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tymime · 24 days

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Public Domain cartoon characters from the Golden Age of Animation (and beyond)

Revised and expanded version of this post: https://tymime.tumblr.com/post/648495121557585920/instead-of-whining-about-mickey-mouse-not-falling

While Mickey entering the public domain is exciting and all, I do think a lot of people are overlooking the many other animated characters that are available to use in their creative works. This list isn't entirely exhaustive, but it does highlight some of the most interesting and/or appealing characters, as well as ones that have the potential to be so.

Koko the Clown

One of the oldest cartoon stars from the Fleischer studio, almost all of Koko's silent-era cartoons are PD, and have been for quite some time. A handful of his appearances alongside Betty Boop are also PD.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald's PD status has been greatly overshadowed by his fellow Disney star Mickey, but I believe that he deserves more recognition. All of the shorts produced by the Disney studio are PD as of this year, and let's face it, those are the only ones most people care about. Pegleg Pete's bear design is also PD.

Keep in mind that the blue shorts that Oswald wears in Epic Mickey and elsewhere are likely copyrighted, so I recommend steering clear of that.

I'm also not entirely sure you can use the name "Ortensia" for his cat girlfriend, since that name first appeared in Epic Mickey also. She was called "Kitty" back in the day, among other things.

All of Van Beuren Studio's cartoons

The Van Beuren Studio was active during the rubberhose era, and their cartoons, especially the earlier ones, are like a cruder, possibly even more bizarre cousin to Fleischer and Disney. They went bust in the late 1930s, and no one renewed the copyright later on, so the entirety of their output is PD.

Their most notable characters include Tom and Jerry, a pair of average Joes who always get into strange adventures. They shouldn't be confused with MGM's Tom and Jerry, and in fact they were called Dick and Larry when their shorts were rereleased for the home-movie market in the 1940s.

Also notable is Waffles and Don, who are basically just animal versions of Tom and Jerry. You might consider these two as a better alternative, just to avoid confusion.

There's also Cubby Bear, a pretty blatant Mickey Mouse clone, but unique enough that I don't think anybody’s going to confuse the two nowadays.

In the previous post, I mentioned a rumor that Disney threatened legal action over the character, but I can't find the source for that now. I may have been thinking of Milton Mouse, who was so extremely similar to Mickey that they actually did sue the studo for copyright infringement. So maybe don't try selling any Milton merchandise...

Finally, there's Molly Moo-Cow, who appeared in several Rainbow Parade cartoons in the mid-to-late 1930s. Molly is arguably not the most interesting character, but I have a fondness for her since we grew up with one of her shorts on a VHS tape.

Toby the Pup

Another very obscure character, about half of his cartoons are lost media. The little that does survive is hard to find online, but I think his design has appeal.

Dr. XXX

Disney's The Mad Doctor was never renewed for reasons unknown, though some speculate that the studio thought that the cartoon was too scary and decided to let it go. Fortunately for us, that means that this iconic character is now in the people's hands.

Goopy Geer

Goopy appeared in the three Merrie Melodies cartoons alongside his unnamed girlfriend. Despite his name and appearance being similar to Disney's Goofy, he actually made his debut about a month before (Goofy was named Dippy Dawg at the time anyway, so it was undoubtedly a coincidence).

Claude Hopper

Claude appeared in a single Looney Tunes cartoon in 1943 called Hop and Go, alongside a pair of Scottish rabbits who antagonize him. The cartoon ends with a very unfortunate depiction of Tokyo being blown up (World War II was still going on at the time), so it's no surprise that Warner Bros. decided not to renew this one. Despite that, he has a very appealing design (imo), so I think he has potential. (Also, he's voiced by Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy!)

Private Snafu and Mr. Hook

Snafu and Hook were created for the US government, so according to the law are automatically public domain. The shorts were made to be shown to members of the US army and navy respectively, in order to teach them valuable lessons for fighting in WWII, but are nevertheless hilarious cartoons- animated by the Looney Tunes team with scripts by Ted Geisel- aka Dr. Seuss!

The Dover Boys

Also of note are the ComiColor cartoons from the Iwerks studio, Rainbow Parade from Van Beuren, and most of the Color Classics by Fleischer. These don't have any especially memorable characters in them, but I thought I ought to mention them.

Yes, Tom, Dick and Larry, Dora Standpipe and the villainous Dan Backslide are all public domain. A bunch of YouTube Poops were created after this fact was discovered by the internet a few years ago.

How Warner Bros. could ever let this one get away I'll never know. Their loss is our gain, I suppose.

Caveats and other concerns

Krazy Kat

Felix the Cat

All of the strips up to 1928 are definitely fair game. According to the Public Domain Superheroes wiki however, the entirety of the strip's run is PD. I'm not sure if it that's true, but the Fantagraphics collections don't credit any newspaper syndicate, so it seems likely. (Apparently the copyright status of newspaper comics are a whole can of worms on its own...)

At any rate, the strip's cast was pretty well set in stone by 1928, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. A large number of animated shorts starring Krazy are also PD, but those were pretty much in name only.

Flip the Frog

Felix was pretty much the first cartoon superstar, and almost all of his Golden Age appearances are PD now. Keep in mind that this does not include elements from the 1950s cartoon like his magic bag, or from The Twisted Tales of Felix, as amazing as that series is.

The character's name and appeance are still trademarked by NBC Universal however, so you might be able to use him in a minor role, but not much else.

I'm uncertain about this one. According to most sources Flip is PD, but according to the Thunderbean Blu-ray collection he's copyrighted by the Film Preservation Archives, whatever that means. Additionally, Flip himself is supposedly trademarked by Leslie Iwerks, Ub Iwerks’ granddaughter, though no one seems to be able to confirm that. I don't know how the trademark hasn't lapsed yet, considering that Flip hasn't appeared on any official merchandise or anything in decades.

Bosko and Honey

I believe there's nothing stopping anyone from using Bosko's classic design (later appearances at MGM and in Tiny Toons are still copyrighted), but the character himself is a bit problematic, considering that it's all but stated outright that he's a blackface caricature. Use with caution.

Foxy and Roxy

Noveltoons

Like Goopy Geer, Foxy appeared in three Merrie Melodies cartoons. Roxy's name originates from an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures however, so keep that in mind. Though I'm not sure what else you would call her (or if Warner Bros. would even care). Supposedly her original name was "Fluffy", but I can't find a source for this.

Like Bosko and Honey, later appearances in Tiny Toons are still copyrighted.

Noveltoons was a series produced by Famous Studios, the successor to the Fleischer studio. The characters include Baby Huey, Herman the mouse, Blackie the sheep, Little Audrey, and of course, Casper the Friendly Ghost. Only a small handful of the shorts are PD though, and Casper is trademarked, so one's options are limited.

Ginger Nutt (and rest of the Animaland cast)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

This one I'm not entirely sure about either, but Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus has long been a staple of grey-market tapes and DVDs, so I'm just going to assume all of the Animaland cartoons are also PD. Considering that the series wasn't very sucessful, and is very obscure nowadays, it seems pretty likely.

If anyone has any insight on this, let me know.

Calvin and the Colonel

Now here's an interesting case. An all-time classic Christmas special, and yet large parts of it are PD because they accidentally put the wrong date on the copyright notice. Instead of the Roman numerals MCMLXIV (1964), it reads MCLXIV (1164), and according to the law at the time, that meant that the film immediately went into public domain.

Of course, Rudolph himself is still copyrighted, and will be until 2035 when the original book falls into the public domain. Even then he's likely to still be trademarked. Not to mention the songs featured in the '64 film will be copyrighted for a long time afterward.

Still, this means that anyone is free to use all the other characters, including Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, King Moonracer, Clarice, and all the Misfit Toys. It's a wonder no one seems to have taken advantage of this. And of course Santa and his reindeer have been PD for ages, especially Santa since he comes from folklore- and you can't copyright folklore.

This cartoon is based on and stars a lot of the same voice cast as the old-time radio show Amos and Andy, which, while not overtly racist, featured white actors pretending to be black. The cartoon obviously has animals instead, but still, tread carefully. Someone is bound to point out the characters' history.

Hoppity Hooper

Another one I'm not sure about. The Public Domain Superheroes wiki has characters from this show among its articles, but I wasn't able to confirm if it really was PD. It was created by Jay Ward, the same studio who made Rocky & Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle, but was also a huge flop for some reason, so that may be the reason why they let the copyright expire. Again, I'm not sure, but no one seems to care that the entire series is on YouTube, so who knows?

...Well, there you have it. Lots of obscure and forgotten toons waiting to be rediscovered and reused! If anyone has any more info or corrections, leave me a comment. I'd love some clarification on some of these.

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tymime · 25 days

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Mickey’s prank on Mortimer.

Happy April Fool’s Day!

#mortimer mouse #disney #house of mouse #mickey mouse works #mickey mouse #april fool's

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tymime · 26 days

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I'm designing Awesome Possum fan characters send help (I think it should be pretty obvious who the two bad guys are inspired by)

#awesome possum #awesome possum kicks dr machino's butt #trilby #bilby #marsupial #australia #robots #dinosaur #shrew

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tymime · 1 month

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One of the best things, if not the best thing about AI writing assistants is how completely unflinching and unquestioning they are. You can come up with the most madcap, off-the-wall premise- like a cartoon weasel trapped in a haunted warehouse, or Santa Claus' half-brother inventing a heavy metal holiday and getting into trouble with the Grand Council of Holidays- and it will go along with completely as if it were perfectly normal, even enhance it, blending the craziest, most disparate of elements seamlessly.

#ai #ai art #ai writing

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tymime · 1 month

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Hooded Robin from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show

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tymime · 2 months

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Public Domain cartoon characters from Golden Age comic books

Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit going (mostly) into the public domain is a pretty big deal. In the next ten years a lot of animation from the 1930s will wind up in the hands of all artists who want to use them. But did you know there's a huge amount of cartoon characters from the 1940s that are totally free to use? It isn't just cartoons that starred on the silver screen that have fallen out of copyright. (Of course, I'm using the word "cartoon" somewhat loosely...)

See, when US copyright law was revised in 1976 and went into effect in 1978, works created before 1964 were required to have their copyright renewed before the end of 1980, or else they would become public domain. Hundreds if not thousands of Hollywood movies and other types of media had been made by studios and publishing companies that went bankrupt and were completely dissolved decades prior to this new law. This included the cartoons made by studios such as Bray, Van Beuren, and many others- but it also included comic books.

If you weren't a big comic book company like DC or Marvel, chances are you shuttered your doors sometime in the 1950s or early 1960s. And during the 1940s, with the rise in popularity of Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, and Droopy, comic book publishers were printing tons and tons of comic books starring wacky, slapstick-oriented animal characters. Most of these titles went out of copyright, and there are lots of fun and interesting characters to be found in them.

One of the most historically notable is Supermouse. When the first Mighty Mouse cartoon premiered, he was called Supermouse, but what they didn't know was that Pines comics had already taken the name, and successfully sued for copyright infringement even though they were both parodies of Superman.

One of the most interesting titles I've come across is Funny Films. The conceit of the series is that these are actually cartoons you can watch in a movie theater, except it's a comic book. A bit confusing, I know.

The end result is a series of fourth wall breaks so absolutely thorough in their scope that the fourth wall really doesn't exist anymore, barring actually jumping out of the page (or your computer screen) and blowing up your living room. They talk to the audience, jump out of the screen, and even show up late for the cartoon to start. This is of course the bookends to a whole bunch of slapstick gags and goofy dialogue.

Another interesting series, especially if you're a fan of Archie, is Hi-Jinx. They basically took the premise of teeny-boppers in high school and made them into funny animals. Most of the stories have something to do with swing music and dancing.

And although they're crudely drawn, one of the more unique character concepts is Pussy Katnip, found in various titles scattered across the mid-1940s, usually buried amongst a bunch of more normal stories with ordinary human characters. Pussy Katnip looks like one of your classic film noir glamorous beauties, except she's an anthropomorphic cat. Think Minerva Mink but feline. She may appear to be a femme fatale at first, but she's actually a crimefighter. To do this she chugs a mysterious beverage that gives her enhanced strength and intelligence. She's sort of a mystery-solving superhero.

Her appearances are random and kind of hard to find. Here are the titles of the ones currently circulating online: All Your Comics (1944 issue) All Top Comics (one-shot) All Good Comics Everybody’s Comics (1944 issue) Green Mask v1 #11 Ribtickler v1 #1 All Great Comics (1945 issue) Book of All-Comics Green Mask v2 #2 Rocket Kelly #2 Zoot Comics #1

Often these comics, especially in the early '40s, remind me of the artwork of underground comics of the '70s- not quite rubberhose, not quite Looney Tunes. The kind of thing you might find on a punkabilly album cover.

And ocassionally you'll come across characters with a suspiciously familiar name:

One thing to watch out for is the occasional Donald Duck knock-off, some more obvious than others.

Now you may be asking: Where can I read these comics? Simple: https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/ Just be sure you have the right software to read them. I use cooViewer. Another incredibly useful resource is www.comics.org.

So if you're like me and you're too impatient to wait for Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to fall out of copyright, and you want to do something more unusual and unexpected, there are dozens and dozens of comic books with silly, wacky characters that can be utilized in your own original stories, cartoons, and what have you- and you can monetize them too!

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tymime · 2 months

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Here's the next part of the Bell Ringer audiobook. My music isn't in this specific part, but it'll be in others.

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I'm writing music for this audiobook! It's called "Bell Ringer", and it's about mice and rats and other critters in a fantasy setting. My music starts at 2:56, but I recommend listening to the whole thing.

#bell ringer #my music #mice #rats #mouse #rat #rodent #fantasy #music #folk music #medieval #books #audiobooks #Youtube

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tymime · 2 months

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When I was first learning guitar (around 13 years old), I was enamored with the wild reckless noise and feedback that Jimi Hendrix and other psychedelic guitarists were doing, as well as the avant-garde weirdness of The Beatles' "Revolution 9" and even John Lennon's Live Peace in Toronto 1969 to a certain extent, which I had on DVD around that time. And I noticed with some frustration that most mainstream rock and even metal music in the early 2000s wasn't really doing that anymore- and my guitar teacher was a bit snobby, and didn't think it was important, more or less concurring with other guitarists at the time that making wacky noises didn't take any "real skill", although those weren't his words. (Not that I had a large enough amp or any pedals to make that sort of noise, although I managed some things on a guitar with microphonic pickups and some found objects.)

It's really only been very recently that I've found rock bands from the '80s and '90s that scratch that itch. Noise rock/pop and alternative bands like Sonic Youth (of course), Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The White Stripes and several other more obscure bands, including ones from the '60s and '70s, are filling that void and making me feel sorta vindicated. Evidently the screeches and wails of Hendrix didn't live on so much in classic rock and mainstream metal, but found it's way into alternative.

#rock music #personal stuff #jimi hendrix #the beatles #revolution 9 #john lennon #yoko ono #sonic youth #alternative rock #noise rock #noise pop #nirvana #smashing pumpkins #the jesus and mary chain #the white stripes #jack white #Youtube

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tymime · 2 months

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#bell ringer #my music #mice #rats #mouse #rat #rodent #fantasy #music #folk music #medieval #books #audiobooks #Youtube

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tymime · 2 months

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I think the thing that makes Mickey Mouse going into the public domain so remarkable is that this is the first time this has happened to a creative work that's still in regular use by the thing that created it (in this case, the Disney studio).

Tons more such works will enter the public domain in the coming years and decades… It's kind of unprecedented.

#mickey mouse #steamboat willie #public domain #toon #cartoon #animation #disney

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tymime · 2 months

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When people talk about krautrock they often go on about the "motorik beat" and its importance to its hypnotic feel, despite being basically a rhythm-and-blues/soul beat... and in fact the earliest example of it I've found is in this Ohio Express song.

#krautrock #motorik #music #rock music #bubblegum pop #bubblegum #ohio express #the ohio express #1960s #psychedelic #1960s music #Youtube

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tymime · 2 months

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Boss and Bijou

#hamtaro #boss #bijou #hamster #anime #shipping #fanart #my art

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tymime · 3 months

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This plastic Mickey Mouse used to hang on my bedroom wall. It now lives in the garage.

#mickey mouse

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tymime · 4 months

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Reblogging this to say that my opinion on this whole thing has changed somewhat. Ever since Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain last year I've felt a kind of excitement about the prospect of being able to use the characters involved (mostly) freely. I've already joined a small team of artists who are working on projects starring said characters, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing other works entering the public domain in the coming years.

(In about ten years stuff from 1939 will go into public domain, including MGM's The Wizard of Oz and the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer book. If that's not exciting then I don't know what is.)

That said, I'm still not keen on Mickey getting into the hands of sickos who only want to use him to be shocking, simply because he's a famous family-friendly cartoon character. As I noted in an earlier post, there are already a couple Steamboat Willie horror movies in the works, and I'm sure they'll be just as tasteless as the Pooh one was. I'd much rather see what actual Mickey Mouse fans do with him- something that respects his legacy and potential.

Another reason I'm posting this is that some people online seem to think Disney should own Mickey for all eternity, and I don't like the idea of looking like those kinds of corporate shills. I prefer to take the middle ground on the topic.

The whole “Mickey Mouse should be public domain” thing drives me crazy.

Whose benefit would be to have that happen anyway? What actual artist out there is thinking to themselves “Gee, I have this awesome project I want to do with Mickey but I don’t work for Disney”? Can you imagine what would actually happen if Mickey went public domain? Thousands of greedy, hack artists, some of them total scumbags, would be making money off the character. YouTube for Kids cartoons, unfunny adult humorists, maybe even alt right groups. You never know, ‘cause we’ve already seen what those sort of people do with cartoon characters already (Minions and Pepe the Frog, anyone?). And nobody would be able to do anything about it. I think it’s greed and jealousy that motivates the people who think Mickey should be out of copyright. They’re not thinking about what’s best for the character or for the fans. Just an unsophisticated blanket statement about copyright laws in general.

It only seems fair to me that a media company who intends to continue using a character should be allowed to do so. What isn’t fair is when a media company owns the copyright to something but refuses to do anything with it and forces fans to seek it out illegally. They’re not making money with it, so why should they complain when a torrent website uploads it? (e.g. Nintendo shutting down rom sites with games that no longer sell commercially) If somebody was dead set on using a 1930s cartoon character in the public domain, there are literally hundreds they can choose from. Everything created by Van Bueren, Ub Iwerks, and Bray Studios- to name a few- is in the public domain. A huge selection of Fleischer Studios and Terry Toons are also public domain. Why don’t you just use Flip the Frog or Molly Moo-Cow instead?

#mickey mouse #disney #nintendo #copyright #public domain #cartoons #animation #toon #steamboat willie

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tymime · 4 months

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Now that Mickey Mouse is kind of in the public domain- you can only use the Steamboat Willie/Plane Crazy/Gallopin' Gaucho designs, and you have to make it obvious it isn't made by Disney, and meanwhile there's always going to be some newer version owned by Disney in perpetuity- part of this post has been made a bit irrelevant.

However, that shouldn't stop anyone from using these characters I mentioned, especially since you're able to use them without any restrictions whatsover (barring Felix, of course).

A tasteless t-shirt or poster sold by some knuckleheaded hack has yet to be seen so far, much less some bloody horror movie, but we'll see what happens. EDIT: yeah, there are horror movies now...

Instead of whining about Mickey Mouse not falling into the public domain (notice nobody gives a darn about Pegleg Pete or Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, despite being older characters), how about focusing on 1930s cartoon characters that ARE in the public domain? Any artist can use them and even monetize them, so go ahead and have at it!

-Waffles and Don Okay, so these two are really just animal versions of Van Beuren’s Tom and Jerry, but I don’t think anybody wants to get confused with the MGM characters, so these two are a better alternative.

-Cubby Bear Disney is rumored to have given Van Beuren a cease-and-desist because of this guy, but somehow I don’t think anybody’s going to confuse the two nowadays.

-Toby the Pup His cartoons are hard to find online, but I think his design has appeal.

-Flip the Frog Appropriate for all you fans of more raunchy humor. Personally I prefer this earlier design, when he was actually more frog-like.

-Felix the Cat Here’s the big one. He only went out of copyright very recently, but keep in mind that this only includes his cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s, so don’t go and try using any elements from his 1950s cartoons like his magic bag, or from The Twisted Tales of Felix, as amazing as that series is.

EDIT: It’s come to my attention that the character Felix himself is still trademarked by NBC Universal, so… maybe not use him after all. The rest of the characters are still fine, however.

#mickey mouse #steamboat willie #public domain #rubberhose #cartoons #toon #animation #van beuren #tom and jerry #waffles and don #cubby bear #toby the pup #flip the frog #felix the cat #ub iwerks #1930s #'30s #thirties

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