Tuning In

The farmyard gang delivers a new radio to Farmer Al Falfa. Now the whole world can be brought into the farmer's living room. First, the farmer gets enough static to blow his hair off. But soon, the set is working well, and Al Falfa gets to hear music from around the world. He and the farm animals (and mice) all enjoy dancing to the music coming over the air. When he gets to a bullfight in Spain, he's so inspired that he goes out to battle his cow. The cow doesn't think much of the odds, and she gets the local bull as a stand-in. Poor Farmer Al Falfa never knew what hit him. Even his new radio turns on him.

Farmer Al Falfa, Cow, Bull, Mice, Farm Animals

A series of animated short subjects created by Paul Terry and actor-turned-writer Howard Estabrook. Estabrook suggested making a series of cartoons based on Aesop's Fables. Although Terry claimed he had never heard of Aesop, he felt that Estabrook's idea was something worthwhile. Terry immediately began to set up a new studio called Fables Studios and received backing from the Keith-Albee Theatre circuit.

The earliest films were loose adaptations of the actual fables. Later entries usually revolved around cats, mice, and the disgruntled Farmer Al Falfa. Each short concluded with a "moral" that usually had nothing to do with the actual cartoon itself.

In 1929, Terry quit to start his own TerryToons Studios and John Foster took over the series under Amadee J. Van Beuren's brand new Van Beuren Corporation, a renamed Fable Studios. The series finally came to a close in 1933.