This is another rather pointless list of mine, this time listing cartoons distributed by the pirate distributor Astra TV/Cinepix Inc. for television sometime in the 1950s in their "Whimseyland" package. Mention must be briefly made of a company called Screen Attractions, a predecessor to this outfit. Some of these same cartoons were previously handled by SA, like the Mutt and Jeff and Charley films. (Heck, "Egyptian Daze" even has the text "A Screen Attraction" on its end card.)

A Fireman's Life = "Hook and Ladder Hokum" (Van Beuren, 1933)
A Good Time = ???
A King’s Christmas = “Christmas Night” (Van Beuren, 1934)
Batter Up = “The Ball Park" (Aesop's Fables, 1929)
Cat in Toyland = ??? (possibly "Felix Trips Thru Toyland" [Sullivan, 1925?]?)
Charley at the Circus (Pat Sullivan, 1918)
Cholly Polly (Columbia, 1942)
Cinderella = “Once Upon a Time” (Audio Productions, c. 1937)
Country Boy Rabbit = “Country Boy” (WB, 1935)
Dog Missing = “Dog Gone” (Mutt and Jeff, 1926)
Egyptian Daze = “Mummy O’Mine” (Mutt and Jeff, 1926)
Goats and Whiskers = “Billy Goat’s Whiskers” (Terry, 1937)
Heavenly Daze = “Koko’s Paradise” (Fleischer, 1926)
Home Sweet Home = ???
Icy Daze = ???
Invisible Revenge (Mutt and Jeff, 1925) (Presuming this is originally an Astra print, by way of the "Charley at the Circus" music appearing in this.)
Junior Camera Bug = ???
Love Bugs = "Fly Hi" (Van Beuren, 1931)
Lumberjack = “The Saw Mill Mystery” (Terrytoons, 1937)
Magazine Rack= “I Like Mountain Music” (WB, 1931)
Midnight Follies/Midnight Frolics = "We're in the Money" (WB, 1933)
Midsummer Day Dream = "Bosko’s Woodland Daze" (WB, 1931)
Misses His Swiss = “Felix Misses His Swiss” (Sullivan, 1926)
Mister Do-All = “Jack from All Trades” (Sullivan, 1927)
Off to the Races = “Ups and Downs” (WB, 1931)
On Duty = “One More Time” (WB, 1931)
Racing Fever = ??? (TBA McCrory "Life Cartoon Comedy")
Rag Dog (Van Beuren, 1935)
Sailing, Sailing - TBA Carpenter-Goldman "Sailor Jack" cartoon
Scare Crow and the Wolf = ???
Scared Rabbit = “The Timid Rabbit” (Terrytoons, 1937)
Simon and His Goose = ??? (probably “Simple Simon” [Iwerks, 1935])
Soda Clerks (Mutt and Jeff, 1925)
Spring Cleaning = “Kiko’s Cleaning Day” (Terrytoons, 1937)
Spring Time = ???
Swiss Daze = ???
Sunken Treasure = "Felix Braves the Briny" (Sullivan, 1926)
The Dancing Bear (Terrytoons, 1937)
The Happy Kittens = ???
The Inventor = “Felix Turns the Tide” (Sullivan, 1922)
The Magic Fish = ????
The Under Dog (Fables Studios, 1926)

Some of these I don’t have access to the original B&W Astra prints that were used as sources for Fred Ladd’s redrawns, but I can tell they were sourced from this distributor because of the distinctive title cards.

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However, there are a few that I dunno if they're Astra or not:
Batter Up = “Play Ball” (Terrytoons, 1932)
Country Boy Rabbit = “Country Boy” (WB, 1935)
Lumberjack = “The Saw Mill Mystery” (Terrytoons, 1937)
Misses His Swiss = “Felix Misses His Swiss” (Sullivan, 1926)
Off to the Races = “Ups and Downs” (WB, 1931)

The answer is yes, and there were many many dozens if not hundreds of these prints. Astra and Cinepix were the same outfit, simply repackaging things under different names at different times.

Weren't those the ones that had that redrawn Felix short where he was colored orange and had odd '70's sounding music added?

Weren't those the ones that had that redrawn Felix short where he was colored orange and had odd '70's sounding music added?

Yes, they were indeed.

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Weren't those the ones that had that redrawn Felix short where he was colored orange and had odd '70's sounding music added?

Put more clearly, it was prints from these TV packages that were eventually used for those redrawns.

Batter Up is actually "The Ball Park," directed by Frank Moser and released in May 19th, 1929.

Batter Up is actually "The Ball Park," directed by Frank Moser and released in May 19th, 1929.

Indeed it is!

Was "Felix Braves the Briny" in the Astra TV package? that was another silent Felix that got redrawn in Color.

Thanks for reminding me! It was, retitled "Sunken Treasure".

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Realized I never included "A Fireman's Life"/"Hook and Ladder Hokum" here, which I'm pretty sure is an Astra/Cinepix bootleg print....

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Anytime you see that specific title card background, absolutely yes. Felix Braves the Briny was "Sunken Treasure" in the Astra package. As I said, that package was the source for the redrawns, and the fake title (and especially the title card design) is a giveaway.

There's also this end title, another tell-tale sign of an Astra print:


It appears Ladd or his editor took some music on his redrawns directly from the Astra prints. Their usual opening fanfare music can be heard in "Spring Cleaning" and "Bosko's Woodland Daze", and the music in "Invisible Revenge" shows up in their print of "Charlie at the Circus". The sequence of Sharples tracks heard in "Accidents Will Happen" and "Mickey's Follies" can be heard in a few Cinepix and Astra prints. I just dunno if these were on the prints themselves or they just took them from some other Astra print and laid 'em over whatever redrawns they felt like.

I'm guessin' there were a few that were completely silent, hence the new music tracks - although the Astra version of "Soda Jerks"/"Clerks" has some lovely, jaunty stock music in it, while the Ladd redrawn has funky 70s stuff instead.

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It was a combination of both...use what was on the prints already, and I'm sure in the case of Soda Jerks, "This is an especially wild cartoon...let's pep it up with some sassy new music cues." But one thing I will say is that sometimes Astra's prints of the same cartoons varied from time to time, with different faked title card designs and different music tracks laid over the same things. It really was a shoddy enterprise. Those minor details didn't really matter to the head honcho (or the public). There was no late 2010s Porky Pig-like concern for such minutiae in that sort of scenario and time period.

I would honestly like to think that in the case of "Soda Jerks", they just thought the jaunty stock music heard in the Astra print sounded a bit old-fashioned and they decided to give it more of a wild, kitschy 70s soundtrack to fit with the times, to "pep it up" a little.

Speaking of stock music, Tommy, ever heard of a website called Library Music Themes? They might be able to help with some of the more intriguing, non-Sharples stock tracks used by Astra and other companies.

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I would honestly like to think that in the case of "Soda Jerks", they just thought the jaunty stock music heard in the Astra print sounded a bit old-fashioned and they decided to give it more of a wild, kitschy 70s soundtrack to fit with the times, to "pep it up" a little.

Speaking of stock music, Tommy, ever heard of a website called Library Music Themes? They might be able to help with some of the more intriguing, non-Sharples stock tracks used by Astra and other companies.

I don't think I'd heard of it before, but thanks for sharing. Re: Astra again...the print R&TVP secured of Soda Jerks might not have even had the same music track as the one you hear on my YouTube upload. We may never know...and it may never really matter for much! At least we've still got the films in question. 😉

Good point. I'm not a seasoned film collector like yourself, so I had no idea about the alternative music tracks and whatnot. Once again, thanks for stopping by.

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There's also Screen Attractions.

Screen Attractions is an older incarnation (1930s) of the same company as Astra/Cinepix. There were quite a few Mutt & Jeff and Charley cartoons in the package partly because the company was handling that material as far back as the late 20s and 30s, and didn't just dupe one or two random ones from other sources.

Also, I thought you would like to know that Astra's title for Bosko's Woodland Daze was actually Midsummer Day Dream. I'm not sure why it was corrected for the redrawn.

I noticed R&TVP'S "Toy Shoppe" missing from the list, and Astra's two titles for that short (We're in the Money) were Midnight Frolics (earlier version) and Midnight Follies (later prints).

Screen Attractions is an older incarnation (1930s) of the same company as Astra/Cinepix. There were quite a few Mutt & Jeff and Charley cartoons in the package partly because the company was handling that material as far back as the late 20s and 30s, and didn't just dupe one or two random ones from other sources.

Also, I thought you would like to know that Astra's title for Bosko's Woodland Daze was actually Midsummer Day Dream. I'm not sure why it was corrected for the redrawn.

Alright, then!

Does the Astra TV print of Kiko's Cleaning Day use the title card design (used in the R&TP version), or you don't have that print in ur collection?