Toys in a Cycle

Before we leave our holiday posts behind for another year, let’s re-create some cycle animation from The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives, released early in the New Year of 1933. 16 drawings (one foot of film) make up a cycle of toys that are cheering because, well, there are crowds cheering in a bunch of Harman-Ising cartoons released by Warner Bros.

I won’t post the individual drawings this time. Instead, I’ll slow down the cycle a little bit.



Veterans Ham Hamilton and Norm Blackburn are credited on-screen with the animation. The song “The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives” was written by Harry Woods and copyright in October 1931. The same guy who did the falsetto males in a lot of the H-I Merrie Melodies (Max Maxwell?) plays the poor kid in this one.

What? This is reused animation from Red Headed Baby (1931, drawn by Hamilton and Maxwell)? Yes, you’re correct.