Screen Gems, Inc. was an American animation studio and former film distributor, serving as the in-house animation division of Columbia Pictures during the golden age of American animation. Founded by Margaret J. Winkler and led during most of its existence by her husband Charles Mintz, it was best known for producing and distributing Walt Disney's works, namely the Alice Comedies and Universal Pictures' Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series, in addition to numerous series for Columbia Pictures such as the Krazy Kat, Scrappy, Phantasies and Columbia Fables series.

Alumni of Screen Gems would later found and work for Walt Disney Productions, Walter Lantz Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, all of which surpassed Screen Gems in popularity.

When producer Pat Sullivan came to Harry Warner to sign a contract with him on Otto Messmer and his series Felix the Cat; he declined and instead told his soon-to-be former secretary Margaret J. Winkler that she should form her own company and take control of the distribution of the series. Winkler formed M.J. Winkler Productions, funding the Felix the Cat series and soon also took control of Max and Dave Fleischer's series Out of the Inkwell. By 1923, Winkler cut ties with the Fleischer brothers. Winkler saw an unreleased short called Alice's Wonderland, a cartoon produced and directed by Walt Disney at Laugh-O-Gram Studio, and was impressed with the short. The two agreed to make a series about the cartoon. In 1924, Charles Mintz married Winkler, and the latter's career began to decline. Mintz quickly assumed Winkler's role in the company, later rebranding it Winkler Pictures. In 1925, Winkler's renewal contract for the Felix shorts was written, yet Winkler declined to renew due to her dispute with Sullivan. To take the place of the Felix shorts, Mintz struck a deal for a series of Krazy Kat shorts with animator Bill Nolan.

M.J. Winkler Productions became known as Winkler Pictures after Mintz took over in 1926, shutting down their distribution services and switching to production; Mintz had FBO distribute the Krazy Kat and Alice Comedies for the 1926-1927 season. The Alice Comedies concluded in 1927 and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was created in its place^[1]. Mintz would drop FBO for the 1927-1928 season, having Universal distribute the Oswald shorts, while Paramount distributed the Krazy Kat cartoons. Bill Nolan’s studio was replaced by Ben Harrison’s and Manny Gould’s in the move to Paramount. In February 1928, when Oswald cartoons proved more successful than expected, Disney sought to meet with Mintz over the budget, wanting to spend more on the cartoons. Mintz refused and hired away all of Disney's animators except Iwerks, Les Clark, and Johnny Cannon, who all refused to leave Disney, accompanying him to create Mickey Mouse. He moved the production of the Oswald cartoons to Winkler Productions, along with his brother-in-law, George. A dispute started by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising led to Carl Laemmle firing Mintz in favor of Winkler employees Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan.

Mintz partnered with Columbia Pictures for distribution of the Krazy Kat cartoons in 1929, ironically sharing distributors with Walt Disney Productions. In 1931, when the studio moved from New York to California, it was renamed Charles Mintz Productions.^[2]

After losing Oswald to the Universal Cartoon Studio in 1929, Mintz would hire animators Dick Huemer and Sid Marcus from the Fleischer Brothers, and teamed them up with animator Art Davis, who had been animating on the Krazy Kat cartoons. The result was a series of 12 Toby the Pup cartoons for the 1930-1931 season distributed by RKO Pictures.^[3] The series would be cancelled and replaced by a series of cartoons featuring Scrappy beginning in 1931 and distributed by Columbia.

Charles Mintz Productions was renamed Screen Gems, Inc. in 1933, although the name had been used in copyrights as early as 1931^[4]. The name was originally used in 1933, when Columbia Pictures acquired a stake in Charles Mintz's animation studio.^[5] The name was derived from an early Columbia Pictures slogan, "Gems of the Screen", itself a takeoff on the song "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean".^[6] Mintz was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Short Subject. His first nomination was in 1934 for Holiday Land, and he was nominated again in 1937 for The Little Match Girl. For about a decade, Charles Mintz produced Krazy Kat, Scrappy, and the Color Rhapsody animated short series for Columbia Pictures. Also between 1936 to 1940, several Color Rhapsody films were subcontracted to former contractor Ub Iwerks and produced by his animation studio.

The studio's color cartoons were well received, while some other cartoons were not, mainly the later Krazy Kat and Scrappy shorts. Animator Isidore Klein was particularly frustrated with the Krazy Kat cartoons, as they bore little resemblance to Herriman's comic strip by the mid-1930s (despite attempting to make a more faithful cartoon with the 1936 short Lil' Ainjil, with which Klein was disappointed by the final product).^[7] Furthermore, Columbia gave Mintz strict financial obligations where they advanced a certain amount of money, resulting in Mintz repeatedly running over budget.^[8] In 1939, after becoming indebted to Columbia and suffering from declining health, Mintz relinquished ownership of his studio and the Screen Gems name to Columbia to settle longstanding financial problems.^[9] He would later pass away on December 30, 1939, from a heart attack. Both Krazy Kat and Scrappy’s series ended that year and were replaced by the Phantasy and Fable cartoons in which they were both featured.

By 1940, Columbia oversaw management of the studio following ownership. Director Ben Harrison was let go while the studio's production manager, Jimmy Bronis, became the general manager, but was shortly replaced by Mintz's brother-in-law, George Winkler. In March 1941, Columbia hired Frank Tashlin, previously a writer for Walt Disney Productions and director for Leon Schlesinger Productions, as the studio's producer.^[10][11] Tashlin had a profound effect to the studio, as he planned to revitalize it as a serious rival to other West Coast studios. He hired a large number of displaced animators from the 1941 Disney animators' strike, which included artists such as Phil Duncan, Grant Simmons, Louie Schmitt, Volus Jones, William Shull, Howard Swift, John Hubley, Zack Schwartz, Chic Otterstrom and Basil Davidovich, and returning animators such as Emery Hawkins and Ray Patterson. He also directed the short The Fox and the Grapes. Based on the Aesop fable of the same name; the short inadvertently spawned Columbia's most successful characters with The Fox and the Crow, a comic duo of a refined Fox and a streetwise Crow.

Later in October, Columbia reorganized the studio by dismissing the rest of its Mintz-era staff (including Arthur Davis, Manny Gould, Lou Lilly, Sid Marcus, Allen Rose and George Winkler).^[12] Ben Schwalb replaced Winkler as general manager and later Tashlin as producer in April 1942.^[13] Tashlin would delegated directorial duties to Bob Wickersham and Alec Geiss,^[12][14] the latter of which was described for having memorable scene acting according to Hawkins.^[13] He continued to act as a creative supervisor for their cartoons.

Tashlin's stay at Screen Gems, despite being an influential figure, would be short-lived as he left in June following an argument with Columbia higher-ups.^[13][15] When interviewed by Michael Barrier, he said that the management "can't stay happy long when things are going well, so we ended up in another fracas and I left."^[10] He soon returned to Leon Schlesinger Productions, joining several ex-Columbia artists who successfully made the transition. Meanwhile, Schwalb was replaced by Dave Fleischer, previously the co-founder and head supervisor of Fleischer Studios. Fleischer had already been hired as an executive producer in April of that year, with him producing the 1942 WWII short Song of Victory under Tashlin's supervision. By the end of the year, though, he took full control of studio amid Tashlin's absence. To further increase cartoon production, Hubley and animator Paul Sommer were teamed up as co-directors, though Hubley later left when he enlisted in the United States Army, leaving Sommer to direct solo.^[16]

Hubley described Fleischer as being very detached from his employees, and called him "one of the world's intellectual lightweights". Howard Swift also recalled how Fleischer fancied himself as a good editor by editing completed cartoons in a way that broke continuity.^[17] Fleischer's hands-off involvement gave the staff having more creative freedom, albeit without a clear direction to where the studio should go. He was fired in late-1943 and was succeeded by a revolving door of producers.^[11] Initially, Fleischer was replaced by studio musician Paul Worth, who was then replaced by Three Stooges producer Hugh McCollum after Worth was convicted of forgery,^[18] and then by ex-Schlesinger assistants Ray Katz and Henry Binder. Geiss was also fired following a series of poorly received cartoons, with his role as director given to Swift. The studio also created several more recurring characters during this time period, including Tito and His Burrito, Flippy and Flop, Igor Puzzlewitz, Willoughby Wren, Professor Small and Mr. Tall, and an adaptation of Al Capp's comic series Li'l Abner, with varying levels of success.

Tashlin's departure had an immediate effect to the studio's direction, with animation historians noting that the quality of their cartoons had declined soon after. Film historian Leonard Maltin claimed that after Tashlin left, the studio "tried to maintain some spirit on-screen, with varying results. Screen Gems cartoons of the 1940's feature some of the least-endearing cartoon characters ever created and suffer from misguided story direction."^[19] Hubley later told Barrier that he disliked his work at the studio, and alluded that Columbia did not like the cartoons they were making.^[17] Capp was also reportedly displeased with the quality of the Li'l Abner cartoons, which were discontinued after five cartoons.^[20] Beginning in 1945, all mentions of Columbia were removed in any future cartoons released.

In addition to Tashlin's departure, several of the more daring ex-Disney animators that were hired also left for other studios, including Duncan, Davidovich, Schwartz, Hawkins, and Patterson. Columbia was unable to find any more experienced artists who were willing to stay for the long term, but the studio did manage to gain some leverage. Bob Clampett was brought in as a gag writer before setting up his own brief animation studio for Republic Pictures, while Warner writers Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce were said to have moonlighted for a few cartoons.^[21][22] Sid Marcus also returned as a storyman in 1943, before being promoted to director in 1945 after Bob Wickersham’s departure. Alex Lovy would succeed director Howard Swift. Walter Lantz composer Darrell Calker was also brought in to score music when Eddie Kilfeather retired after suffering a stroke in 1946.^[23]

Screen Gems, in an attempt to keep costs low, was the last American animation studio to stop producing black-and-white cartoons. The final black-and-white Phantasy shorts appeared in 1946, over three years after the second-longest holdouts (Famous Studios and Leon Schlesinger Productions), with the subsequent shorts being produced in Cinecolor. Columbia, still dissatisfied with the studio's output, decided to shut its doors for good in November, while continuing to release a backlog of shorts until 1949.^[24] The studio name was later reused for a television division, while the former Seward Street facility, which Screen Gems occupied since 1940, was briefly taken over by Walter Lantz Productions in 1947.^[25]

Following the studio's closure, most of the remaining animators moved to other studios; Grant Simmons would become an animator for Tex Avery at MGM Cartoons alongside ex-Columbia animators Louie Schmitt and William Shull, Paul Sommer would move to the East Cost as an animator for Terrytoons, and Sid Marcus would move to Warner Bros. Cartoons as a writer for fellow alumnus Arthur Davis and later Robert McKimson.

Columbia agreed to distribute new cartoons from United Productions of America.^[26] Founded in 1941 during the wake of the Disney animators' strike, UPA deviated from the typical realistic animation seen from other studios. It presented a newer, limitedly animated art style while also relying on uniquely told stories over slapstick and gags. Hubley and Schwartz had previously experimented with this style in their Screen Gems cartoons and were involved with the studio's early development. UPA's shorts, which included Gerald McBoing-Boing and the Mr. Magoo series, were major critical and commercial successes, leaving a profound influence on the animation industry by the 1950s. Following UPA, a deal with Hanna-Barbera was made in 1957, which lasted until 1967.

The Screen Gems cartoons were regarded as ones of varying quality, comparable to those produced by Famous Studios and Terrytoons. The studio - especially in its later period - was noted for their mismanagement of talent and attempts at aping the success of other animation studios. The shorts produced by Katz and Binder in particular were criticized for being "pale carbons of the Warner Brothers shorts," to the point of creating characters strikingly similar in appearance to Sylvester the Cat and Daffy Duck.^[27] In spite of the studio's affairs, the Screen Gems' cartoons were still moderately successful, with three more cartoons achieving Academy Awards nominations.

Screen Gems never achieved a level of success comparable to its rivals, but also served as a stepping stone for key figures of the industry who would later work for Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros. Cartoons, Walter Lantz Productions or the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon Studio. This includes founders/producers like Walt Disney, Walter Lantz, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, as well as animators such as Arthur Davis, Ray Patterson, Don Patterson, Manny Gould and Emery Hawkins.

In 1999, Columbia TriStar International Television produced Totally Tooned In - a syndicated TV package showcasing Columbia's classic cartoon library. With the aid of animation historian Jerry Beck, Columbia restored and remastered the majority of the color Screen Gems cartoons (as well as all the UPA cartoons) from their original 35mm elements. The show aired in several international markets before making its American television debut on Antenna TV on January 8, 2011. They would later be aired on Toon In With Me on the MeTV Network in November 2021.^[28] Despite these restoration efforts, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has no current plans to release these shorts on DVD or Blu-ray. Since CPE Holdings, Inc. became dormant on May 9, 2024, Sony Pictures Releasing now owns the theatrical distribution on behalf of Columbia Pictures, while Sony Pictures Television owns the television distribution on behalf of CPT Holdings, Inc. to the majority of the color Screen Gems cartoons (as well as all the UPA cartoons) library.

All series were distributed by Columbia unless otherwise noted.^[29]

• Alice Comedies (1924–27) - previously distributed independently by Winkler (1924-1926), then by FBO (1926-1927)
• Krazy Kat (1925–39) - previously distributed independently by Winkler (1925-1926), then by FBO (1926-1927) and Paramount Pictures (1927-1929)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–29) - distributed by Universal Pictures
• Toby the Pup (1930–31) - distributed by RKO Pictures
• Scrappy (1931–39)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–49)
• Barney Google (1935–36)
• Fables (1939–42)
• Phantasies (1939–48)
• The Fox and the Crow (1943-1946)
• Li'l Abner (1944)
• Flippy (1946–47)

• Charles Mintz (1929-1939)
• Jimmy Bronis (1940)
• George Winkler (1940-1941)
• Frank Tashlin (1941-1942)
• Ben Shwalb (1941-1942)
• Dave Fleischer (1942-1943)
• Paul Worth (1943-1945)
• Hugh McCollum (1945)
• Ray Katz (1945-1946)
• Henry Binder (1945-1946)

• Al Boggs
• Ed Starr
• Clark Watson (Color)

• Zack Shwartz
• Clark Watson
• Bill Weaver
• John Hubley
• Jim Carmichael

• Joe De Nat (1929-1941)
• Eddie Kilfeather (1937-1945)
• Paul Worth (1941-1945)
• Maurice de Packh (1943)
• Darrell Calker (1945-1946)

• The Columbia Crow's Nest – site dedicated to the Screen Gems animation studio.