1926-1927 | 1927-1928 | 1928-1929 | 1929-1930 | 1930-1931 | 1931-1932 | 1932-1933 | 1933-1934 | 1934-1935 | 1935-1936 | 1936-1937 | 1937-1938 | 1938-1939 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No short subjects released | 8 Adams-Christie Comedies (2rl) | 8 Chorus Girl Confessions-Christie Comedies (2rl) | 24 Christie Talking Plays (2rl) | 104 Paramount Acts (1rl) | 42 Paramount Acts (1rl) | 13 Hollywood on Parade (1rl) | 12 Betty Boop Cartoons (1rl) | 1 Comedy (2rl) | 12 Betty Boop Cartoons (1rl) | 12 Betty Boop Cartoons (1rl) | 12 Betty Boop Cartoons (1rl) | 12 Betty Boop Cartoons (1rl) |
12 Christie Comedies (2rl) | 9 Christie Comedies (2rl) | 32 Paramount Acts (1rl) | 26 Paramount Comedies (2rl) | 28 Paramount Comedies (2rl) | 36 Mack Sennett Comedies (2rl) | 6 Crosby-Gillstrom Musicals (2rl) | 12 Betty Boop Cartoons (1rl) | 6 Color Classic Cartoons (1rl) | 6 Color Classic Cartooons (1rl) | 6 Color Classic Cartoons (1rl) | 6 Color Classic Cartoons (1rl) | |
8 Dooley-Christie Comedies (2rl) | 8 Dooley-Christie Comedies (2rl) | 6 Paramount Comedies (2rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 12 Paramount Acts (1rl) | 13 Grantland Rice Sportlights (1rl) | 6 Color Classic Cartoons (1rl) | 13 Grantland Rice Sportlights (1rl) | 13 Grantland Rice Sportlights (1rl) | 13 Grantland Rice Sportlights (1rl) | 13 Grantland Rice Sportlights (1rl) | |
6 Horton Comedies (2rl) | 4 Great Stars and Authors (2rl) | 12 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 12 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 12 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 13 Hollywood on Parade (!rl) | 13 Grantland Rice Sportlights (1rl) | 19 Paramount Headliners (1rl) | 6 Musical Romances (1rl) | 15 Paramount Headliners (1rl) | 7 Paramount Color Cruises (1rl) | |
26 Inkwell Cartoons (1/2rl) | 2 Horton Comedies (2rl) | 104 Paramount Silent News (1rl) | 18 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 18 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 13 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 6 Langdon-Gillstrom Comedies (2rl) | 21 Paramount Headliners (1rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 18 Paramount Headliners (1rl) | 13 Paramount Paragraphics (1rl) | 15 Paramount Headliners (1rl) | |
26 Krazy Kat Cartoons (1/2rl) | 18 Inkwell Cartoons (1rl) | 52 Paramount Sound News (1rl) | 18 Paramount Talkartoons (1rl) | 18 Paramount Talkartoons (1rl) | 17 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 6 Lord-Ryan Comedies (2rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 13 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | |
104 Paramount News (1rl) | 21 Krazy Kat Cartoons (1rl) | 6 Paramount Talkartoons (1rl) | 12 Screen Souvenirs (1rl) | 20 Paramount Talkartoons (1rl) | 6 Pallette/Catlett-Ryan Comedies (2rl) | 13 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 6 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 20 Paramount Paragraphics (1rl) | 12 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 13 Paramount Paragraphics (1rl) | ||
10 Paramount-Mintz Novelties (2rl) | 8 MacDuff-Christie Comedies (2rl) | 13 Screen Souvenirs (1rl) | 13 Paramount Headliners (1rl) | 26 Paramount Varieties (1rl) | 20 Paramount Varieties (1rl) | 13 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 6 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 12 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | ||||
8 Vernon-Christie Comedies (2rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 14 Sports Eye Views (1rl) | 104 Paramount News (1rl) | 12 Popeye Cartoons (1rl) | 13 Popeye Cartoons (12x1rl, 1x2rl) | 6 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 13 Popeye Cartoons (12x1rl, 1x2rl) | 13 Popeye Cartoons (12x1rl, 1x3rl) | ||||
44 Paramount Sound Shorts (1x1/2rl, 24x1rl, 1x1 1/2rl, 18x2rl) | 13 Paramount Pictorials (1rl) | 3 Screen Souvenirs (1rl) | 6 Popular Science (1rl) | 13 Popeye Cartoons (12x1rl, 1x2rl) | 6 Popular Science (1rl) | 6 Popular Science (1rl) | ||||||
5 Song Cartoons (1rl) | 12 Paramount Screen Songs (1rl) | 6 Popular Science (1rl) | 6 Unusual Occupations (1rl) | 6 Unusual Occupations (1rl) | ||||||||
8 Vernon-Christie Comedies (2rl) | 12 Popeye Cartoons (1rl) | |||||||||||
13 Screen Souvenirs (1rl) |
Outside of Warners, few studios were more committed than Paramount to a “Broadway strategy” of featuring big-time vaudeville and theatrical stars in sound shorts. The studio’s initial in-house talking shorts were filmed at its facility in Astoria, whose proximity to Broadway made it an ideal location for filming presentation acts for the Paramount Acts series. A similar bid for metropolitan-style distinction was elsewhere evident on the Paramount slate in the output of the Christie Film Comedy, whose comedies Paramount had handled since 1928. Long associated with the more reputable “situation” style of screen comedy, Christie upped the ante for his first sound shorts, departing from the clown-oriented approach of his opening Paramount seasons (which had featured Billy Dooley, Jack Duffy, and others) to emphasize “short features adapted from stage-plays.” Christie’s bid for cultural distinction was further reflected in the series’ titling, which conspicuously – and pretentiously – avoided the word “Comedies” to promote the films as Christie Talking Plays.
In this, however, there was a foreshadowing of the broader fate of the comedy short at Paramount. The studio’s attitude to live-action comedy during the years of the Depression was an inconsistent one, as the studio’s economic difficulties seem to have discouraged long-term arrangements with independent producers. After one season of Christie Talking Plays, Paramount declined to renew its distribution deal with the Christie operation, opting instead to go it alone with its in-house Paramount Comedies, starring performers like Charlie Ruggles, erstwhile Keystoners like Ford Sterling and Al St. John, and the Jewish impersonators Smith and Dale. Two seasons later, a long-rumored deal with Mack Sennett finally came to pass, but again lasted only one season, after which Sennett’s company soon went bankrupt. In April 1935, Paramount became the first of the major studios to abandon two-reel production altogether.