was fresh from the Disney Studio, where he had done similar live-action/animation sequences for the Disney show. Hannah eventually directed theatrical shorts in 1960 after Lovy left for Hanna-Barbera . His shorts were regarded for having a level of sophistication comparable to Dick Lundy, and created characters such as Fatso

4200-473: Was Race Riot , released on September 2, 1929. The first animators for the studio included Winkler veterans Rollin Hamilton, Tom Palmer and "rubber-hose" pioneer Bill Nolan. Bert Fiske scored the first cartoons, having done this for the few Winkler sound "Oswalds". Additions to the staff included Pinto Colvig and Fred Avery . The earliest Lantz cartoons from 1928 were built around set plots and stories, in

4270-578: Was Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven , who recorded about 3 sessions per year between 1925 and 1928, which included popular hits such as " Heebie Jeebies ", "Cornet Chop Suey", and " West End Blues ". After the success of these records, Armstrong's records were transferred to the popular series as well, which was marketed towards a white audience in 1928. As part of the Carl Lindström Company , OKeh's recordings were distributed by other labels owned by Lindstrom, including Parlophone in

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4340-767: Was acquired by Carl Lindström. On 30 January 1904, Odeon became a part of the Carl Lindström Company , which also owned Beka Records , Parlophone , Fonotipia, Lyrophon, Homophon and other labels. Lindström was acquired by the English Columbia Graphophone Company in 1926. In 1931 Columbia merged with Electrola , HMV and other labels to form EMI . The Berlin Odeon plant recorded, processed, and exported records to many countries. There were extensive national catalogs for some of these countries: Greece, Scandinavia, India, all of Arabia, Netherlands, Estonia, Portugal, South and Central America, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, China, Dutch East Indies, Siam,

4410-492: Was being performed, known as remote recording or location recording. Starting in 1923, OKeh sent mobile recording equipment to tour the country and record performers not heard in New York or Chicago. Regular trips were made once or twice a year to New Orleans, Atlanta, San Antonio, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Detroit. The OKeh studio in Atlanta also catered to what was called, "Hillbilly" (now Country) stars at that time. One of

4480-480: Was distributing the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons by Charles Mintz and George Winkler (created by Walt Disney ). However, the popularity of the series was beginning to decline because of the lower quality of the output. Laemmle then fired Mintz and Winkler and was now looking for someone to head an in-house animation studio. Lantz won the studio in a poker bet with Laemmle. The first Lantz-produced "Oswald" cartoon

4550-522: Was featured extensively in the Walter Lantz Productions /Universal Studios 1955 cartoon short Sh-h-h-h-h-h , the last short directed by Tex Avery . General Phonograph Corporation used Mamie Smith 's popular song " Crazy Blues " to cultivate a new market in 1920 and they could not keep the record on the shelves because of its popularity. Portraits of Smith and lists of her records were printed in advertisements in newspapers such as

4620-581: Was forced to make cutbacks, shortening the lengths of his films and post-synchronizing a handful of the early Disney Oswald's cartoons. Another way out of the hole was to gain attention by creating a secondary series of shorts featuring a new star, Pooch the Pup . Lantz and Nolan divided the studio into two separate units. Lantz directed the Pooch cartoons, while Nolan worked on the Oswalds, with both series referencing

4690-692: Was freed from his contractual obligations with ESPN and ABC so he could join NBC and become the Sunday Night Football play-by-play man. In July 2007, Universal Pictures released The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection , a three-disc DVD box-set compilation of Lantz Cartunes. A second volume was released in April 2008, followed by a vanilla release in 2009, Woody Woodpecker Favorites , which contained no new-to-DVD material. Animation historian Jerry Beck , partly involved in

4760-515: Was sued by Columbia for patent infringement. Lindström tried again to open an American branch, this time through Otto Heineman, who worked for Lindström's company and was living in America when World War I broke out. Stuck in New York, Heineman created the Otto Heineman Phonograph Supply Company in 1915, then four years later started his own label, Okeh Records. In 1919, Okeh began issuing foreign recordings in

4830-480: Was the start-up DePatie–Freleng Enterprises working for Lantz' former contractor, United Artists. From 1967 to the studio's closure in 1972, Universal distributed the Lantz cartoons as packages, and theaters would play them in no particular order. Lantz finally closed up the studio in 1972; he later explained that by then, it was economically impossible to continue producing them and stay in business, as rising inflation had strained his profits, and Universal serviced

4900-561: Was tired of the continuous company politics he was dealing with concerning contracting cartoons outside animation studios. Walter Lantz , who was Laemmle's part-time chauffeur and a veteran of the John R. Bray Studios with considerable experience in all elements of animation production, was selected to run the department. In 1935, the studio was severed from Universal and became Walter Lantz Studio under Lantz's direct control, and in 1939, renamed to Walter Lantz Productions. Lantz managed to gain

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