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, 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.