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Restored Paramount “Noveltoons” on DVD
January 23, 2012 12:05 am
Okay, here is an unabashed plug for a video project near and dear to my heart. Animation archeologist/film-restoration hero Steve Stanchfield is ready to unveil his latest DVD masterpiece: Noveltoons Original Classics, a special DVD collection featuring twenty restored “Hollywood” cartoons produced by Paramount from 1943-1950. Paramount’s in-house cartoon unit, Famous Studios (actually based in New York City), was staffed by a core group of artists from the former Fleischer Studio – in fact, just about everyone minus Max and Dave was still involved. The Noveltoons series became the launching pad for many well known (and not-so-well known) characters: Little Audrey, Baby Huey, Herman the Mouse, Raggedy Ann, Blackie Sheep, Spunky Donkey and others. Unlike other collections featuring some of this material, Stanchfield’s set features these cartoons digitally restored and mastered from original 35mm and 16mm film materials. For the specific cartoon titles, see Menu’s below (click thumbnails to enlarge).
You may have seen some of these cartoons before – but you haven’t seen them look like this. Pristine, colorful, with their original Paramount movie titles. Believe me, this library has been sadly neglected for decades. Previous available copies of these cartoons are usually faded 16mm TV prints with replaced titles, film splices and dirt lines. Your jaw will drop when you see the quality Steve has managed to achieve (check the two frame grabs above, center and right; click thumbnails to enlarge). Bonus features include commentaries from animators (Bob Jaques, Mike Kazaleh, etc.) and animation historians (including me), Still galleries featuring original model sheets, publicity materials, animation art and comic strips, plus a unique Baby Huey storyboard/final film comparison reel (image below):
Noveltoons Original Classics. Buy it now. I highly recommend it. Help support this kind of film restoration – by a dedicated animation historian, doing the work the major studios do not feel worthy of its time. And if I haven’t convinced you yet, here are a few excerpts from the disc (You Tube does not do this justice):
44 comments
posted in Classic, DVD, Famous Studios 
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must… have!
HOORAY FOR STEVE !!
For preserving these gems and returning them to their original Paramount Glory.
9/10
Very good news! I wonder if Terrytoons will ever follow…
Famous made my least favorite theatrical cartoons, but I’ll hold my nose and get this. Steve Stanchfield does such excellent work.
And I second the call for Terrytoons!
It’s been said before but bears repeating. Steve’s discs are absolutely top-notched and have helped preserve classic animation that was on the verge of extinction.
Supporting projects like this ensures that Steve can keep working on preserving our animated heritage.
It’s true. This is as close to subsidizing as I’ll go, though.
Most of the Noveltoons prints you see on YouTube and elsewhere are so colorless that they make the Kansas parts of The Wizard of Oz look like the Oz parts of The Wizard of Oz.
So, Steve did the Lord’s work here by not only acquiring and restoring prime film elements of many of these cartoons, but by presenting some of the rarer shorts (Flip Flap, Bored Cuckoo), etc.
Oh, Wow!! Now this IZ great and juicy gossip. Thank YOO!!
omg! Just watched the peek-vid. No, NONE of us have ever (ever) seen THESE films in THAT condition! Can’t wait!!
I so have to get this.
By the way, does anyone know if Thunderbean’s “Private Snafu Golden Classics” DVD will be back in print? It seems to be sold out everywhere, so a second printing certainly seems to be warranted.
and i THIRD the Terry request!!
And just $16! Wow. Happy to say, purchase complete! =)
PRIVATE SNAFU will be available again soon, likely within the month. I sold out of the first printing in early December. Thanks to all the help from the animation community, these releases continue! Jerry Beck, Mike Kazaleh, the essential Mark Kausler, Thad Komorowski & Paul Mular have been especially helpful on this one.
It looks fantastic.
I hope it sells like hotcakes.
Wow, this is fantastic! I’ll probably get this soon!
Btw, when is that Modern Animation DVD from Thunderbean coming out?
I remember when these came on the various afternoon kids’ cartoon compilation shows in the 70s, they always kind of frightened me. The wildly off-model drawings, and (especially) the incredible gruesomeness of some of the violence (Jesus, in the sample video, a wolf gets his FACE RIPPED OFF!) really made me uneasy!
Some of the ’40s Paul Terry Mighty Mouse episodes were just as bad, especially the ones animated by Bill Tytla and Eddie Donnelly. They would never make it onto TV today.
This is great! I hope that some of the ‘Singalong’ Toons will be included. The public domain copies look and sound horrendous.
Rumor has it a collection of Screen Songs will be Steve’s next project, but demand for it will probably be less.
Even if it isn’t in the IMMEDIATE pipeline, I too would like to see Steve do for Famous what he’s done for Van Beuren.
Tom… those are some rumors! That isn’t the next project….or the one after that or the one after that even…that I do know.
ah, but we can dream, can’t we?? :-)
keep up the awesome work you do, Steve. We’re all grateful!
A Terrytoons disc would be nice, but there aren’t that many of those in the public domain, are there? CBS seems to have been pretty meticulous about renewing the copyrights on them.
I’ll definitely be picking up the Famous disc!
Anticipating wallowing in hurt gags and glorious WTFness.
Thanks, Steve, and others involved for another stellar release.
I already ordered mine on Amazon almost a week ago!
We’ve been following every tidbit, nitpicking every part (opening titles, menus, DVD covers) because STEVE LOVES US GUYS on the GAC/IAD forums. He even leaked a LOT, and let fellow forum members do so too. (one major feature Steve removed, thankfully).
This is the “Star Wars prequels” of public domain DVDs.
Let’s face it, no DVNR, no widescreen, no cut or edits, no added sound effects, no splices, no disc errors (I hope). And the “artificial coloring” is more natural than Disney’s.
What major did I remove?? I don’t remember that! Artificial coloring? I put some disc errors in just to make you happy though, and an Old McDonald Easter egg….
I know you’re joking about disc errors and the Old Macdonald cartoon.
Anyways, I said “artificial coloring” in a sarcastic manner, because your restorations are bright even with a little color adjustment, but they’re more “organic” than Disney’s. Heck they’re more organic than Hollywood put together with animation.
And the major feature you removed was that Baby Huey Storyboard Comparison you once leaked on YouTube.
What? Why was this removed?
“Paramount” (and everyone), Steve tells me the storyboard feature is still included—it’s even pictured among Jerry’s screengrabs above.
I got a kick out of NOVELTOONS in my youth back in the ’70s and ’80s, but the toons don’t seem to hold up today, unlike Looney Tunes. I guess its “novelty” subsided as I matured and my taste for animation became more discerning.
Nevertheless, I applaud Thunderbean for stepping up to the plate to release this classic animated show for fans and newcomers alike. Thunderbean is a class act!
And a classic show it is!
All I can say is “Very Nice”.
Did I catch some Jim Tyer animation in there?
Is there another ordering site? Amazon lists only one copy available from an independent seller, and I won’t be able to order it for another week. Like to know it would still be available!
Just because one copy is available does NOT MEAN there’s only one in stock. It’s to prevent spam or something on Amazon’s marketplace.
Dont…be…fooled.
Let me add to the call for the Terry Toon restorations , I was a Mighty Mouse nut and had all the ones available on 8mm :) Terrific job Steve.
Ok, so what was the time frame of the Noveltoons vs Harveytoons and since they contain the same character what was the difference, or was here any ?
The answer is to be found within this very site:
http://www.cartoonresearch.com/paramount.html
Short answer: Harvey Comics — comic book home of Casper, Baby Huey and other Noveltoon characters — bought up a lot of old Noveltoons and rebranded them as Harveytoons for television. Harvey later produced its own Caspers for TV, emphasizing the comic books’ stories and recurring characters — while recycling the very familiar Noveltoon scores.
Fantastic news.
I’ll be ordering my copy in the next couple of weeks :D
The Storyboard feature is included on the DVD…nothing was taken out!
I’ve seen these cartoons on public domain videos and on “Shining Time Station.” I’m excited that they’re finally being restored and remastered on dvd! This is one cartoon collection that I’m definitely gonna get!
I didn’t see “Hector’s Hectic Life” on the list.
So happy to receive the NOVELTOONS in the mail soon. Thank God for Thunderbean. I can only hope for a Vol. 2, featuring some Little Audrey shorts in the public domain, especially my fav Audrey short, SONG OF THE BIRDS. I have a hunch a second boxed set is in the works!
Good on ya Steve, excellent DVD!!
So Steven, where are the Casper cartoons?