Here's an interesting artifact from 1959. A 6-minute sales pitch by United Artists to television programmers, for a syndication package of 210 Vitaphone short subjects. Included in the package were the Vitaphone "Joe Palooka" films; if you look closely toward the end of the video, you can catch a brief glimpse of Shemp.
(History lesson... Warner Bros. sold its pre-1948 library of toons, shorts and features to AAP in 1956; the AAP library was acquired by United Artists in 1958; UA and MGM merged in 1981; Turner bought the Warner and MGM film libraries in 1986; Warner Bros. acquired Turner Entertainment in 1996. And since 1996, the Warner/Vitaphone films have been back at their originating home of Warner Bros.)
Jerry Beck posted the video at his
Cartoon Research blog site a couple days ago, along with images of a sales brochure that accompanied the sales film. A recommended read; click on the preceeding link.
Beck raises an interesting question... did any TV markets acquire this package, or did it go no further than an attempt? Jerry mentions they didn't air in NYC, and I have no recollection of them playing in the Philadelphia market. Anyone else know?
