On Halloween a few years back, I posted an early Disney Cartoon with the title The Skeleton Dance (see below). This 1937 short, although not in Disney’s Silly Symphonies canon (it was released as part of Columbia Studios A Color Rhapsody series of cartoons instead), appears to be very close to a remake in colour, with a number of sequences which are almost identical to the earlier cartoon.

Aside from the fact that remakes and reworkings have been central to Hollywood’s output since its very early days (and still are), there’s probably a very good reason for the similarity between the two cartoons – namely a close connection to Walt Disney.

This connection’s name was Ub Iwerks, and he was behind both sets of skeletons. An early business associate and great friend of Disney’s, he worked on a number of the Silly Symphonies shorts and was at least partially responsible for the original design of Mickey Mouse.

The later version of this animated danse macabre is a lot more technically assured than its predecessor, which comes as no surprise since there is almost a decade between the two. However, both cartoons are still great fun – and who cares when there are dancing skeletons to laugh at!?

For more spooky Halloween reading (and watching), click here…