Public Domain
Croon Crazy
1933 · Van Beuren Studios · Dir. Steve Muffati
An Oil-can-Harry radio announcer presents Cubby Bear the Crooner as the star of his own radio program over station R-K-O and, while Cubby is crooning away, Slick also advises that Kitty Schmidt (Kate Smith), Cal Jolson (Al Jolson)and Sol Rightman (Paul Whiteman) will be Cubby's guest stars. Then a 100-year-old Western-Union 'boy' delivers a telegram informing that none of the guests will appear. So Cubby has to do the whole program by himself. Cubby comes through.
Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Croon Crazy is a 1933 animated short film from the Cubby the Bear series, produced by Van Beuren Studios and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first copyright term to maintain protection.
A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) for motion pictures shows that while Van Beuren cartoons were generally registered upon release (registration LP4328), the copyright for this specific title was never renewed. The 28-year renewal window for a 1933 production would have occurred in 1960 or 1961. No renewal record exists for this film. As a result of this failure to renew, the film entered the public domain in the United States at the end of its first 28-year term (approx. 1961).
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database (Motion Pictures)
- Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912-1939
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (Hurst/Baer)
- IMDb: Croon Crazy (1933)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.