Today we begin the new year with our annual celebration of Public Domain Day, and some of the films that are entering public domain January 1st, 2025.
Mickey Mouse speaks for the first time in The Karnival Kid, hawking hot dogs and singing "Sweet Adeline" to his sweetie, Minnie Mouse.
Another Disney cartoon is The Skeleton Dance.
The Marx Brothers' first movie, The Cocoanuts enters public domain, and we discussed that one in this previous post.
Best Oscar film The Broadway Melody, and The Hollywood Review of 1929 gives us a song and a Charleston dance by Joan Crawford, as well as the first presentation of the song "Singin' in the Rain."
We have a few firsts and lasts among the 1929 films: Blackmail, director Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film; Hallelujah, the first film produced by a major studio with an all African-American cast; and Spite Marriage, Buster Keaton's last silent movie.
For more on the movies, books, music, and art of 1929 that now enters public domain, have a look at this Center for the Study of Public Domain, part of the Duke Law Center website.
Here's a look at past posts on movies entering public domain:
Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2024
Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2023
Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2022
Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2021
Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2020
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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism and Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.
My new non-fiction book, CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS - The Silent Generation's Vicarious Experience of World War II -- is now available in eBook here at Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and a wide variety of other online shops.
And it is here in eBook, paperback print, and hardcover, from Amazon.
From Cherry Ames, to Meet the Malones, from Dave Dawson to Kitty Carter - Canteen Girl, the Silent Generation spent their childhood immersed in geopolitical events through the prism of their middle grade and young adult books. From the home front to the battlefield, these books are a window on their world, and influenced their hard-working, conformity-loving generation.
