Tulips Shall Grow

George Pal created his "Puppetoons" while living in Europe in the 1930s. These animated puppet films are distinguished by a technique known as replacement animation in which multiple puppets (or multiple parts of puppets) represent each action desired. While this process required extensive planning and labor before production began, once the puppets were created, they could be reused endlessly. Pal came to the U.S. in 1940 to work for Paramount where one of his earliest projects was Tulips Shall Grow. The film depicts a Dutch boy and girl whose carefree life is destroyed when they are overrun by a group of mechanical men called "The Screwballs." Seen as a not-so-subtle metaphor for the conquest of Holland by the Nazis, the cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award as best animated short subject.

Tulips Shall Grow was added to the National Film Registry in 1997.