Release MGM Cartoons to DVD NOW!

What do YOU think of whenever you see the iconic MGM lion roar? Most people would answer Tom & Jerry. But believe it or not, Tom & Jerry and Droopy aren't the only cartoons the famed lion greeted.

"The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was the in-house division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) motion picture studio in Hollywood, responsible for producing animated short subjects to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters. Active from 1937 until 1957, and cartoons made out of studio 1935-1937, the cartoon studio produced some of the most popular cartoon series and characters in the world, including the famous cartoons Barney Bear and Droopy, but particularly its most important creation, Tom and Jerry."

Aside from infrequent reruns on Cartoon Network and it's sister channel, Boomerang, little releases of the company's products have occurred. Obviously, Tom & Jerry and Droopy are the exptions, but what about the other cartoons? Well, most of Tex Avery's cartoons have been released in France on DVD on a out-of-region (for U.S.) DVD, meaning it does not play on a typical DVD player and is very expensive to buy (around a whopping $150) and ship.

The MGM cartoon series "Happy Harmonies", created by Hugh Harman and Ruldolf Ising, consisted of 36 episodes. The only official home video release was back in 1994, when Warner Bros. put together a laserdisc of 17 selected cartoons from the series, along with six Barney Bear cartoons and two award-wining cartoons. This leaves 19 classic cartoons off of the release. The laserdisc is no longer being made and distributed by WB, and is extremly hard to come by and expensive if you do happen to find one.

The "Barney Bear" shorts (1939-1954) have seen only a couple of home media releases, one on laserdisc and one VHS. These are also very difficult to find.

There is also a collection of one-shot cartoons (meaning they weren't part of an official series, although some did get sequels) by Harman-Ising that has not been released yet, exept for an occasional cartoon being released as a bonus feature on a classic MGM film. Two of these cartoons went on to bring home a "blue-ribbon" to the studio. These cartoons are "The Milky Way" (1940) and "Peace on Earth" (1939).

You can sometimes find a few of these on YouTube (but most are taken down shortly, despite the fact almost none of them have been released) and other websites such as DailyMotion and Viemo. None of these cartoons are currently being shown on any television channel (besides Tom & Jerry). Cartoon Network included a few shorts starting a black cat similar to Tom and others starting a flea in 2014, and Boomerang stopped airing the shorts a few years ago, so they are not currently being aired.

Why these cartoons don't already have a DVD release is unacceptable. We should have unlimited access to some of the best cartoons made from the rise of theatrical cartoons to the golden age of animation. Please join me to release some of the best cartoon charactors ever created.