Of all the classic theatrical animated cartoons, those released
by ColumbiaPictures during TheSilentAgeOfAnimation and
TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation are perhaps the most overlooked by the
general public today. This is unfortunate because some of the
most significant endeavors in the medium's history emerged from
the collective works of Charles Mintz, Screen Gems and UPA. It
is difficult, for example, for one to think of the history of
animation without films like "The Little Match Girl", "The Fox
and the Grapes", "WesternAnimation/GeraldMcBoingBoing" or
"WesternAnimation/RootyTootToot" that, in so many ways,
redefined what a cartoon was. The only short they did that's
still somewhat famous today is their adaptation of
Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', which is often
played in English classes.  While the history of Columbia's
animation output is marked by hits and misses, experimentation
always seems to be a constant. It was the early Charles
Mintz/Screen Gems studio that produced some of the most gro