Thanks a lot for sharing this. The two-reel comedies and cartoon shorts might be my favorite field of study for film history. It's interesting that short film production was actually up in 1935-1936, because I had always heard that it was slowing down because of double features, though they do mention the decline of the two-reel comedy. The situation would change quite a bit in just a few years. In 1938 Educational, Hal Roach and Vitaphone all quit making short comedies.
Surprisingly they article didn't really get into Columbia that much aside from a mention of the Three Stooges at the very end.