The Sunshine Makers (1935) User Reviews

Positive Vs. Negative Fantasy Story

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 23 July 2007]

I agree with the other reviewer here that this primitive-looking 70-year-old cartoon is more than what first meets the eye. I'm not saying it's any award- winner but it was intriguing.

It would be easy to dismiss at first because of the unimpressive graphics and fairly poor quality print. It's probably very difficult to get a good print of this but I'm sure it would enhance the story.

That story is a simple one of Hobbit-like creatures who seem to worship the sun and they bottle it in the form of milk, which they deliver around town. The scenes in them are in reddish-orange and white. The "bad guys" are in the woods nearby and they sing "We're only happy when we're sad." Their scenes are all in blue-and-white. Like Dracula figures, if sunlight hits them, it's not good for them. (Actually, it is because it changes them into laughing, happy people.)

They try to sabotage of positive-thinking, cheery people. The second half of the story is the war between the two groups. One is flinging milk bottle and the other a poisonous gas.

This is a fantasy story, pure-and-simple, not a comedy. It's not going to provoke many laughs, if any, but it different enough to be an interesting seven-and-a-half minutes. It also has an excellent message. Some people may say, act or think "I don't want to be happy," but deep inside nobody wants that. I believe that was the message here in this battle between "positive" and "negative" people.

The cartoon was "brought to you" by the Borden Milk Company. Hmmm, that explains why milk was the "good" product.

Psychedelic, Man!

[HippieRockChick · 7/10 · 11 October 2007]

I remember seeing this cartoon on TV (Channel 13, an early 50's incarnation of PBS) here in NYC. I was four or five years old, and I thought it was totally cool.

That channel also deserves the glory of running the Farmer Gray cartoons, my first exposure to classical music)---I heard a song that stayed in my head for twenty years, until I finally heard someone playing it and found out its name (the old English country dance tune known as "Sellenger's Round" or "The Beginning of the World").

Anyway, I saw "The Sunshine Makers" there, and then promptly forgot about it until I saw it on the light show screen at the Fillmore East, many years and some illicit substances later.

Stoned, we loved it...I still do. SO extremely weird. There were other cartoons the Fillmore East ran, including one with Tommy Popski that was all about immigrants and their "funny" names. Hey, social conscience! Rocks.

Psychedelic Positivity Way Ahead of its Time

[elicopperman · 7/10 · 14 January 2022]

Ted Eshbaugh is one of the more obscure talents in animation history, at least going back to the early 1930s. Haven gotten his start at the Van Beuren Studio, he eventually formed his own facility making both independent pilots and ads commissioned by commercial companies. Although largely forgotten in the grand scheme of things, his work is still chronicled well in the animation circle for its innovative color techniques and surreal concepts. One of his more cherished works amongst the New York animation historical crowd is The Sunshine Makers, originally made for Burt Gillett's Rainbow Parade series at Van Beuren.

The main premise is the conflict between these happy go lucky red dressed gnomes and a group of blue men, both literally and metaphorically. The jolly gnomes embrace the bright sun all their lives and wish to spread it across anybody whilst the gloomy blue men always feel miserable and wish to be ridden of all joy and sunshine. As basic of a concept as that is, the most memorable aspect of the short itself is its somewhat frightening message. Being made during the Great Depression, the moral of allowing happiness to come from within is lost in translation as being something forced onto you. While that might not fly well today, the almost psychedelic nature of sunshine being converted into liquid allows for a fascinating insight in how both parties operate. Perhaps one could even analyze the different groups as commentaries on the opposing political parties of today: the diluted Republicans vs the unhappy Democrats. Since the film was reiussed by the food manufacturing company Bordens later on, one could joke that Borden's milk makes you as gay as these sunshine makers.

Going into Eshbaugh's niche for luscious spectacle, the art direction works well in contrasting the two groups. Where the sunshine gnomes have bright saturated reds and yellows all around them, the unhappy blue men are in a literal state of gray in grimey swamps and murky forests. As a short made using 2-strip Technicolor, the artists behind the short made very clever usage of representing the world in two separate habitats. The character designs and animation do scream fake Disney while still having their own unique distinction, especially when all the gnomes and gloomy men are just duplicates of one specific model. In addition, Winston Sharples' musical score knows when to flip flop from upbeat and catchy to depressing and sinister, typically reflected by the actions and scenarios that the gnomes and blue men inflict on one another. Although none of the songs are sung for long due to time restraints, they are all in lieu of exposition, allowing the world to establish the characters instead of the other way around for a change.

It's a shame that Ted Eshbaugh isn't as well known today outside of certain animation enthusiasts, since his unique imagination lent to some very peculiar oddities that could be suited well for nowadays. Although not as profound as it could have been in tackling the real message of positivity vs negativity, The Sunshine Makers is a thoroughly enjoyable short filled with enough bright spirits and surreal oddities to warrant further curiosity. If you're yet to see any of Eshbaugh's work, this is a good place to start. Allowing sunshine to enter our hearts is still something we need in today's world of paranoia and anger.

A pacifist dream?

[mikeg994 · 8 September 2007]

In my humble opinion the old animated cartoons from the 1930's were some of the best that were ever made, and were more strange, imaginative, and charming than much of what followed.

This has got to be one of the weirdest cartoons I have ever seen. Would that it were as simple as that to bring someone out of their depressive state. What is in that milk? Zoloft? The Sunshine makers were much happier and had far better weaponry, which did not kill but made the enemy happy even as it caused their tissues to become transparent and even glow.

One wonders what influence the historical context may have had on this film. A pacifist dream? The onset of the "Great Depression" was certainly depressing. People were probably wondering aloud "If only there were more confidence, monetary and emotional." Perhaps the swamp men were investors? Or maybe the swamp men did not get enough calcium in their diet? And internationally the situation was bad too, with bad, depressing regimes in Germany and Russia, who were probably stockpiling poison gas.

It is a shame you couldn't just bomb the currently worrisome miscreants in the Middle East with happy milk. Nobody would have to die, very little would be destroyed, and everyone would feel better after it was over. Now go pick up all that broken glass before someone cuts themselves.

It's all just a giant annoying advertisement.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 16 December 2012]

"The Sunshine Makers" was sponsored by Borden and it's the sort of film that just screams out 'THIS IS JUST A GIANT ADVERTISEMENT' to the audience. I noticed one reviewer loved it--I just thought it was a blatant attempt by Borden to brain-wash audiences.

The film consists of happy gnomes (which I think are supposed to represent Borden) and nasty creatures in black who LIKE gloom and depression. However, the happy gnomes squirt milk (huh?!) on the gloomy guys and it makes their black clothes spread sunshine!! Naturally, the gloomy guys don't like this and do on the attack. But, with the power of milk (one of Borden's biggest selling products), the cute gnomes vanquish the dark jerks and spread color (or at least Cinecolor with its rather limited color spectrum) all about. Three cheers for the gnomes...those corporate shills! Preachy and dumb but at least the animation is reasonably good for 1935.

Fascinating Presentation of War Between Good and Evil

[RJV · 9/10 · 1 January 2004]

(SPOILER although it isn't much.) In its eight years of existence from 1928 to 1936, the Van Beuren animation studio never achieved the illustriousness of other studios like those of Walt Disney and Max Flesicher. They never developed a star like Mickey Mouse or Betty Boop and their cartoons, on a whole, did not create a lasting impression. However, the studio did produce a few authentic gems. THE SUNSHINE MAKERS is one of these gems.

The story isn't much. Cheerful gnomes spread happiness through bottled sunshine milk. Miserable goblins decide to spoil the fun with gloom-inducing gas. A battle erupts and the gnomes bombard the goblins with sunshine milk, turning them into happy, lovable creatures.

What makes the cartoon memorable is the way the story is presented. First of all, the animation crew under the direction of Ted Eshbuagh and Burt Gillette devise a picturesque fantasy world. Even in the faded print I saw, the contrast between the gnomes' rosy world and the goblins' grim milieu is well established. The gnomes are depicted in bright hued in sunny, pastoral surroundings. On the other hand, the goblins are drably hued in a bleak, Gothic environment. Winston Sharples's music enhances the atmosphere, buoyant for the gnomes and sombre for the goblins.

Then there's the climactic battle. The animation stuff imaginatively illustrates the effects of sunshine milk on the goblins and their environment. Particularly memorable is a scene where two goblins undergo the effects of sunshine milk. Their skin brightens, they begin to smile, and they start to sing and dance. Meanwhile flowers sprout in the background, brightening their milieu. Sharples' score enhances the war scenes, building to a lively crescendo.

One cannot fully appreciate THE SUNSHINE MAKERS from reading this review. It's one of these pictures that seem trite on paper but are remarkable on the screen. One cannot articulate WHY it's so remarkable-one can only feel exhilarated from watching it. If all of Van Beuren's cartoons were so memorable, the studio might have dominated the animation field rather than dwindled into oblivion.

It's probably forgotten by now, since it was written in the 1900's, but way back then . . .

[pixrox1 · 5/10 · 22 August 2020]

. . . a Mr. Huxley penned a novel titled BRAVE NEW WORLD. This book deals with a Valium-based Society, not unlike Today's America. Residents of the BRAVE NEW WORLD are continually doped up with a state-mandated drug called "Soma" in order for them to always view their surroundings--no matter how threatening, degraded and endangering--through rose-colored glasses. This sort of mindless, Pollyanna-like warped Panglossian World View will remind contemporary SUNSHINE MAKERS viewers of our USA Homeland in 2020. This should come as no surprise, as this film is a non-credited version of BRAVE NEW WORLD, much more scary and depressing than the book, if anything. Seeing the jack-booted title characters cramming their brainless brand of mood control down the throats of the defenseless Blue State populace reeks to High Heaven!

Childhood memory lives on

[oldmanforest · 10/10 · 25 July 2008]

As now, I had a voracious appetite for movies and television and a memory that doesn't quit even after 61 years. As a kid growing up in northern NJ, I had access to the NY/NJ television broadcast market from my youngest years. The first time I saw The Sunshine Makers it made a deep impression on a 3 to 4 year old that I carried through the years. It was broadcast on Newark's Channel 13 and was shown as a "cartoon" along with "Farmer Gray" and the mostly middling fare of which I discerned even then. I had even visited the NJ studio and sat in what is now considered the "peanut gallery" of the old Uncle Fred's Junior Frolics several times. Unfortunately, The Sunshine Makers weren't shown during my presence or I would have had my Aunt and cousin to remember or discuss it with. Now I glad I hadn't seen it in person and hadn't discussed it with them because their opinions, in hindsight, may have dismissed it.

It was like no other cartoon that I saw in those early days of television. While I couldn't express terms like theme, plot, character, etc., I tried to convey to my parents and friends what I saw and the impression it made on me. To this day I had never encountered another person who had seen it until I read the comments on this media. The movie was only 15-16 years old when I saw it! While I won't describe what I saw (mainly because it would be repetitive to Raymond's, cc...'s, & HippieRockChick's description) the good vs evil theme affected me in a primitive way. But the biggest impression was the song/refrain "I'm only happy when I'm sad" in the bass tones came back to me more than a few times during my disaffected 'yute' (as Vinny Gambini might say) or when I had the blues.

Where can I get a copy of it?

The Sunshine Makers is one '30s cartoon that was ahead of its time

[tavm · 8/10 · 27 September 2008]

Having read about this cartoon short from the Van Beuren Studios for several years, I finally got to see this when I randomly picked animated shorts on YouTube. What a wonderfully strange and musically humorous cartoon this was! Seeing all those happy little elves singing of glad times while making milk in contrast to all those sad ones warbling of how they're "happy when they're sad" and then turn into the opposite due to the milk being forced into their mouths with the sunshine brightening their bodies is nothing short of psychedelic three decades before that became fashionable! This, along with Disney's Fantasia, might have been a "hit" with the hippie crowd during the late '60s! And dig the fact that it's sponsored by Borden! I'm surprised someone didn't try to add Borden's mascot Elsie the Cow! So on that note, I highly recommend The Sunshine Makers.

Sunshine vs. gloom

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 3 April 2018]

Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.

The "Rainbow Parade" cartoons are a fairly good example of this. The series is a very mixed bag, with some good cartoons and not so good ones, though none of the series' worst are as bad as the worst of the studio's Tom and Jerry and Cubby the Bear cartoons for examples. 'The Sunshine Makers' is one of the series' best, it's one of the good ones and one is surprised it comes from Van Beuren, with it being in a different league to most of their efforts.

A classic 'The Sunshine Makers' isn't quite. The story is slight, with the conflict fairly predictable.

Plus anybody wanting a funny cartoon with gags coming thick and fast and laugh a minute is best watching something else, 'The Sunshine Makers' isn't that kind of cartoon with it having a serious subject and message. If one knows what to expect, it won't be a problem.

Really liked the animation here though, generally Van Beuren came on a long way when they went to colour technically even though simple in colour scheme and not exactly advanced. 'The Sunshine Makers' is one of the best looking of the "Rainbow Parade" cartoons, and adopts a wider range of colour in accord to the sunshine-filled good and gloomy evil sides, it is lusciously coloured, there is more refinement in the drawing than one would expect from the studio and the backgrounds meticulous in detail.

Even better is the music score, it is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. Particularly in the war scenes and climax, which is a quite powerful one. The title song is unforgettably catchy.

While not a "funny" cartoon, the good versus evil concept while predictable provides a good deal of emotional power and the message conveyed is potent and relevant still today without preaching. 'The Sunshine Makers' is cute (mostly in the characters) without being too sugary or saccharine, suitably strange without being incoherent or muddled and dark without being too frightening, a lot of it is charming and makes one happy. Characters are not too bland.

Overall, enjoyable and one of the better cartoons in the series. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"Hail his majesty the Sun!"

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 1 May 2014]

I'm happy when I'm sad. No you're not! Eat molten bombs of sweet purification comrade!!! Ah the glorious cosmic incubator that is the mighty Sun, bringer of light, giver of life to all! Ahem, so..okay, there are such beautiful colours in this strange and wonderful short. I love the really old cartoons that feature merry gnome-like sprites, and I especially love the great animation gems of the 1930's, they're so unique in style and are so carefully and artistically constructed, there's a certain aesthetic to them that you just don't get from any other animations. And this one in particular has some very striking imagery and animated effects regarding the two polar opposite factions of gnome folk. I love all the crazy details in the machinery of the Smurf-like residents of..let's call it Sunnyville, as they harness and prepare the rays of the sun into an elixir to be delivered like so many bottles of milk! And all the richly Gothic gloom of the decrepit hamlet of the dark gnomes is just as well done and appealing in its own very different way. The shadows are terrifically done and are paid great attention to in the story. And I love the beautiful effect of the sunshine arrows that make sunlight appear wherever they hit, I think it looks downright amazing to say that this short is so very old! This really is one of the special old cartoons, I think it's all beautiful. I love the sky, the lighting, everything, this is just wonderful to look at. "Sunshine, sushiiine!" Oh, that song will stick in your ears for hours! But on the other hand the scene is so hilarious where the bad gnomes are singing(?) about how happy they are being sad! Apparently they were just begging for a hostile together and thorough brainwashing by the clan of the sun worshippers! There's something a little whoa and off about about the whole militarisation of sunlight in the story, the way the gnomes launch the sunshine artillery and drop the sunlight bombs, smiling all the while, and completely disregarding the choices of their grumpy downbeat cousins until they're completely *forced* to convert! That was so unfair! True they did attack first, but the majority of them appeared to be minding their own business, and I do think the happy-go-lucky guys went a little too far, I mean it was only one person who attacked, and they went all word war three and bombed them with sunshine till their grim landscape was absolutely no more and they were all happy-happy-happy!!! What a lesson to teach little kids - if someone disagrees with you, hurt them until they do! Positivety cannot be force-fed, and can a person be too happy? I would freaking-well say so! It's a little sickly-sweet in places, but what a great show, I loved it. I thought it had some pretty cool and scary ideas! It's a beautiful day as I write this, everything's so much nicer when the sun's out. Hey sun, you should come out more often, things are so much better when you're around!

Milk Makes You Happy

[Michael_Elliott · 17 March 2016]

The Sunshine Makers (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Catchy animated short has a bunch of gnomes gathering up sunshine, turning it into milk and then passing it around to people so that they can be happy. One gnome ends up running across an unhappy man who lives in the dark forest with many other unhappy people. Soon the gnomes are trying to pour milk on them so that they too will be happy.

I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed this film and I was even more shocked to see that it was rather catchy. This really comes across as a dark fairy tell where the happy people must venture into a dark area and try to make the bad people see why they should be good. Of course, the selling point here is that milk makes people happy. I thought the animation itself was quite good and I really liked the simple story and the song itself was very good and catchy.

I Preferred the Bad Guys

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 30 September 2021]

So they've been able to bottle sunshine (it isn't Borden's milk) and seem intent on forcing everyone to be happy. It would seem more like a drug than a natural feeling. I liked the guys with the top hats and the dark clothes. They were subdued by the happy gnomes. Not a good message.