"A Cat's Life" Terrytoon with Farmer Gray

1920’s silent cartoon by Paul Terry, starring Farmer Al Falfa (also known as Farmer Grey). A stock music soundtrack was added in the 1950s for television.

I’m sure the person who picked the needle drops for these cartoons’ stock music had no idea how powerfully his work would affect so many children, now grown up.

In 1971 I wrote to WABC TV channel 7 in New York to inquire about these cartoons. This was their answer:

“The silent cartoons which were shown on WABC-TV some years ago were obtained at the time from a company known as Common Wealth Film and Television. Unfortunately, this company no longer exists and I have no idea who might now have the rights to those films.

The films were basically Paul Terry Cartoons and were handled by a number of different distributors in the early days of television. I expect that you might be able to get some by dealing with the camera stores which sell prints for home use such as the Peerless and Willouby Stores in New York.

Yours Truly,
Tak Kako
Assistant Director of Programming”