What if Allspark Pictures founded in 1904?/Allspark Pictures

Allspark Pictures is an American film production and distribution company located in Burbank, California. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American toy and multimedia company Hasbro. It was founded in 1904 under the name All Cartoonies.

The company's first major production was its series of cartoon adaptations of classic fairy tales, which became immensely popular throughout the United States, Canada and Latin America in the early 1920s. The cartoons also aired on the DuMont Television Network. These featurettes were directed by G. Harry Stine and portrayed the stories in the Gertrude Price, Donald MacDonald, Victor Appleton, and Storyteller formats, respectively.

Early years (1904–1921)
In 1904, All-Cartoons of America was founded in Providence, Rhode Island by Charles Sandford Barbour, Seymour Kilburn, Frederick F. Beemer, John Purroy Mitchel and Douglas Badger. The name was changed to All-Cartoons Pictures in 1909, and in 1918, All-Cartoons Pictures changed its name to All-Animation Pictures Corporation, where it was still producing animated shorts at its Rhode Island studio. In 1921, All-Animation Pictures relocated its headquarters to Burbank, California.

Early days at Burbank (1921-1925)
In 1921, a series of animated cartoon shorts were produced at a rented studio in a local candy factory (presently the site of Emmi Roth Block, a jewelry store). It was here where the company's first animated shorts were produced, which featured an animated character named Squeaky Squirrel, along with his sidekick Thimble Turtle. Squeaky was based upon the real squirrels who resided in a tree in the local Switzer Brothers Park in Burbank.

Many other cartoon shorts followed, and it was during this time the cartoon studio was able to license the characters from various toy companies, such as Alco (which they called "The Alco-Magicians"), C.C. Murphy, Cloverleaf, Kenner, and Kidde, to name a few. In 1923, All-Animation Pictures became one of the first allies of Walt Disney, and was highly interested in producing Disney-esque shorts.

All-Animation Pictures made the first short in the Doll-O-Toons series, Ballet Shoes, in which the plot was brought to life using stop motion animation. The short was nominated for an Academy Award in 1924.

All-Animation Pictures continued producing animated shorts. The company's animated shorts were screened at fairs and circuses. They were also known for their lack of commercialism and excessive scenes of true artistry. In 1925, All-Animation Pictures began producing and distributing syndicated and contract cartoons. The following year, the studio released a short in the I Wish I Was a Dog series.

Sound era (1925-1933)
Between 1925 and 1933, All-Animation Pictures would film more than 200 short cartoons. Some of the most popular were the Tootsie-Toot Tootsie series, and the Flying Phooey series.

In 1927, the studio began producing one of the first color shorts ever filmed, which was called Happy Harmonica (1927). In 1928, a semi-sequel to Happy Harmonica called Happy Band was released.

In 1929, All-Animation Pictures produced The Guppy, featuring a tiger on stilts, and another short, Nothin' but Grandchildren (1929), starring characters that were originally created by Tom Marioni in his play, The Toons of Tahiti. Nothin' but Grandchildren was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons, in 1930.

In 1930, All-Animation Pictures began producing Tinytoonies, featuring 3D perspective animation. This was the first of their cartoons to feature a marquee and a title sequence.

In 1932, All-Animation Pictures produced Baby Snooks, which was a promotional cartoon for the American Cream Cheese Company. This was a starring cartoon with a cast of cartoon characters. The cartoon would be the first to feature a cast of puppet characters.

Between 1932 and 1938, All-Animation Pictures produced six color cartoons starring Baby Snooks, all of which were nominated for Academy Awards. The first of these short cartoons was Going the Puddle (1932) (which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons). It was also in 1932 that All-Animation Pictures released Big Little Sister, the first all-talking cartoon to be released with a running time of over 15 minutes.

A two-part cartoon, titled A Snake in the Kitchen (1933), produced by All-Animation Pictures, was the first stereophonic cartoon ever released. It is considered the first cartoon music video. The music was composed by Arthur Penn and the title tune was sung by a young Billy Eckstine.