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Mel-O-Toons#Sparky's Magic Echo

{{Short description|Public domain animated series}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Mel-o-toons.png

| caption = Opening sequence

| genre =

| runtime = Around 5–7 minutes

| presenter =

| creator =

| developer =

| producer =

| executive_producer =

| company = {{Plainlist|

}}

| voices = {{Plainlist|

}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| network = Syndication

| first_aired = {{Start date|1959||}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1960|10|}}

| num_episodes = 104

| list_episodes =

}}

Mel-O-Toons (sometimes erroneously spelled Mello Toons) was a series of six-minute animated cartoons, using limited animation. The cartoons were produced starting in 1959 by New World Productions, and syndicated by United Artists.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWYsAAAAQBAJ&q=mel+o+toons+knights+of+old&pg=PA49|title=Arthurian Animation|access-date=16 February 2015|isbn=9781476606149|last1=Salda|first1=Michael N.|date=2013-07-30}}

Content

The stories featured various folk tales, Greco-Roman myths, Biblical stories, classic literary adaptations, and adaptations of classical music and ballet, as well as stories about animals written by Thornton Burgess.{{cite book |last1=Perlmutter |first1=David |title=The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1538103739 |page=385}}

The soundtracks were often taken from existing children's records, licensed from the original labels, including RCA Records and Capitol Records. 104 cartoons were produced.{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 |date=2005 |edition=2nd |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=978-1476665993 |page=539}}

Audience response

In October 1960, United Artists bought time on a station in Toledo, Ohio, to test the Mel-O-Toons for audience response; they showed two of the films, "Rumplestiltskin" and "Waltz of the Flowers". Variety reported that the viewer response was entirely positive, saying, "Many parents compared the Mel-O-Toons favorable to what they called the usual violence in kiddie programming."{{cite journal |title=UAA Mel-O-Toon Gets Toledo Test |journal=Variety |date=November 9, 1960 |page=24 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety220-1960-11/page/n87/mode/2up/search/%22mel-o-toons%22?q=%22mel-o-toons%22 |access-date=20 March 2020}}

A week later, UA bought a full-page ad in Variety, announcing: "We passed the test in Toledo!" The ad described the test: "Here's what happened: Two of these new cartoons were shown in a fifteen-minute on-the-air audition over WSPD-TV. Viewers were asked to send in their opinions, with no prizes or incentives of any kind. In less than a week, over 400 replies arrived. All except five individuals were wildly enthusiastic."{{cite journal |title=We passed the test in Toledo! |journal=Variety |date=November 16, 1960 |page=53 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety220-1960-11/page/n187/mode/2up/search/%22mel-o-toons%22?q=%22mel-o-toons%22 |access-date=20 March 2020}}

Partial episode list

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Public domain prints

After many years out of circulation, public domain prints have turned up on videotape and DVD.

In popular culture

Footage from the Christopher Columbus episode was used in Last Week Tonight's "How Is This Still a Thing" segment on Columbus Day, which aired on October 12, 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/|title = John Oliver Asks: How is Columbus Day Still a Thing?}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Category:1950s American animated television series

Category:1960s American animated television series

Category:1950s American anthology television series

Category:1960s American anthology television series

Category:1950s American children's television series

Category:1960s American children's television series

Category:1959 American animated television series debuts

Category:1960 American television series endings

Category:American children's animated anthology television series

Category:First-run syndicated animated television series

Category:Television series based on classical mythology

Category:Television series based on the Bible

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