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{{Short description|Series of Animated puppet films from the 1930's}}
{{Merge|Puppetoon|discuss=Talk:Puppetoon#Proposed merge of Puppetoons with Puppetoon|date=August 2021}}
{{inadequate lead|date=August 2021}}
'''Puppetoons''' is a series of animated puppet [[film]]s made in Europe (1930s) and in the United States (1940s) by [[George Pal]]. They were made using replacement [[animation]]: using a series of different hand-carved wooden [[puppet]]s (or puppet heads or limbs) for each [[Animation frame|frame]] in which the puppet moves or changes expression, rather than moving a single puppet, as is the case with most [[stop motion]] puppet animation.

==History==
The Puppetoons series of animated puppet films were made in Europe in the 1930s and in the United States in the 1940s. The series began when [[George Pal]] made an advertising film using "dancing" [[cigarette]]s in 1932, which led to a series of theatrical advertising shorts for [[Philips]] Radio in the Netherlands. This was followed by a series for [[Horlicks]] Malted Milk in England. These shorts have an [[art deco]] design, often reducing characters to simple geometric shapes.

Pal arrived in the U.S. in 1940, and produced more than 40 Puppetoons for [[Paramount Pictures]] between 1941 and 1947.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/84/mode/2up |pages=85–86}}</ref>

Seven Puppetoons received [[Academy Award]] nominations, including ''Rhythm in the Ranks'' (for the year 1941), ''[[Tulips Shall Grow]]'' (1942), ''[[The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins#Adaptations|The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins]]'' (1943), ''[[And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street#Adaptations|And To Think I Saw it On Mulberry Street]]'' (1944), ''Jasper and the Beanstalk'' (1945), ''[[John Henry and the Inky-Poo]]'' (1946) and ''[[Tubby the Tuba (1947 film)|Tubby the Tuba]]'' (1947).<ref>AMPAS Animated Short Film Oscar archives</ref>

The series ended due to rising production costs which had increased from US$18,000 per short in 1939 ({{Inflation|US|18000|1939|fmt=eq}}) to almost US$50,000 following [[World War II]] ({{Inflation|US|50000|1946|fmt=eq}}).{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} [[Paramount Pictures]]—Pal's distributor—objected to the cost. Per their suggestion, Pal went to produce sequences for feature films.<ref name="Cohen">{{harvp|Cohen|2004|p=58}}</ref> In 1956, the Puppetoons as well as most of Paramount's shorts, were sold to television distributor [[U.M. & M. TV Corporation]]. [[National Telefilm Associates]] bought out U.M. & M. and continued to syndicate them in the 1950s and 1960s as "Madcap Models".

Pal also used the Puppetoon name and the general Puppetoon technique for miniature puppet characters in some of his live-action feature films, including ''[[The Great Rupert]]'' (1949), ''[[Tom thumb (film)|Tom Thumb]]'' (1958), and ''[[The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm]]'' (1963). In these films, the individual wooden figures were billed as The Puppetoons.

==Technique==
Puppetoon films used replacement [[animation]] with puppets. Using a series of different hand-carved wooden [[puppet]]s (or puppet heads or limbs) for each frame in which the puppet moves or changes expression, rather than moving a single puppet, as is the case with most [[stop motion]] puppet animation. A typical Puppetoon required 9,000 individually carved and machined wooden figures or parts.

==Jasper==
Some controversy exists in modern times, as the black character, Jasper, star of several Puppetoons in the 1940s is considered a stereotype today. The Jasper series of shorts relied on a small, consistent cast. The titular character was a playful [[pickaninny]], his mother a protective [[Mammy archetype|mammy]], Professor Scarecrow being a black [[Confidence trick|scam artist]], and the Blackbird serving as his fast-talking partner-in-crime.<ref name="Cripps">{{harvp|Cripps|1977|p=230}}</ref> Pal described Jasper as the [[Huckleberry Finn]] of [[Folklore of the United States|American folklore]].<ref name="Cohen"/> Already in 1946, an article of the ''[[Film Quarterly|Hollywood Quarterly]]'' protested that the Jasper shorts presented a "razor-totin', ghost-haunted, chicken-stealin' concept of the American Negro".<ref name="Cohen"/>

A 1947 article in ''[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]'' pointed out that George Pal was a European and not raised on racial prejudice. "To him there is nothing abusive about a Negro boy who likes to eat watermelons or gets scared when he goes past a haunted house". The article, though, pointed that this depiction touched on the stereotypes of Negroes being childish, eating nothing but molasses and watermelons, and being afraid of their own shadows.<ref name="Cohen"/>

Jasper's full name is Jasper Jefferson Lincoln Washington Hawkins.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jasper and the Puppetoons - Part 3|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/jasper-and-the-puppetoons-part-3/|author=Christopher P. Lehman|website=CR|date=December 1, 2018|access-date=January 25, 2021|archive-date=March 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305162829/https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/jasper-and-the-puppetoons-part-3/|url-status=live}}</ref>

At one point, Jasper's popularity was on par with [[Mickey Mouse]]'s and [[Donald Duck]]'s.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Vidette-Messenger of Porter County |title=Hollywood Film Shop |publisher=United Press |date=13 April 1944 |location=Valparaiso |page=4|url=https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/333163964/?terms=%22jasper%22%20%22mickey%20mouse%22%20%22donald%20duck%22&match=1|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818230755/https://www.newspapers.com/image/333163964/?image=333163964&words=&terms=%22jasper%22+%22mickey+mouse%22+%22donald+duck%22&match=1 |archive-date=2021-08-18 }} (login needed)</ref>

==Legacy and preservation==
In 1987, film producer-director-archivist [[Arnold Leibovit]], a friend of George Pal, collected several Puppetoons and released them theatrically and to video as ''[[The Puppetoon Movie]]'' reintroducing them to contemporary audiences. A feature-length documentary on the life and films of George Pal followed. In 2020, ''The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2'' was released on Blu-ray and DVD, featuring 17 shorts not included on any of the ''Puppetoon Movie'' releases and ''The Ship of the Ether''.<ref>{{cite web|date=December 1, 2020|title='The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2' Now Available on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack|url=https://www.awn.com/news/puppetoon-movie-volume-2-now-available-blu-raydvd-combo-pack|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117121207/https://www.awn.com/news/puppetoon-movie-volume-2-now-available-blu-raydvd-combo-pack|archive-date=January 17, 2021|access-date=January 21, 2021|website=AWN}}</ref>

The [[Academy Film Archive]] preserved several of the Puppetoons in 2009, including ''Jasper and the Beanstalk'', ''John Henry and the Inky Poo'', and ''Rhythm In the Ranks''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=http://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=George+Pal&category=All&collection=All|website=Academy Film Archive|access-date=2016-08-04|archive-date=2016-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813135524/http://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=George+Pal&category=All&collection=All|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Filmography==
===European Shorts===

'''1932'''
* Tale of the Gloomy King
* Midnight

'''1934'''
* Radio Valve Revolution
* The Ship of the Ether

'''1935'''
* The Magic Atlas
* World's Greatest Show
* In Lamp Light Land
* Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves

'''1936'''
* Ether Symphony
* Charlie's World Cruise
* On Parade!

'''1937'''
* What Ho, She Bumps
* The Reddingsbrigade
* Philips Broadcast of 1938

'''1938'''
* South Seas Sweethearts
* The Ballet of Red Radio Valves
* Sky Pirates
* How An Advertising Poster Came About

'''1939'''
* Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
* The Sleeping Beauty
* Love on the Range
* [[Philips Cavalcade]] (a.k.a. Cavalcade of Music)
* The Queen Was In The Parlour

'''1940'''
* Friend in Need
* The Good Bear and The Bad Bear
* The Old Woman Who Lived in A Shoe

===American Shorts===

'''1940'''
* Western Daze
* Dipsy Gypsy

'''1941'''
* Hoola Boola
* The Gay Knighties
* Rhythm in the Ranks
* The Sky Princess

'''1942'''
* [[Jasper and the Watermelons]]
* [[Mr. Strauss Takes a Walk]]
* [[Tulips Shall Grow]]
* [[Jasper and the Haunted House]]

'''1943'''
* Jasper and the Choo-Choo
* Bravo, Mr. Strauss
* [[The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins#Adaptations|The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins]]
* Jasper's Music Lesson
* The Truck That Flew
* The Little Broadcast
* Jasper Goes Fishing
* Goodnight Rusty

'''1944'''
* Package for Jasper
* A Hatful of Dreams
* Say Ah, Jasper
* [[Jasper Goes Hunting]]
* [[And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street#Adaptations|And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street]]
* Jasper's Paradise
* Two-Gun Rusty

'''1945'''
* Jasper's Booby Traps
* Hot Lips Jasper
* Jasper Tell
* Jasper's Minstrels
* Jasper's Close Shave
* Jasper and the Beanstalk
* My Man Jasper

'''1946'''
* Jasper's Derby
* [[Jasper in a Jam]]
* Olio for Jasper
* [[Together in the Weather]]
* [[John Henry and the Inky-Poo]]
* Wilbur the Lion

'''1947'''
* Shoe Shine Jasper
* Date with Duke (featuring [[Duke Ellington]])<ref name=Enough>{{cite book |last1=Sampson |first1=Henry T. |title=That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960 |date=1998 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0810832503 |url=https://archive.org/details/thatsenoughfolks0000samp/page/166/mode/2up |pages=166–167}}</ref> - October 31, 1947
* Rhapsody in Wood (featuring [[Woody Herman]])
* [[Tubby the Tuba (1947 film)|Tubby the Tuba]]
* Romeow and Julicat (Shown in the film ''[[Variety Girl]]'')

'''1948'''
* Sweet Pacific

'''1971'''
* The Tool Box (broadcast on ''[[Curiosity Shop]]'') - September 2, 1971

==Cancelled Projects==
* Casey Jones
* Davy Crockett
* Gulliver's Travels
* Johnny Appleseed
* Sinbad
* Three Little Princes<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/100011192462839/videos/570855896630821/ |title=Arnold Leibovit Facebook Post, May 12, 2018 |access-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-date=August 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818230741/https://www.facebook.com/login/?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F100011192462839%2Fvideos%2F570855896630821%2F |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Chico Record |title=Hollywood |author=Virginia McPherson |date=25 October 1945 |location=Chico |page=2 |url=https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/681104846/?terms=inkypooh&match=1 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818230757/https://www.newspapers.com/image/681104846/?image=681104846&words=&terms=inkypooh&match=1 |archive-date=2021-08-18 }} (login needed)</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |title=Ellen Drew Named For Film Comedy |date=13 April 1946 |location=Brooklyn |page=14 |url=https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/686223057/?terms=%22john%20henry%20and%20the%20inky%22&match=1 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818230758/https://www.newspapers.com/image/686223057/?image=686223057&words=&terms=%22john+henry+and+the+inky%22&match=1 |archivedate=2021-08-18 }} (login needed)</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[The Puppetoon Movie]]''

== Sources ==
* {{citation | last1=Cripps | first1=Thomas | title=''Making Movies Black : The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era:'' | year=1993 | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]| isbn=978-0-19-536034-9| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ypXaryjPaV0C&pg=PA197 }}
* {{citation | last1=Cohen | first1= Karl F. | title=''Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America'' | chapter= Racism and Resistance:Stereotypes in Animation| year=2004 | publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]| isbn=978-0786420322| chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=gIyH_DLYhoIC&pg=PA36 }}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/PAL/GP2.htm The George Pal Puppetoon site]
* [http://toonopedia.com/pupetoon.htm George Pal's Puppetoons] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://www.webcitation.org/6k0mLvr17?url=http://toonopedia.com/pupetoon.htm Archived] from the original on August 24, 2016.

[[Category:Puppetoons| ]]
[[Category:Animated film series]]
[[Category:American film series]]
[[Category:Short film series]]
[[Category:Film series introduced in 1932]]
[[Category:Film series introduced in 1940]]
[[Category:Films featuring puppetry]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures animated films| ]]
[[Category:1930s stop-motion animated films]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures short films| ]]
[[Category:1940s stop-motion animated films]]

Puppetoons - Revision history

JJR: 1 revision imported: might be problem

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