Different Studios---Same Idea--Same Year

Famous Studios (formally Fleischer studios before being taken over by Paramount) was based in New York  in 1951. The Fleischers had moved their studio to Miami, but after things went bust for the brothers, Paramount had moved operations back to New York by 1943.

Terrytoons, in the meantime, was founded by Paul Terry in 1929 and stuck around New York until they closed up shop in 1972. Terrytoons were released by 20th Century Fox.

So the only thing they had in common was having studios in the same state. I don't think they were close enough for their to be a common restaurant or bar where they would have hung out with each other after work. I initially wondered about that, because in 1951, both studios independently produced cartoons featuring the same general idea. Famous' Little Audrey and Terrytoons' Heckle and Jeckle both made unwise wishes on a rainy day, causing severe draught and causing them to have to take action to resolve the problem.

The characters also had respectable comic book careers beyond their cartoon origins.

Little Audrey's "Audrey the Rainmaker" begins with the precocious girl stuck inside on a rainy day. Bored and annoyed, she makes a heartfelt wish that it would never rain again. When this wish actually comes true, Audrey is tasked by a sentient drop of water to make amends. This requires her to make a trip up a rainbow and visit the Rainmaker.




Written by Isadore Klein and directed by Izzy Sparber, "Audrey the Rainmaker" is a wonderful cartoon, full of imaginative images and giving us an effective "be careful what you wish for" moral.

Terrrytoons' "The Rainmakers," written by Tom Morrison and directed by Connie Rasinski, starts with a near-identical premise. Heckle and Jeckle, fed up with their picnic being ruined by a rain storm, also wish that it would never rain again. This also leads to a drought, repleat with some downright frightening surreal images of the consequences of this. The cartoon goes off in its own direction at this point, with the two magpies taking flight in a plane to capture a rain cloud. Unfortunately for them, the cloud they try to capture is a "little girl" whose much larger dad is less than pleased with her captors. Like the Famous Studios' cartoon, it is full of imaginative and surreal images that make it a joy to watch.





As I said, both cartoons were released in 1951. So that's what made me think perhaps there was a common watering hole for New York animators and perhaps this general idea was discussed by guys working for the different studios, with each studio then taking the premise in different directions. But, as I said, I don't think the studioes were that close to each other.

Then again, Heckle and Jeckle's cartoon was released in May, while Little Audrey's cartoon wasn't released until October, so maybe someone at Famous Studios saw the H & J effort and lifted the basic idea. I have no idea what the production times were for either studio, so I don't know if that's possible.


Or maybe it was merely a coincidence--probably the most likely explanation. In any case, the end result was a pair of cartoons that literally drip with imagination and creativity.