For most of us, January 1st marks New Year’s Day. But for the copyright lawyers among us, it’s Public Domain Day, when new copyrighted material first published in the 1920s loses intellectual property protection. Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, who direct the Duke Center for Public Domain Studies, provide an overview of the best-known works currently in the public domain. “January 1, 2025 is Public Domain Day. A 1929 work will be available to everyone, just like a 1924 recording!” They also try to answer some important questions: “Popeye didn’t eat spinach until a cartoon in 1933, even though it was already in the public domain. So is ‘Spinach Eating Popeye’ still in the public domain?
What follows is a very limited selection of Jenkins and Boyle’s work, some of which have just entered the public domain. With a link! Because now and in the future these features will operate in the public domain.
books and plays
- william Faulkner, sound and fury
- ernest Hemingway, say goodbye to weapons
- Virginia Woolf, a room of one’s own
- Dashiell Hammett, red harvest and maltese falcon (As serialized black mask magazine)[4]
- john steinbeck, gold cup (Steinbeck’s first novel)
- richard Hughes, strong winds in jamaica
- oliver LaFarge, The Boy Who Laughs: A Navajo Love Story
- patrick Hamilton, rope
- Arthur Wesley Ween, first English translation All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
- agatha Christie, Seven Dial Mystery
- robert Graves, goodbye to all that
- EB White and James Thurber; Is sex necessary? or why you feel that way
- Rainer Maria Rilke, A letter to a young poet (Original German version only, Brief einen jungen Dichter)
- Walter Lippmann, moral preface
- Ellery Queen (Frederick Danay, Manfred Bennington Lee) roman hat mystery
movie
- 12 more Mickey Mouse Animation (including Mickey’s first speaking scene) carnival kid)
- coconutDirected by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley (the Marx Brothers’ first feature film)
- broadway melodyDirected by Harry Beaumont (Academy Award Winner for Best Picture)
- 1929 Hollywood RevueDirected by Charles Reisner (including the song “Singin’ in the Rain”)
- skeleton danceDirected by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. foolish symphony (short from Disney)
- plunderDirected by Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s first sound film)
- hallelujahDirected by King Vidor (one of the first films from a major studio to feature an all-African American cast).
- wild partyDirected by Dorothy Arzner (Clara Bow’s first “talkie”)
- welcome dangerClyde Bruckman and Malcolm St. Directed by St. Clair (first full-sound comedy starring Harold Lloyd)
- with the showDirected by Alan Crosland (first full-color feature film)
- pandora’s box (Die Buchse der Pandora), directed by GW Pabst
- show boatDirected by Harry A. Pollard (adaptation of novel and musical)
- black watchDirector John Ford (Ford’s first sound film)
- a vicious marriageDirected by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton (Keaton’s last silent film)
- Say it in songDirector Lloyd Bacon (sequel) jazz singer and singing fool)
- dynamiteDirected by Cecil B. DeMille (DeMille’s first sound film)
- Gold Diggers on BroadwayDirector Roy Del Luce
character
- ec Sega, Popeye (From “Gobs of Work” in the Thimble Theater comic strip)
- Hergé (Georges Remi) Tintin (From the magazine “Les Aventures de Tintin”) Le Petite Vintiem)
music composition
- sing in the rainLyrics: Arthur Freed, Music: Nacio Herb Brown
- It’s not wrongLyrics: Andy Paul Razaf, Music: Thomas W. (“Fats”) Waller & Harry Brooks (from the musical) hot chocolate)
- American in ParisGeorge Gershwin
- boleromaurice label
- (What did I do to become like that) Black and blueLyrics: Andy Paul Razaf, Music: Thomas W. “Fats” Waller & Harry Brooks (a song about racial inequality in the musical) hot chocolate)
- Tiptoe through the tulipsLyrics: Alfred Dubin, Music: Joseph Burke
- Happy days have come againLyrics by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager (Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential campaign theme song)
- What is this thing called love?Cole Porter (from Porter’s Musical) wake up and dream)
- Am I Blue?Lyrics by Grant Clarke, music by Harry Akst
- you meant something to meLyrics: Arthur Freed, Music: Nacio Herb Brown
- honeyLyrics and music by Seymour Simons, Haven Gillespie, and Richard A. Whiting
- waiting for the trainLyrics and music by Jimmie Rodgers
Recorded in 1924
- my road is blurryRecorded by Marian Anderson
- Rhapsody in BlueRecorded by George Gershwin
- Shreveport StompRecorded by Jelly Roll Morton
- lazyRecorded by The Georgians
- perverse bluesRecorded by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band featuring Louis Armstrong
- deep blue sea bluesRecorded by Clara Smith
- Gouge of Armor AvenueRecording by Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra featuring Big Charlie Green
- Mom is gone, goodbye.Recorded by Ray Miller and his Orchestra
- It had to be youRecorded by Isham Jones Orchestra and Marion Harris
- california here i comeRecorded by Al Jolson
