A Deusa da Primavera (The Goddess of Spring) - 1934

[MeghannJesstine]

I read a story when a young maiden of sping was taken by Pluto, or in this case Hades. While the goddess of spring was gone her mother was so sad she killed the plants making it winter. Finally the young goddess returned to her mother 4 half a year I watched this after I read it.

[HowlMagic95]

I just wanna know what happened to her bones.

[ValisHD]

nostalgia chick sent me and im loving it

[DarkAngelKisses13th]

I love how SatanHades (thanks, NC!) pops out of the ground, laughing maniacally with lightening and thunder in the background, and Persephone just sits there and stares at him. No screaming, no jumping back in fright, and when he walks up to her, she rises to meet him.

Also, his little demon minions are drawn adorably.

[VJSco]

gg

[thepixieful]

now I have to see the recent Disney Hercules.....( recalling all the neo-classical stuff in Walt's day)

[Going2MakeItSo]

Original pencil production-used art at vegalleriesDOTcom/newart/sep02­/MM037.JPG for the scene found at 7:14 in the timeline for the video above.

[Going2MakeItSo]

FIRST ENVIRONMENTALIST CARTOON - The Goddess of Spring - 1934

As to this also being the studios first stab at credible and realistic human form - it also appears that the plastic like hair becomes more and more natural appearing and fluid not only from below-ground to above-ground, but also from the beginning to end of the clip as the animators cut their chops on realistic human animation for the upcoming better known Disney classics.

[Going2MakeItSo]

FIRST-EVER ENVIRONMENTALIST CARTOON (The Goddess of Spring -1934)

Also, note that the cell artist altered the precise and beautiful finger positions from the original production art (at 7:14 above compared to the original pencil drawn art used to make the cel which can be compared at vegalleriesDOTcom/newart/sep02­/MM037DOTJPG) to accommodate the (too busy finger area) and fit the flow and hand motions for the rest of the scene.

[Going2MakeItSo]

VERY FIRST ENVIRONMENTALIST CARTOON

The very first, as hard-hitting as one can get, strongly pro- ENVIRONMENTALIST and anti- Destructivist-Capitalism where the value of diamonds (see largest-ever diamond scene with falling tears and note the transition from a crown of flowers to one of jewels) outweighs the VERY LIVES of all plants and animals, the whole ecosystem and all creatures (including a pre-Bambi and pre-thumper) above.

[Going2MakeItSo]

VERY FIRST ENVIRONMENTALIST CARTOON

The very first, as hard-hitting as one can get, strongly pro- ENVIRONMENTALIST and anti- Destructivist-Capitalism where the value of diamonds (see largest-ever diamond scene with falling tears and note the transition from a crown of flowers to one of jewels) outweighs the VERY LIVES of all lives, plant and animal, above.

[kotaro2592]

1:02 :O! disney invented the moonwalk!! i knew it!!

[CYNTHIALUVSMIGUEL]

Fbg

[skywind8]

What if this telling were from her mother Demeter's perspective, and not Persephone's own? My daughter would never go off with a tall dark and handsome stranger, leaving her poor mother behind! My daughter is an innocent beautiful little girl! He must have taken her!! It's the only explanation!! But perhaps Kore/Persephone simply came of age, and fell in love, as people do...

[4167kb]

I Love This One, Such a good story!! it is also icluded on a bonus feature in Snow White And The Seven Dwarf's! Which i also love(:

[SillyOldGirl]

anything to do with Greek mythology, I am in ;) am a big big fan of Greek legends and myths especially those which got to do with Goddesses and Gods... I always believe a time when Gods walked amongst men ...

[Antisyncretism]

ceraintly reminds of Bald Mountain in Fantasia.

[SarahRosalind]

love it!:D

[ThaCanadianJoker]

@freekfreekerd Yeah Da Green Fire Is Kool and They Also Blue Fire Like Hades I Think Most Disney Villains Use The Fire From Dis Awsome Cartoon LOL

[atisaseret]

Wow! The story of Persephone and Hades. She had to return to the Underworld every 6 months. This is a GORGEOUS Disney Cartoon

[loublaze3]

Evil Disney what more can be said?

[Freekfreekerd]

Love the greek mythology in this, and the fact that they used the green fire in the lion king. :)

[shamanite]

Let's not forget that's the first time that realistic humans are animated (Perséphone is actually a prototype for Snow White)

[violetbecka2007]

diabolic

[bunnialchemistmeep]

"Be a little bit gay!"

psh. good luck pal, I've been barking up that tree for years and my GF still won't agree to a 3some. lol.

[ameliou71]

my favorite of disney of silly symphony very beautiful and i love him (L)

[crazyformews]

Wow.That wasnt anything like the real tale.And Hades isnt Satan.And where was Diameter?What was with the demons?

[angelxmusic]

AM I the only creeped ot by like..everything?

[vloweer]

Thank you very much for uploading! This is my most nostalgic movie from Silly Symphony! 5/5!

[Villaingirl101]

I like Hades. I think he's sexy. I especially love his big ears!

[GoeLiezzz]

Thank you for uploading, I had this cartoon on videotape when I was a kid, but never found it back. I just found this on youtube accidentally, and feeling so happy right now :)

[xSangel99X]

Lol I know it's old and gay means happy, but I had to chuckle when he said

"Be a little bit gay!"

[xMessed]

The maiden's movements remind me of the grudge girl..

[DeathShamans]

Ahhhh Persephone Queen of the Shamans of the Underworld... love that the SWING JAZZ is Hades!!

[Villaingirl101]

Yes, Hades is a sexy musician!

[YagamiLCHAN]

Thats so beauteful^^

[dexterdamonkey]

this is sweet... like theGreek legend of Hades and Persephone, only those two were in love. it's a shame that disney turned hades evil...

[Loveydvy99]

I thought he kidnapped her and tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds? he may have loved her but I think it was a bit one sided.

[dexterdamonkey]

Could be one sided; after all, ancient myth-marriages were rarely consensual (women had no saying in their marriage), even when love was involved. also, it was an ancient myth, meaning that there were many versions, and the myth was meant to explain the seasons, not love. i just wanted to make a point on Hades not being an evil god.. ;)

[Loveydvy99]

Oh definitely, no more evil in my eyes than Zeus anyway: a known rapist. At least Hades had the decency to "romantically" whisk her away instead of just impregnating her and leaving her to deal with the aftermath. So all in all, I'd chose Hades :D

[dexterdamonkey]

Me too. Hades /is/ actually sweet for a greek god.

[DeathShamans]

in my work, all daemons are sweet on their human side : ) hahahahhaha

[DeathShamans]

you funny! Yes Zues was a Whore!

[Colton5]

@Loveydvy99 Zeus and Ares were probably the biggest pricks out of all them lmao

[Gername12]

@dexterdamonkey If he was evil he wouldn't have let her go.

[Elizzabuff]

reminds me of a very lovely mucha painting

[2ndsopranoandproud]

i love the rubberie arms--- i want them!

[matlabyladki]

i just love this gr8 work

[sagesaria]

What is the line after "To this I swear"? I've never made it out.

[musicaltheatergeek79]

He asks again, "To this you swear?' and she repeats "To this I swear!" but they say it at the same time.

[abaseraserhead]

i think his last "to this you swear" was more of a proclamation in conjunction with hers, and not a question

[PTSmash]

It's classic Disney cartoons like these that make me ask "What the hell happened?"

[major600]

First Hanna-Barbera happened. Then Japanese manga happened (Speed Racer). Then crappier Japanese manga happened (Pikachu). Then computer imaging happened. It's sad.

[PTSmash]

Quite right. Although I am a fan of anime, I do see where you're coming from. Pikachu...ugh!

[KatanaGeldar]

Also, these cartoons were made for adults, not kids. The animators made them for themselves.

[PTSmash]

Quite right, quite right.

[baxterfilms]

Nice rubbery arms...haha

[HappyPeach568]

she got really nice arms

[SaoriTohru]

He lets her return so she could smile again!!! Why fear him...??? They made the balance happen!

[Latina317]

its showing the myth of the seasons...... Persephone was taken by Hades and her mother (Demeter) became depressed and cause fall and winter to come.......... the other gods ruled it was'nt right for a mother not to see her daughter so Persephone comes up for a couple of months thus come spring and summer

[sagesaria]

Six months for the six pomegranate seeds she ate in the underworld, correct?

[r8p6]

exactly :) This has always been one of my favorite myths from ancient history

[major600]

My only complaint is that Hades was not the Greek Satan. He wasn't the embodiment of all things evil. He was simply the god of the Underworld who looked after the dead. His kingdom was not hell.

[Elizzabuff]

I agree, but this is based very loosely on the greek myth. A lot of things are different, but the general theme is still there.

[Kyokyo101]

@major600 Actually, his world was hell, heaven, and limbo. His world was everything after death. In the Underworld, there were different levels for different people. Those who were heroes, and those who were extremely good lived in a sort of paradise, those who were bad and evil would suffer for all eternity. And some would just wander the Underworld, sort of like zombies.

[major600]

@Kyokyo101 Thanks for the knowledge. I love mythology. Edith Hamilton. Joseph Campbell. Karl Jung. Stuff like that. So you're saying limbo was some sort of shopping mall or Pfish concert? :-)

[Kyokyo101]

@major600 No, Heaven would be like an endless meadow filled with flowers, music, wine, etc... Hell would be extremely hard pointless labor and endless suffering, Limbo is inbetween. You wander throughout the Underworld like a lifeless zombie. Nothing to enjoy, yet you aren't suffering.

[Prancer1231]

@Kyokyo101 "Hell would be extremely hard pointless labor and endless suffering"

that sounds like earth

[Shimimouse]

@major600 Eh they wanted to keep it simple i guess

You can only expect so much from a cartoon

If they made it more accurate keds wouldn't get why she didn't like being there

[veerleke]

@major600 What do you mean hell? That warm and jazzy place that looks like a nightclub with lots of cool light effects and lots of bling?

[thepixieful]

@veerleke yes didn't you know Disney invented club med? le jazz hot indeed.

[RandomJayne]

@major600 Ironically one of the LEAST dickish gods in the whole pantheon.

[vtwetz]

@RandomJayne

Yeah, if you overlook the whole kidnapping a girl, forcing him to be his wife, and almost damning the world to eternal winter just because he thought she was kinda cute. Most of the Greek gods had their dickish moments and their good ones.

[vtwetz]

@vtwetz

I meant to say "forcing *her* to be his wife"

[UnrealHel]

I must say, they do give a more unprejudicial (<---grammar??) image of Hades in Hercules (1997).. This is just hell.

[notfromlongbeach]

if you guys like these you shud see ill see you somewhere in dreamland it really is the sweetest

[Tyronor]

I like that song at 4:07.

The hell song rules!

[Tyronor]

That was okay and an amazing story!

The goddess must visit the devil every half of a year.

[steverlfs]

It is not Dracula, it is Mephistopheles. There are two Persephones and three very different styles of music.This is Disney at his very best!

[UnrealHel]

Wow, that was like my first impression when i saw that hellish guy, it really looks like Mephisto from Faust.

[MariaYasha]

hades looks like dracula,goddess of spring walks like drunk,and well this is just plain creepy

[TheRealMermaidLucida]

omg its dracula

[MaliciousJafar]

Oh, my. Did Hades really look like this back then?

[GAvillain]

Yes

[MaleficentOfEvil]

My husband Hades when he met his ex-wife.

[ArtemisiaDark]

It's interesting to see how the scene in 3:40 looks similar to the one in Sleeping Beauty, when Maleficent's soldiers dance around a fire.

[totoliebtporto]

its because the goddess of spring was the "practise" for the snowwhite movie^^ they took ideas for other movies as well from it X3

i loved this one when i was little XD~

[captainsonic]

You can tell when viewing this that the Disney animators didn't completely have the technique for choreographing human movement down yet; the early scenes especially give this away with Persephone's odd motion. The character designs are all excellent though, and despite the few flaws it has, this is easily one of the most interesting Silly Symphony cartoons the studio produced.

[skinnerburgers]

Haha

Well, what do you saaaaay?

[Masked020]

this creeps me out....look at the way she walks...

[GAvillain]

It's cool to see what Hades was like before the Hercules movie and if they ever make a Ghost Rider cartoon, they should make Mephisto look just like Hades on this short.

[taitaua]

Adoro musicais ...

[Frankenchokie]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the demons' jazzy song could have influenced the "robot hell" montage from Futurama?

[NoirRaven]

. . .Holy shit. You got a point there!

[baxterfilms]

This was a test for Disney animators to animate human movement. It was okay, but it wasn't great, maybe because Persephone wasn't rotoscoped but it gave the animators an idea on what to look for on Snow White.

[ChalfantMT]

very pagan. ;-)

[Salukiara]

Her voice was Beautiful!

[efranek]

''we most be at peace with god and the devil always'' that is what i think... I love this cartoon, 5 stars*****

[Nightshade4711]

yeah, a cartoon about Hell of all places, for KIDS?

[lyris1]

I don't think it was made explicitly for kids, it'd be shown in cinemas mainly to adults.

[Nightshade4711]

oh ok :)

[ems10387]

Also, kids in those days were MUCH MUCH tougher than kids today. Kids today are wimps compared to back then.

[Nightshade4711]

That is true, I remember having to grow up learning the hard way. You're right they're such babies now.

[ems10387]

Glad to see someone agrees with me. :p :)

[GAvillain]

It wasn't about Hell, it was about the Greek God Hades. This is one of the more famous Greek myths. Pick up a mythology book for once will ya!

[jessy11516]

omg that guy is freaky!!

[Meowmeowmeow08]

Well theres Persephone and Hades, but wheres Demeter =(?

[GAvillain]

I think she probably would have hindered the story rather than help it. I kinda like having just Hades and Persephone. it simplifies things.

[defrox]

gotta love the devil..

[Rosalila]

Reminds me of the greek story Hades and Persephone?

[GAvillain]

Cause it is.

[GOTHMIDNIGHTMERMAID]

The devil in this cartoon looks more like dracula.

[GOTHMIDNIGHTMERMAID]

So she's supposed to be a greek godess from greek mythology?

[okhan001]

a Christianized version of the Greek myth of Persephone...very fascinating!

(thanks for posting!)

[MateusAMontalbano]

No, it isn'y Christianized. The Christian people has only one God and none "godess of spring"!

[okhan001]

Please learn to spell.

[MateusAMontalbano]

I'm sorry. My English isn't so good as yours because I'm from Brazil. My language is Portuguese and not English, and I know how to spell in Portuguese very well. But, did you understand what I said about Christianism? If you did, can you say me what do you think about it?

[erratichippie]

I think okhan001 might have meant that the goddess of spring was from Greek mythology, but the version of the devil (and the fire & brimstone hell) that was portrayed is Christianized.

[gagbonkers]

the devil looks like dracula and the music "hidey hades" reminds me of cab calloway's music

[LilaVollmond]

Ausgezeichneter Kurzfilm von Disney!

[strombeldenbar]

Best vid on the youtube

[walterlantzandtetsuo]

This Silly Symphony tells the story of a famous Greek myth,

Persephone, who got abducted into the underworld by Hades,

god of the underworld. P.S: Notice the opera singing.

[patsupfan]

they never showed this on tv...wonder why?

[TrikerKat1956]

This is a rendition of the (correct me if I'm wrong) Greek story of Hades and Persephone.

[AdArmand]

Is this the famous 'prototype' Disney made, testing the waters for Snow White? Its gorgeous!

[Vogtalicious]

Yup, we studied this in Animation! This was what gave Disney and his animators the gumption to try a full length feature!

[anders59]

If you compare the rubbery arms of Persephone when she dances at the beginning of this cartoon to the movements of Snow White, that's quite amazing. I mean, I've read somewhere that it's astounding at how fast the animators' drawing skills of human locomotion and anatomy had improved in three years time (the span between this cartoon and "Snow White") when it might have seemed that the improvement could have taken 20 years to accomplish.

[catchersmitt0]

Thanks - those are interesting insights. I remember when I first saw Snow White I thought she looked very real, which surprised me. Disney's sort of passe now but in the 1930s they were very cutting edge.

[lilgreymouse]

"Snow White" featured a lot of rotoscope technique, where film of an actor or actress is taken, and traced over by the animators. That is why Snow white looked much more realistic.

[lilgreymouse]

Forgive me, that was a reply to previous comments. Not sure why it posted here. <=)

[Willtreme]

The prince was the most rotoscoped, and notice that he seemed off a bit?

Most of Snow White's animation wasn't rotoscoped.

[dominustecum]

Somebody know the singer's name in the beegining and end?

THANKS!

[Morty340]

What catchy (and maybe jumpy) song were those devils singing in this cool cartoon?

[strombeldenbar]

I always thought it was 'Mighty Hades'.....but google says it may be 'Hidey Hades'....unsure.

That sequence ...and that song has to be the inspiration for The Heat Miser in 'The Year Without A Santa Claus'

[principessachuck]

WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO PROMISE??? He took her away from her world forcefully!! he don't have no power over her! dan it

[hawaiifiregirrl]

i agree, you think she would have a little more power, being the goddess of sping and all

[Dragon1813]

In the myth Hades gave Persephone three pomagranet seeds as a parting gift (but she didn't know that the seeds were cursed. Each seed made her want to return to and stay with Hades for two months).

[NoirRaven]

He does love her you know...

[sunymao]

my prefer silly symphonies! *___* so sad winter season ç_ç

[leolady]

but there CAN ba a bit of happy in winter

1. building snowmen

2. snowball wars

3.skiiing

ETC.

[Atreus21]

Hard to believe that these were made in the height of the Depression.

[nobodysperfect06]

in a way he resembles Bela Lugosi's Dracula, minus the pointy ears, which look like Count Orlok

[nobodysperfect06]

that is actually Hades

[xohottbabexo]

His name is satan, right?

[dominustecum]

JUPITER

[Invisib0]

Awesome, I was looking for this one. It certainly didn't disappoint either.

[JA268]

This is one of my favorite Silly Symphonies,and I have studied World Mythology as a hobby

[Pyrotechnocracy]

Absolutely Glorious! Thanks for sharing this wonderful tale! :)

[strombeldenbar]

I saw this once... over 30 years ago...I have been searching for it since then.

Thank you so much Pokellan.

Be well

[10INTM]

My dad recorded this for me when I was a toddler and I used to watch it all the time. When I was a middle-schooler I accidentally recorded an important Simpsons episode over it and despaired. Now I can finally watch those devils dancing around again. THANKS!!

[ThatGothicChick]

Yaaay! I've been looking for this video forever!!! Thank you so much for posting it!!!

[ThePsychoReturns]

Heh. Little cryin' bunnies in the snow.

[djcrazytom]

WOW. I call that 'the lost Silly Symphony.' And that is a combo of great stuff...a Nelson Eddy/Jeanette McDonald exchange, combined with Cab Calloway and some Duke Ellington with a bit of a Harlem Nocturne sliced in. Absolutely fantastic...why has thsi movie been lost in the shuffle after all these years?

[skelin10]

This cartoon scared the living shit out of me! But thanx anyways!

[hendrickross]

Is this cartoon really from 1934? To me it looks more like 94 or 2004 for how well it was conceived!

[IAMLH]

hell on earth lol XD

[bethhigdon]

oh thank you for posting this!

[babix33]

perfeeeeeeeeect

[aislinchan]

Allan, muito obrigada de novo!!*--* Adorei o curta... Tirando o Hades fantasiado de capeta e coisas do genero :D A Perséfone tava linda x3 Valeu mesmo por postar aqui!!^^