Toby the Pup

Toby the Pup is an animated cartoon character created by animators Sid Marcus, Dick Huemer, and Art Davis. He starred in a series of early sound shorts produced by Charles B. Mintz for RKO Radio Pictures. The series lasted from 1930 to 1931. Twelve cartoons were produced, though very few still survive today.

History

In 1930, Charles Mintz, while simultaneously producing the Krazy Kat cartoon series for Columbia, decided to create an additional series to be distributed through RKO Radio Pictures. He lured away two Fleischer animators, Dick Huemer and Sid Marcus and assigned them to work with Art Davis to create a new series. Marcus, who worked for the Mintz studio when it was still located in New York City, devised Toby the Pup. Toby was very similar to Fleischer's Bimbo, in both personality and character design. Despite the series' success, it concluded after only twelve films; most likely because of RKO's ties with the Van Beuren studio. However, by the time the series ended, Mintz was already negotiating with Columbia for backing on a second cartoon series headed again by Huemer, Marcus, and Davis. This time, Huemer devised a new character, a small boy named Scrappy.

Today, very few of the Toby cartoons are known to exist. Only a fragment (about half) of "The Museum" exists in the Library of Congress. Prints of the short have turned up in a few private film collections in the United States and four were discovered in Europe. UCLA currently owns a silent print of "Circus Time". The Cartoon Factory, a syndicated compilation of public domain cartoons distributed throughout Europe, featured three Toby cartoons, "The Milkman", "Down South", and "Halloween". Lobster Films, the company behind the program currently holds these titles.

Filmography

1930

1931

Trivia

Toby can be seen dancing in one of the scenes of the movie "Cool World".

References

* Lenburg, Jeff (1999): "The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons". Checkmark Books.
* Maltin, Leonard (1987): "Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons". Penguin Books.

See also

* The Golden Age of American animation

External links

* [http://columbia.goldenagecartoons.com/ The Columbia Crow's Nest]
* [http://www.cartoonresearch.com/ Cartoon Research]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/tobypup.htm/ Toonopedia on Toby]