Bruce - That makes it even more remarkable that several dozen of these early Disney 1 sheets (and larger) have survived, especially when there are scores of 1930's features - such as Shanghai Express and One Way Passage where no 1 sheet has been sighted.
All the above United Artists Disney one sheet images are from Bruce's website, with the exception of the Father Noah's Ark image which is courtesy of Cartoon Research. There are some other examples ae well from some other sources that I will include here soon.
Following on now with some further information regarding United Artists Walt Disney film distribution
As well as the ten previously featured above U-A U.S. one sheets, I have located another six images of U-A one sheets as well. The titles are Just Dogs, The Whoopee Party, Mickey's Pal Pluto, Mickey's Nightmare, Ye Olden Days and The Wayward Canary.
Prior to United Artists handling Walt Disley product Columbia pictures and Celebrity Productions were the distributors. Low and behold there are some existing U.S. one sheets still existing today. More on these companies including some images soon.
Later on an Australian daybill image of an RKO film being distributed in Australia by U-A long after the switch over from U-A to RKO, and only here in Australia it would certainly appear to be the case..
Celebrity Productions released 15 Walt Disney Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons in 1928 and 1929. A dispute between Disney and Celebrity led to in 1929 Disney product going over for distribution to Columbia Pictures. Some of the Celebrity released cartoons had Columbia Pictures one sheet printed for them.
Columbia Picture released Walt Disney product in 1929 to 1932. Some information and images to follow here shortly..
I cannot find a record of who the Australian distributor was for the Celebrity Productions films.
Of the fifteen Celebrity released in the U.S. films I can only establish a small number of these titles being released in Australia in either 1929 or 1930.
July 23rd, 1930 (Everyone's) mentions new season's Mickey Mouse shorts (before production starts) Wild Waves was released in the US on Dec 21, 1929, so this must be after that initial lot of films.
Also interesting is this. I wonder whether they distributed in Australia too?
Despite being popular in the U.S., Steamboat Willie did not have a theatrical European release until 1929, when it was released publicly in the United Kingdom by British International Film Distributors Incorporated.
I cannot find a record of who the Australian distributor was for the Celebrity Productions films.
Of the fifteen Celebrity released in the U.S. films I can only establish a small number of these titles being released in Australia in either 1929 or 1930.
I have located some more Celebrity Walt Disney distributed titles that were released in Australia with screening dates as late as 1931. Eight of the original fifteen titles I have confirmed were screened here. No sign though of Steamboat Willie at all.
Columbia Pictures re-released all the fifteen original Celebrity Productions titles in the U.S.A. in 1930. More about this when I get to cover the Walt Disney Columbia Pictures releases,
Which Australian film distributor released the original Celebrity released Disney films in Australia is still unknown.
I might be barking up the wrong tree here but does any of this help?
Steamboat Willie (first of the Celebrity Productions shorts) did not have a theatrical European release until 1929, when it was released publicly in the United Kingdom by British International Film Distributors Incorporated.
Would they have then distributed on to Australia?
From Everyone's - Aug 15, 1928
Union Theatres acquire British International films for 5 years.
Full article here.
An ad from the Sydney Truth newspaper, September 29, 1929, promoting a Mickey the Mouse cartoon in Cinesound, only heard at Union Theatres. (This was at the St James showing Desert Song)
I might be barking up the wrong tree here but does any of this help?
Steamboat Willie (first of the Celebrity Productions shorts) did not have a theatrical European release until 1929, when it was released publicly in the United Kingdom by British International Film Distributors Incorporated.
Would they have then distributed on to Australia?
From Everyone's - Aug 15, 1928
Union Theatres acquire British International films for 5 years.
The British International Films ( B.I.P, ) Walt Disney deal would have been only for U.K. distribution
The B.I.P. product released in Australia in the late 1920s and into the 1930s would have been for their U.K. produced product only.
Interestingly I cannot find any Australian screening dates for Steamboat Willie.
One last post (sorry for hogging this but your posts fascinate me and bring out the detective in me).
Everyone's 5th February, 1930. Makes me wonder whether the Mickey Mouse shorts were released earlier than this?
An ad from the same issue.
EDITED TO SAY: There are references to Mickey Mouse cartoons in July and August 1929 so they certainly appeared earlier than 1930. Sunday Times - Sydney 4th August, 1929.
Great research Peter and well done. The information does throw a new light on the subject, if a little confusing though.
Where then the Union Theatres Feature Exchange announced total of 42 Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony films a combination of the 15 previous Celebrity U.S.A. releases, and the U.S. current and forthcoming U.S. Columbia Pictures releases?
As seen below Columbia Pictures product in the late 1920s into the 1930s was released in Australia by Greater Australasian Films Limited. This then leads one to believe that Walt Disney struck a special deal regarding the Australian, and perhaps even also the New Zealand film distribution.
. ( Everyones / Trove )
I will continue to find a record of the Steamboat Willie film receiving an Australian release, along with other information on this subject.
In the mean while I located the following. ( Everyones November 26, 1930 / Trove )
As you can tell I wasn't very busy this afternoon, down the rabbit hole of Trove again!
One thing I did notice by reading the end of year review in the 1929 Christmas edition was that the introduction of Talkies was quite slow and haphazard, with competing systems and disputes. I wonder if they wanted to hold the Mickey Mouse cartoons until they could get into more Talkie theatres during 1930?
Starts on page 64 and is an interesting summary of 1929.
As you can tell I wasn't very busy this afternoon, down the rabbit hole of Trove again!
One thing I did notice by reading the end of year review in the 1929 Christmas edition was that the introduction of Talkies was quite slow and haphazard, with competing systems and disputes. I wonder if they wanted to hold the Mickey Mouse cartoons until they could get into more Talkie theatres during 1930?
Starts on page 64 and is an interesting summary of 1929.
Trove certainly can be time consuming, but in a good way of course. For anyone that isn't familiar with Trove I do recommend searching out the link to Trove that Peter left.
Peter's thoughts that perhaps they wanted to hold back the Walt Disney Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony product is a possibility of course. It also could have been though just a case of a delayed release in Australia, which was a common practice at that time. I
It sure does, makes me want to look at the other end of year summaries in subsequent years, probably a good way of seeing what's been printed in Everyone's during the year without having to go through each issue. Although a lot of the ads are well worth checking out for their artwork alone.
Also, my thought about releases being delayed doesn't explain why the MM short "The Opry House" was showing on 26 July 1929 at the Lyceum in Sydney. Perhaps a limited release in theatres that were wired for sound?
Also, my thought about releases being delayed doesn't explain why the MM short "The Opry House" was showing on 26 July 1929 at the Lyceum in Sydney. Perhaps a limited release in theatres that were wired for sound?
This previously posted information by Peter states that the Walt Disney Mickey The Mouse and Silly Symphony Disney toons were part of a purchase of 76 featurettes released by Educational Pictures in the U.S.A.
The fact that the Disney films were either released at the time of this story in the U.S.A. by Celebrity Productions or Columbia Pictures, and not Educational Pictures as noted above, does have me wondering why the difference in controlling U.S. distributors..
It certainly would appear that ALL Walt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoon films distributed in the U.S.A. in 1929 by Celebrity Productions, and the following Columbia Pictures 1929 -1932 cartoon films that ended up being distributed in Australia were all handled by Union Theatres Pictures Exchange. At this period of time they were the Australian distributors of Columbia Pictures
All the original 15 U.S. Celebrity Productions released Disney cartoons were re-released in America by Columbia Pictures in 1930.
First release Columbia Pictures American one sheet poster of Springtime ( 1930 ), and a U.S. Columbia Pictures re-release one sheet poster of the 1929 film Barn Dance ( original title The Barn Dance ) in 1930.
All the 15 Celebrity re-issued titles were printed using the above Mickey Mouse red stock style of poster.
Of all the total number of 69 Disney cartoons, including the Celebrity title re-releases that were distributed in the U. S. between 1929 and 1932. one has to to wonder how many of them were released here in Australia.
And of course one would like to know were any Australian daybills, possibly only in the form of a stock poster design ever printed here?
Some information on an Australian Walt Disney Australian release oddity from the 1940's soon.
Saludos Amigos ( 1943 ) U.S.A. W.C. and a U.K. press advertisement. Both posters have an RKO credit printed on them.
This film was, one that had previously thought to have been released worldwide by Walt Disney's only distributor in the 1940s RKO Radio Pictures.
In 1943 after RKO refused to release Disney's animated documentary feature Victory Through Air Power ( 1943 ) in theatres, the distribution world wide was handled as a one off by United Artists.
What is interesting is that the above Australian daybill and the Australian newspaper screening advertisement clearly credit Saludos Amigos as being released here in Australia by United Artists and not RKO. ,
\ The Grasshopper ( 1970 ) Australian daybill produced for the first Australian release on 16th October 1970.
Following is a rare second printing duotone daybill printed post November 1971, coming up with an interesting design sourced from the original artwork material.
A little different from what Roadshow usually came up with.
Comments
All the above United Artists Disney one sheet images are from Bruce's website, with the exception of the Father Noah's Ark image which is courtesy of Cartoon Research. There are some other examples ae well from some other sources that I will include here soon.
As well as the ten previously featured above U-A U.S. one sheets, I have located another six images of U-A one sheets as well. The titles are Just Dogs, The Whoopee Party, Mickey's Pal Pluto, Mickey's Nightmare, Ye Olden Days and The Wayward Canary.
Prior to United Artists handling Walt Disley product Columbia pictures and Celebrity Productions were the distributors. Low and behold there are some existing U.S. one sheets still existing today. More on these companies including some images soon.
Later on an Australian daybill image of an RKO film being distributed in Australia by U-A long after the switch over from U-A to RKO, and only here in Australia it would certainly appear to be the case..
Celebrity Productions released 15 Walt Disney Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons in 1928 and 1929. A dispute between Disney and Celebrity led to in 1929 Disney product going over for distribution to Columbia Pictures. Some of the Celebrity released cartoons had Columbia Pictures one sheet printed for them.
Columbia Picture released Walt Disney product in 1929 to 1932. Some information and images to follow here shortly..
Peter
Of the fifteen Celebrity released in the U.S. films I can only establish a small number of these titles being released in Australia in either 1929 or 1930.
The 15 Celebrity Productions shorts are:
- Steamboat Willie
- The Gallopin' Gaucho
- Plane Crazy
- The Barn Dance
- The Opry House
- When the Cat's Away
- The Barnyard Battle
- The Plowboy
- The Karnival Kid
- Mickey's Choo-Choo
- Mickey's Follies
- The Jazz Fool
- Jungle Rhythm
- The Haunted House
- Wild Waves
July 23rd, 1930 (Everyone's) mentions new season's Mickey Mouse shorts (before production starts) Wild Waves was released in the US on Dec 21, 1929, so this must be after that initial lot of films.Also interesting is this. I wonder whether they distributed in Australia too?
Despite being popular in the U.S., Steamboat Willie did not have a theatrical European release until 1929, when it was released publicly in the United Kingdom by British International Film Distributors Incorporated.
Peter
Which Australian film distributor released the original Celebrity released Disney films in Australia is still unknown.
Steamboat Willie (first of the Celebrity Productions shorts) did not have a theatrical European release until 1929, when it was released publicly in the United Kingdom by British International Film Distributors Incorporated.
Would they have then distributed on to Australia?
From Everyone's - Aug 15, 1928
Union Theatres acquire British International films for 5 years.
Full article here.
An ad from the Sydney Truth newspaper, September 29, 1929, promoting a Mickey the Mouse cartoon in Cinesound, only heard at Union Theatres. (This was at the St James showing Desert Song)
Peter
The B.I.P. product released in Australia in the late 1920s and into the 1930s would have been for their U.K. produced product only.
Interestingly I cannot find any Australian screening dates for Steamboat Willie.
Peter
7th May, 1930
and 10th September, 1930. Union Theatres seem to be the distributor at this time.
Peter
Everyone's 5th February, 1930. Makes me wonder whether the Mickey Mouse shorts were released earlier than this?
An ad from the same issue.
EDITED TO SAY: There are references to Mickey Mouse cartoons in July and August 1929 so they certainly appeared earlier than 1930.
Sunday Times - Sydney 4th August, 1929.
That's definitely my last word about all this.
Peter
Where then the Union Theatres Feature Exchange announced total of 42 Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony films a combination of the 15 previous Celebrity U.S.A. releases, and the U.S. current and forthcoming U.S. Columbia Pictures releases?
As seen below Columbia Pictures product in the late 1920s into the 1930s was released in Australia by Greater Australasian Films Limited. This then leads one to believe that Walt Disney struck a special deal regarding the Australian, and perhaps even also the New Zealand film distribution.
.
I will continue to find a record of the Steamboat Willie film receiving an Australian release, along with other information on this subject.
In the mean while I located the following.
One thing I did notice by reading the end of year review in the 1929 Christmas edition was that the introduction of Talkies was quite slow and haphazard, with competing systems and disputes. I wonder if they wanted to hold the Mickey Mouse cartoons until they could get into more Talkie theatres during 1930?
Starts on page 64 and is an interesting summary of 1929.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-568426482/view?partId=nla.obj-568454828#page/n63/mode/1up
Peter
Peter's thoughts that perhaps they wanted to hold back the Walt Disney Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony product is a possibility of course. It also could have been though just a case of a delayed release in Australia, which was a common practice at that time. I
The 1929 summary does makes interesting reading.
Peter
Peter
This previously posted information by Peter states that the Walt Disney Mickey The Mouse and Silly Symphony Disney toons were part of a purchase of 76 featurettes released by Educational Pictures in the U.S.A.
The fact that the Disney films were either released at the time of this story in the U.S.A. by Celebrity Productions or Columbia Pictures, and not Educational Pictures as noted above, does have me wondering why the difference in controlling U.S. distributors..
I am having trouble in attaching the link here. On can locate it by searching Educational Pictures - Wikipedia on Google.
I was wondering though if some kind person may be able to attach the link here for me, and if so it would be very much appreciated
Peter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_American_animation
Cheers !
Thanks for sharing it.
It certainly would appear that ALL Walt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoon films distributed in the U.S.A. in 1929 by Celebrity Productions, and the following Columbia Pictures 1929 -1932 cartoon films that ended up being distributed in Australia were all handled by Union Theatres Pictures Exchange. At this period of time they were the Australian distributors of Columbia Pictures
All the original 15 U.S. Celebrity Productions released Disney cartoons were re-released in America by Columbia Pictures in 1930.
First release Columbia Pictures American one sheet poster of Springtime ( 1930 ), and a U.S. Columbia Pictures re-release one sheet poster of the 1929 film Barn Dance ( original title The Barn Dance ) in 1930.
All the 15 Celebrity re-issued titles were printed using the above Mickey Mouse red stock style of poster.
Of all the total number of 69 Disney cartoons, including the Celebrity title re-releases that were distributed in the U. S. between 1929 and 1932. one has to to wonder how many of them were released here in Australia.
And of course one would like to know were any Australian daybills, possibly only in the form of a stock poster design ever printed here?
Some information on an Australian Walt Disney Australian release oddity from the 1940's soon.
Saludos Amigos ( 1943 ) U.S.A. W.C. and a U.K. press advertisement. Both posters have an RKO credit printed on them.
This film was, one that had previously thought to have been released worldwide by Walt Disney's only distributor in the 1940s RKO Radio Pictures.
In 1943 after RKO refused to release Disney's animated documentary feature Victory Through Air Power ( 1943 ) in theatres, the distribution world wide was handled as a one off by United Artists.
What is interesting is that the above Australian daybill and the Australian newspaper screening advertisement clearly credit Saludos Amigos as being released here in Australia by United Artists and not RKO.
,
The Grasshopper ( 1970 ) Australian daybill produced for the first Australian release on 16th October 1970.
Following is a rare second printing duotone daybill printed post November 1971, coming up with an interesting design sourced from the original artwork material.
A little different from what Roadshow usually came up with.