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Admission is free. No advance reservations. Seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Hammer Museum members will have reserved seating available at the box office. The box office opens one hour before the first program of the day.
French Fried
U.S., 1930
Restoration world premiere
Created in 1916 by animator Paul Terry (best known for Mighty Mouse), the character of Farmer Al Falfa was notable for Terry’s animation design that employed separate cels for different body parts to lower production costs. Terry featured his Al Falfa character in numerous shorts for various production companies and distributors before starting his own studio, Terrytoons, in 1929. Distributed by Educational Pictures, this delightful Terrytoon revival of Farmer Al Falfa finds the character on a wild adventure in Paris. Al Falfa continued to appear in animated shorts well into the 1950s (later christened as Farmer Gray).—Lauren Brown
DCP, b&w, 6 min. Director: Frank Moser. Screenwriter: Paul Terry.
Restoration funded by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm nitrate composite dupe negative. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound.
Musical Memories
U.S., 1935
Familiar radio tunes such as “The Sidewalks of New York” and “Little Annie Rooney” inspire an older married couple to dust off their hand-held stereoscope device and bring the audience into a 3D reminiscence of their life. This is courtesy of producer/inventor Max Fleischer’s patent-pending “Stereoptical”/“Setback” process, which placed animation cels in front of a rotating miniature set. As the final two-color system short from Fleischer Studios (Disney’s exclusive rights to three-strip Technicolor expired that September), Musical Memories demonstrates an interest in formal exploration with color and beyond.—Russell Zych
35mm, color, 7 min. Directors: Dave Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel.
Preservation funded by The AFI/NEA Preservation Grants Program, Jere Guldin. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from the 35mm nitrate successive exposure negative and the 35mm nitrate original track negative. Laboratory services by YCM Laboratories, TODD-AO/Glen Glenn.
Japanese Lanterns
U.S., 1935
Restoration world premiere
In this whimsical cartoon, a family making Japanese lanterns is both helped and hindered by a friendly stork. When a storm comes up, in a moment of animation brilliance, the stork comes to the rescue, spearing runaway lanterns from an aviator’s point of view. Film Daily reported: “To insure accuracy and add a touch of … splendor, a special staff of Japanese artists has been engaged to work on [painted backgrounds for] ‘Japanese Lanterns.’” This Cinecolor cartoon was part of the Rainbow Parade series created between 1934 and 1936 by Van Beuren Studios, which ceased production when RKO decided to distribute Walt Disney offerings instead.—Miki Shannon
35mm, color, 8 min. Directors: Burt Gillett, Ted Eshbaugh.
Restoration funded by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm nitrate print. Laboratory services by YCM Laboratories, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Inc., Triage Motion Picture Services.
Hold It
U.S., 1938
Restoration world premiere
Fleischer Studios had multiple “full color” projects under its belt (including a two-reel Popeye special) by the time work started on 1938’s Hold It, which presents a cozy bouquet of teal, lavender and caramel across its cool nighttime palette. The plot follows a scratchy-voiced feline crooner’s performance of the title song for an audience of neighborhood cats. The accompanying action includes a full order of Fleischer-style surrealism and anarchy: hyper-fluid kitty choreography gives way to a neighborhood dog chase, while the song’s refrain (“Hold it!”) generates a series of memorable, gravity-defying gags.—Russell Zych
DCP, color, 7 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
Restoration funded by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from the 35mm nitrate successive exposure negative and a 35mm variable density track negative. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound.
Anything to Please
Red Riding Hood
U.S., circa 1946
Restoration world premieres
One of the Archive’s more curious donations came from chemist Lyne Trimble (1912-1992) and consisted of tests and prints in various obscure color processes. Trimble taught a class at UCLA about color film; previously, he had been instrumental in developing Fullcolor, the short-lived 1940s subtractive three-color process. Among the few subjects released in Fullcolor were these animated theatrical advertisements for Coca-Cola produced for the Latin American market. The nitrate prints donated by Trimble are the sole copies known to be in existence; how many might have been made originally and by whom remain a mystery.—Jere Guldin
35mm, color, 90 sec. each.
Preservation funded by Coca-Cola. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 35mm nitrate Fullcolor prints. Laboratory services by YCM Laboratories. Special thanks to Lyne S. Trimble.
Superman trailer
U.S., 1941
Restoration world premiere
Though studios rarely produced trailers for their short subjects, Paramount sold this teaser to exhibitors because — per an advertisement in the March 30, 1941, issue of Film Daily — their “new film star” already had “38,000,000 fans.” Superman’s regular appearance in Action Comics, widely syndicated newspaper strips and popular radio series meant that most audiences were already familiar with the Man of Steel. Still, the animation from Fleischer Studios would be audiences’ first glimpse of the hero in motion, and the first time he would take flight rather than merely “leap tall buildings in a single bound.”—Russell Zych
DCP, color, 30 sec. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Restoration funded by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from the 35mm nitrate successive exposure negative and a 35mm optical track negative. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound.
A Kick in Time
U.S., 1940
Restoration world premiere
After their well-received debut in Hunky and Spunky (1938), the titular mother-son donkey duo joined Fleischer’s stable of regular characters, eventually starring in the final four Color Classics. The first of these is A Kick in Time, which departs from the studio’s usual song-centric, reality-bending, slapstick-laden bag of tricks for a more straightforward adventure plot about Spunky’s abduction and Hunky’s journey to rescue her son. Plenty of minor comedic gags soften the short’s melodrama and embellish its action sequences, but Kick’s overall earnestness is a ‘valuable reminder of the studio’s broader artistic ambition.—Russell Zych
35mm, color, 8 min. Directors: Dave Fleischer, Shamus Culhane.
Restoration funded by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm nitrate print and a 16mm print. Laboratory services by YCM Laboratories, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Inc., Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Triage Motion Picture Services. Special thanks to Mark Kausler.
Special thanks to our community partner: ASIFA-Hollywood.
