Best Short Film, 1948

Awards presented March 24, 1949

And the nominees were ...
(Cartoon)

• The Little Orphan, Fred Quimby, producer 
• Mickey and the Seal, Walt Disney, producer 
• Mouse Wreckers, Edward Selzer, producer 
• Robin Hoodlum, United Productions of America 
• Tea for Two Hundred, Walt Disney, producer 

(One-reel)

• Annie Was a Wonder, Herbert Moulton, producer 
• Cinderella Horse, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• So You Want to Be on the Radio, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• Symphony of a City, Edmund H. Reek, producer 
• You Can't Win, Pete Smith, producer 

(Two-reel)

• Calgary Stampede, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• Going to Blazes, Herbert Morgan, producer 
• Samba-Mania, Harry Grey, producer 
• Seal Island, Walt Disney, producer 
• Snow Capers, Thomas Mead, producer 

And the Oscar went to ...
(Cartoon)
The Little Orphan, Fred Quimby, producer.

Jerry plays host to an orphan on Thanksgiving day, which turns into a colossal food fight when Tom tries to prevent the mice from raiding the feast that has been set out. The usual mayhem from writer-directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.


(One-reel)
Symphony of a City, Edmund H. Reek, producer.

An image from Arne Sucksdorff's Symphony of a City

The city is Stockholm in this Swedish short, originally titled Människor i stad, which was written, directed and filmed by Arne Sucksdorff. It was the first of three short-film Oscars for Reek, producer of the version released in the United States; he had been nominated three times before.

(Two-reel)
Seal Island, Walt Disney, producer.

Disney's experience making training and propaganda films during World War II had spurred a new interest in live-action films. There was also a streak of the didactic in him, and he was flattered by the attention he received from educators. Animator Ben Sharpsteen introduced him to wildlife photographers Alfred and Elma Milotte, who spent a year documenting the lives of fur seals in the Pribilof Islands. The copious footage was edited down to twenty-seven minutes, with a narration by Winston Hibler and music by Oliver Wallace, then shown at a preview screening in Pasadena in December 1948. The audience was enthusiastic, and the weeklong run of the short qualified it for the Oscar that it won a few months later. Thus was born the Disney "True-Life Adventures" series -- a highly anthropomorphic treatment of animals that Disney thought of as educational but entertaining, while critics complained that the education was scanted in favor of the entertainment.

Best Short Films, 1947

Awards presented March 20, 1948

The nominees were ... 
(Cartoon) 

• Chip An' Dale, Walt Disney, producer 
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse, Frederick Quimby, producer 
• Pluto's Blue Note, Walt Disney, producer 
• Tubby the Tuba, George Pal, producer 
• Tweetie Pie, Edward Selzer, producer 

(One-Reel) 

• Brooklyn, U.S.A., Thomas Mead, producer
• Good-bye Miss Turlock, Herbert Moulton, producer  
• Moon Rockets, Jerry Fairbanks, producer 
• Now You See It, Pete Smith, producer 
• So You Want to Be in Pictures, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 

(Two-Reel) 

• Champagne for Two, Harry Grey, producer 
• Climbing the Matterhorn, Irving Allen, producer 
• Flight of the Wild Stallions, Thomas Mead, producer 
• Give Us the Earth, Herbert Morgan, producer 
• A Voice Is Born: The Story of Niklos Gafni, Ben Blake, producer 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon) 

Tweetie Pie, Edward Selzer, producer. 

Tweety meets "Thomas" (aka Sylvester) in Tweetie Pie

Edward Selzer

Tom and Jerry's long run as Oscar winners ended with the success of another Tom -- Sylvester the Cat is called "Thomas" in this cartoon, his third, and the first to pair him with Tweety. The mayhem is reminiscent of the Tom and Jerry series, however, with Sylvester enduring successive calamities as he tries to catch and eat Tweety. The director of the cartoon is Friz Freleng, but the Oscar went to Selzer, the notoriously humor-impaired producer of Warner Bros. cartoons. Tweety was originally meant to be a woodpecker, and when Freleng changed him to a canary, Selzer protested but backed down after Freleng threatened to quit. Selzer happily took home the Oscar after the cartoon not only won but also spawned a successful new series. 

Friz Freleng at the drawing board

(One-Reel) 

Good-bye Miss Turlock, Herbert Moulton, producer. 

Sentimental and clichéd  piece about the disappearance of the one-room schoolhouse and its teacher, written and narrated by John Nesbitt as part of his "Passing Parade" series. This was the second of two Oscars for Moulton's short films. 

(Two-Reel) 

Climbing the Matterhorn, Irving Allen, producer. 

Irving Allen

This documentary short, produced and directed by Allen, seems to be unavailable today. As for Allen, he was born in a part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire that's now Poland, and began his career as a film editor. In 1941 he directed the short film Forty Boys and a Song, which was nominated for an Oscar, and would be nominated again for the 1949 short Chase of Death. In 1951 he founded the British company Warwick Films in partnership with Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli. It was designed to take advantage of the attempts to stimulate the British economy under the Marshall Plan. Their partnership broke up in 1960 when Allen and Broccoli disagreed over the potential of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels: Broccoli thought they could be turned into a successful series, and Allen didn't. The rest, quite obviously, is history, with the footnote that in 1966 a somewhat chastened Allen decided to make his own series of sexy superspy movies, and signed Dean Martin to play Matt Helm in The Silencers and three more films.   

Best Short Films, 1946

Awards presented March 13, 1947

The nominees were ... 
(Cartoon) 

• The Cat Concerto, Frederick Quimby, producer 
• Chopin's Musical Moments, Walter Lantz, producer 
• John Henry and the Inky Poo, George Pal, producer 
• Squatter's Rights, Walt Disney, producer
• Walky Talky Hawky, Edward Selzer, producer  

(One-Reel) 

• Dive-Hi Champs, Jack Eaton, producer 
• Facing Your Danger, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• Golden Horses, Edmund Reek, producer 
• Smart as a Fox, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• Sure Cures, Pete Smith, producer

(Two-Reel) 

• A Boy and His Dog, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• College Queen, George B. Templeton, producer 
• Hiss and Yell, Jules White, producer 
• The Luckiest Guy in the World, Jerry Bresler, producer 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon) 

The Cat Concerto, Frederick Quimby, producer. 

For the fourth year in a row, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry slaughter the competition -- and each other. The steady violence of these cartoons has gone out of style, partly through the efforts of well-meaning censors but also because of the delicious satire of the "Itchy and Scratchy" parodies on The Simpsons, which shone a light on the essentially unfunny excess of the series. But The Cat Concerto is one of the best of the series: Tom is a concert pianist who awakens Jerry, asleep in the piano, during a performance of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. Jerry of course tries to sabotage the performance. Scott Bradley, the regular composer for the Tom and Jerry series, does a wonderful job of making hash of the rhapsody. 

 

(One-Reel) 
Facing Your Danger, Gordon Hollingshead, producer. 

Gordon Hollingshead

A team runs the Colorado River rapids through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead. A producer for shorts at Warner Bros., Hollingshead won two short-film Oscars this year, bringing his total to four. He would win a fifth. 

(Two-Reel) 
A Boy and His Dog, Gordon Hollingshead, producer.

A rather sugary tale of a boy who rescues an abused dog. When its owner demands that he return it, a magistrate, played by the venerable character actor Harry Davenport, sorts things out. Directed by LeRoy Prinz, who is best known as a choreographer.  

Best Short Film, 1945

Awards presented March 7, 1946

The nominees were ... 

(Cartoon) 

• Donald's Crime, Walt Disney, producer
• Jasper and the Beanstalk, George Pal, producer 
• Life With Feathers, Eddie Selzer, producer 
• Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life, Paul Terry, producer 
• The Poet and Peasant, Walter Lantz, producer 
• Quiet, Please! Frederick Quimby, producer 
• Rippling Romance, Screen Gems 

(One-reel) 

• Along the Rainbow Trail, Edmund Reek, producer 
• Screen Snapshots' 25th Anniversary, Ralph Staub, producer 
• Stairway to Light, Herbert Moulton, producer; Jerry Bresler, executive producer 
• Story of a Dog, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• White Rhapsody, Grantland Rice, producer 
• Your National Gallery, Joseph O'Brien and Thomas Mead, producers 

(Two-reel) 

• A Gun in His Hand, Chester Franklin, producer; Jerry Bresler, executive producer 
• The Jury Goes Round 'N' Round, Jules White, producer  
• The Little Witch, George Templeton, producer 
• Star in the Night, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon) 

Quiet, Please! Frederick Quimby, producer. 

The Academy's love of Tom and Jerry mayhem continues, this time with the addition of Spike, the bulldog, to the household. Spike wants to take a nap, but Jerry, sensing an opportunity to get Tom in trouble, devises ways to make noise and keep Spike awake. One of the few Tom and Jerry cartoons with voices: Spike's is Billy Bletcher, Tom's William Hanna. 

(One-reel) 

Stairway to Light, Herbert Moulton, producer; Jerry Bresler, executive producer.

Glossy and didactic account of the effort of late eighteenth-century French physician Philippe Pinel to bring about humane treatment of the mentally ill. One of MGM's "Passing Parade" shorts with narration by John Nesbitt.

(Two-reel) 

Star in the Night, Gordon Hollingshead, producer.

J. Carrol Naish plays a motel keeper with a Scrooge-like attitude toward Christmas until the star advertising his motel attracts a young couple named Jose and Maria Santos who are looking for shelter. Then three cowboys, who just happen to be carrying gifts, show up too. Get it? One of the first films directed by Don Siegel, who also directed the year's Oscar-winning documentary short Hitler Lives?

Best Short Film, 1944

Awards presented March 15, 1945
The nominees were ...
(Cartoon) 

• And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, George Pal, producer  
• Dog, Cat and Canary, Screen Gems 
• Fish Fry, Walter Lantz, producer 
• How to Play Football, Walt Disney, producer 
• Mouse Trouble, Frederick C. Quimby, producer 
• My Boy Johnny, Paul Terry, producer 
• Swooner Crooner, Warner Bros. 

(One-Reel) 

• Blue Grass Gentlemen, Edmund Reek, producer 
• Jammin' the Blues, Gordon Hollingshead, producer  
• Movie Pests, Pete Smith, producer 
• Screen Snapshots' 50th Anniversary of Motion Pictures, Ralph Staub, producer 
• Who's Who in Animal Land, Jerry Fairbanks, producer 

(Two-Reel) 

• Bombalera, Louis Harris, producer  
• I Won't Play, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 
• Main Street Today, Jerry Bresler, producer; Herbert Moulton, associate producer 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon) 

Mouse Trouble, Frederick C. Quimby, producer.

The usual Tom and Jerry mayhem, in which Tom gets a "How to Catch a Mouse" book and follows its instructions. They backfire (literally) of course.  

(One-Reel) 

Who's Who in Animal Land, Jerry Fairbanks, producer.

Another in Paramount's "Speaking of Animals" series, which proved extraordinarily popular with the Academy -- Speaking of Animals and Their Families won the 1942 Oscar. The only portion of it that seems to survive today is a version of "Cow Cow Boogie" sung by real cows. 

(Two-Reel) 

I Won't Play, Gordon Hollingshead, producer.

Dane Clark plays a marine on a South Sea island whose tall tales about his exploits among Hollywood celebrities earn him a reputation as a liar, until a real star (Janis Paige) appears on a tour and sets the record straight. This was the first of five Oscar wins for Hollingshead, who had previously won in the now-defunct assistant director category. 

Best Short Film, 1943

Awards presented March 2, 1944

The nominees were ... 

(Cartoon) 

• The Dizzy Acrobat, Walter Lantz, producer 
• The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, George Pal, producer 
• Greetings, Bait! Leon Schlesinger, producer 
• Imagination, Dave Fleischer, producer 
• Reason and Emotion, Walt Disney, producer 
• Yankee Doodle Mouse, Frederick Quimby, producer 

(One-Reel)

• Amphibious Fighters, Grantland Rice, producer 
• Cavalcade of Dance With Veloz and Yolanda, Gordon Hollingshead, producer
• Champions Carry On, Edmund Reek, producer 
• Hollywood in Uniform, Ralph Staub, producer 
• Seeing Hands, Pete Smith, producer 

(Two-Reel) 

• Heavenly Music, Jerry Bresler and Sam Coslow, producers 
• Letter to a Hero, Frederic Ullman Jr., producer 
• Mardi Gras, Walter MacEwen, producer 
• Women at War, Gordon Hollingshead, producer 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon)

Yankee Doodle Mouse, Frederick Quimby, producer.

Itchy and Scratchy ... uh, Tom and Jerry wage their usual war, but this time the mayhem is accompanied by patriotic tunes and the weapons are imitations of the real weapons being used in World War II, e.g., a cheese grater becomes a tank for Jerry, and eggs are labeled "hen-grenades." 

(One-Reel) 

Amphibious Fighters, Grantland Rice, producer.

Information about this short film is scarce. It seems to have been part of a series of shorts, some of them under the rubric "Sportslight," produced by Rice, a well-known sportswriter, starting in 1921 and lasting, off and on, through 1948. The title seems to refer to combat vehicles and personnel in World War II, but I can't say for sure.  

(Two-Reel) 

Heavenly Music, Jerry Bresler and Sam Coslow, producers.

A bandleader (Fred Brady) arrives in heaven and has to prove to Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Liszt, and the like that his music will stand the test of time. Sweetly vapid program-filler. The songs are by producer Coslow, whose songwriting credits also include "My Old Flame" and "Cocktails for Two," which are probably best-known in their Spike Jones parody versions. Bresler was an orchestra conductor and became nightclub producer in the 1950s for such performers as Robert Goulet, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, and Kate Smith. He also produced such feature films as The Vikings, Major Dundee, and the 1967 Casino Royale.  

Best Short Film, 1942

Awards presented March 4, 1943

The nominees were ... 
(Cartoon) 

• All Out for "V," 20th Century-Fox 
• Blitz Wolf, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Der Fuehrer's Face, Walt Disney, producer 
• Juke Box Jamboree, Walter Lantz, producer 
• Pigs in a Polka, Leon Schlesinger, producer 
• Tulips Shall Grow, George Pal, producer 

(One-Reel) 

• Desert Wonderland, 20th Century-Fox 
• Marines in the Making, Pete Smith, producer 
• Speaking of Animals and Their Families, Paramount 
• United States Marine Band, Warner Bros. 

(Two-Reel) 

• Beyond the Line of Duty, Warner Bros. 
• Don't Talk, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Private Smith of the U.S.A., RKO Radio 

And the Oscar went to ... 
(Cartoon) 
Der Fuehrer's Face, Walt Disney, producer.

Donald Duck has a nightmare in which he's a citizen of "Nutzi Land," forced to work in a munitions factory and to continually salute pictures of Adolf Hitler. The only Donald Duck cartoon to win an Oscar, it was withdrawn from circulation after World War II, and not released on video until 2004. 




(One-Reel) 
Speaking of Animals and Their Families, Paramount. 

The "Speaking of Animals" series was conceived by Warner Bros. animator Tex Avery as a series of comedy shorts combining live action and animation in which animals would appear to talk. Avery was unable to persuade Leon Schlesinger, the Warner Bros. cartoon producer, to develop the series, so he took it to Jerry Fairbanks, a producer of short subjects at Paramount. Avery worked on the first three before leaving Paramount for MGM. 

(Two-Reel) 
Beyond the Line of Duty, Warner Bros.

Ronald Reagan narrates the story of Hewitt T. Wheeless, a Texan who joined the Army Air Force in 1935 and led an attack on the Japanese a week after Pearl Harbor for which he received the Distinguished Service Cross. 

Best Short Film, 1941

Awards presented February 26, 1942

The nominees were ... 
(Cartoon) 

• Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B, Walter Lantz, producer
• Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, Leon Schlesinger, producer 
• How War Came, Columbia 
• Lend a Paw, Walt Disney, producer 
• The Night Before Christmas, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Rhapsody in Rivets, Leon Schlesinger, producer 
• Rhythm in the Ranks, George Pal, producer 
• The Rookie Bear, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Superman, Max Fleischer, producer 
• Truant Officer Donald, Walt Disney, producer 

(One-Reel) 

• Army Champions, Pete Smith, producer
• Beauty and the Beach, Paramount 
• Down on the Farm, Paramount 
• Forty Boys and a Song, Warner Bros. 
• Kings of the Turf, Warner Bros. 
• Of Pups and Puzzles, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Sagebrush and Silver, 20th Century-Fox 

(Two-Reel) 

• Alive in the Deep, Woodard Productions Inc. 
• Forbidden Passage, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• The Gay Parisian, Warner Bros. 
• Main Street on the March! Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• The Tanks Are Coming, United States Army 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon) 

Lend a Paw, Walt Disney, producer. 

Pluto wins an Oscar. He unwittingly rescues a kitten from drowning, but to his disgust it follows him home, where Mickey adopts it. The cartoon is dedicated to an animal welfare organization, and begins with the rather disturbing image of the kitten in a sack tied to a flatiron, a reminder that drowning unwanted kittens or puppies was once a common practice. 

(One-Reel) 

Of Pups and Puzzles, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Psychological testing by personnel offices was once a novelty. This short, directed by George Sidney, demonstrates how psychologists develop tests for screening job applicants, trying out new ideas on dogs and monkeys. In a rather unsettling sequence, the tester fires a gun while applicants are working on a math problem to see which one shows the most resilience from the unexpected disturbance. Try that one in your HR office today and see what happens. 

(Two-Reel) 

Main Street on the March! Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 

Conceived before Pearl Harbor as a documentary about how then-neutral Americans were responding to the possibility of going to war, it was rewritten and re-edited once the United States joined the conflict. 

Best Short Film, 1940

Awards presented February 27, 1941

The nominees were ... 
(Cartoon) 

• The Milky Way, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Puss Gets the Boot, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• A Wild Hare, Leon Schlesinger, producer 

(One-Reel) 

• London Can Take It, Warner Bros. 
• More About Nostradamus, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Quicker 'N a Wink, Pete Smith, producer 
• Siege, RKO Radio 

(Two-Reel) 

• Eyes of the Navy, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Service With the Colors, Warner Bros. 
• Teddy, the Rough Rider, Warner Bros. 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon) 

The Milky Way, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

For the first time since the short film category was established, there was no Walt Disney cartoon nominee. The winner is a rather cutesy Rudolf Ising cartoon in which the three little kittens who lost their mittens sail off to the Milky Way in search of the milk they've been denied as punishment. It's worth noting that it beat not only the first Bugs Bunny cartoon, A Wild Hare, but also the first cartoon to feature Tom and Jerry, Puss Gets the Boot. The Disney cartoon hegemony had ended.

(One-Reel) 

Quicker 'N a Wink, Pete Smith, producer. 

MIT professor Harold Edgerton demonstrates stroboscopic photography in this short directed by George Sidney, with the usual wise-ass narration and lame gags by Smith. The nominees London Can Take It and Siege (about the siege of Warsaw by the Nazis) demonstrate how close Hollywood was to going to war, but the Academy chose distraction over confrontation. 

(Two-Reel) 

Teddy, the Rough Rider, Warner Bros. 

Sidney Blackmer plays Theodore Roosevelt in this Technicolor short directed by Ray Enright and photographed by Ray Rennahan. Although the winner is the most removed historically from the coming conflict, all of the two-reel nominees reflect the imminence of World War II. 

Best Short Films, 1939

Awards presented February 29, 1940

And the nominees were ...
(Cartoon)

• Detouring America, Warner Bros.
• Peace on Earth, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  
• The Pointer, Walt Disney, producer 
• The Ugly Duckling, Walt Disney, producer 

(One-Reel) 

• Busy Little Bears, Paramount 
• Information Please, RKO Radio 
• Prophet Without Honor, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Sword Fishing, Warner Bros. 

(Two-Reel) 

• Drunk Driving, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Five Times Five, RKO Radio 
• Sons of Liberty, Warner Bros. 

And the Oscar went to ... 

The Ugly Duckling, Walt Disney, producer. 

The Disney version of the Hans Christian Andersen tale of the cygnet scorned by his fellow "ducklings" until he's revealed to be a swan. 

(One-Reel)
Busy Little Bears, Paramount.

Three bear cubs explore the Sierra Nevada forest and come upon a house, which they proceed to trash. A live-action film, somewhat anthropomorphized, with narration by Joe Laurie Jr.

(Two-Reel)
Sons of Liberty, Warner Bros.

Claude Rains in Sons of Liberty

One of Warners' series of patriotic shorts, for which Harry Warner had been given an honorary award a year earlier. This one was given a somewhat bigger budget and better cast than the earlier ones: Directed by Michael Curtiz, it stars Claude Rains as Haym Salomon, who helped fund the American Revolution. Gale Sondergaard plays his wife, Rachel. The cinematography is by Sol Polito and Ray Rennahan.

Best Short Film, 1938

Awards presented February 23, 1939

The "Color" category was eliminated as unnecessary since so many short films were being made in color.

The nominees were ... 
(Cartoon) 

• Brave Little Tailor, Walt Disney, producer
• Ferdinand the Bull, Walt Disney, producer 
• Good Scouts, Walt Disney, producer 
• Hunky and Spunky, Paramount 
• Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, Walt Disney, producer 

(One-Reel)  

• The Great Heart, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• That Mothers Might Live, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• Timber Toppers, 20th Century-Fox

(Two-Reel) 

• Declaration of Independence, Warner Bros. 
• Swingtime in the Movies, Warner Bros. 
• They're Always Caught, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Cartoon) 

Ferdinand the Bull, Walt Disney, producer.

An adaptation of a story by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, with narration by Don Wilson. 

(One-Reel) 

That Mothers Might Live, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The story of Ignaz Semmelweis, the nineteenth-century Hungarian physician who stressed cleanliness in the delivery room as a way to reduce puerperal fever, which frequently killed women who had just given birth. Directed by Fred Zinnemann, with Shepperd Strudwick as Semmelweis. 

(Two-Reel) 

Declaration of Independence, Warner Bros. 

A dramatization of the signing of the Declaration, with John Litel as Thomas Jefferson and Ted Osborne as Caesar Rodney, who cast the deciding vote in favor of revolution. 

  

Best Short Films, 1937

Awards presented March 10, 1938

The nominees were ... 
(Cartoon) 

• Educated Fish, Paramount 
• The Little Match Girl, Charles Mintz, producer 
• The Old Mill, Walt Disney, producer 

(Color) 

• The Man Without a Country, Warner Bros. 
• Penny Wisdom, Pete Smith, producer 
• Popular Science J-7-1, Paramount 

(One-reel) 

• A Night at the Movies, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
• The Private Life of the Gannets, Skibo Productions 
• Romance of Radium, Pete Smith, producer 

(Two-reel) 

• Deep South, RKO Radio 
• Should Wives Work? RKO Radio 
• Torture Money, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 

And the Oscar went to ... 
(Cartoon) 
The Old Mill, Walt Disney, producer. 
One of the most celebrated of the Disney Silly Symphonies, The Old Mill was in part a test of the Disney Studios' multiplane camera, which was designed to move layers of images at differing speeds to provide a three-dimensional effect. Directed by Wilfred Jackson, with a score by Leigh Harline. 



(Color) 
Penny Wisdom, Pete Smith, producer. 

Produced and narrated by Smith, this tale of the kitchen mishaps of a housewife called on at the last minute to cook dinner for her husband's boss features Hearst newspaper columnist "Prudence Penny" (real name: Leona Malek), who saves the day. Directed by David Miller, who would eventually graduate to such feature films as Sudden Fear and Lonely Are the Brave.  

(One-reel) 
The Private Life of the Gannets, Skibo Productions.
Originally produced in Great Britain in 1934 and directed by biologist Julian Huxley, this documentary short received an award at the Venice International Film Festival in 1935 and was picked up by 20th Century-Fox for American distribution.




(Two-reel) 
Torture Money, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 
An entry in the MGM "Crime Does Not Pay" series dealing with insurance fraud. The cast is made up of many familiar character actors, including King Baggot, Raymond Hatton, and Jason Robards -- the father of the Oscar winner.