Swing Symphony


Swing Symphony is a group of musical 14 cartoon shorts, created in 1941 till 1945, which often featured top boogie-woogie musicians. Directed by Walter Lantz the Swing Symphony cartoons are a more contemporary pastiche on Disney's Silly Symphonies. Some of those short include the characters Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda.

Background

When Ben Hardaway left Warner Bros. in 1939, he was hired by Walter Lantz to work on the storyboards for Universal Studios' cartoons, including Swing Symphony. He also supplied his voice talents for Woody Woodpecker in 1942 till 1948. Darrell Calker who was involved in jazz circles, composed the music and brought in famous musicians like Nat King Cole and Meade Lux Lewis to play them. A pianist Bob Zurke did a recording for the cartoon Jungle Jive before he died aged 32.
In 1943 Juke Box Jamboree was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film but lost to Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face. Few of Lantz's cartoons were highlighted for stereotyping and racism, but were said by Joe Adamson as not intended to be offensive.

Filmography