VOA · Arts & Culture
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed8:522024-12-18public domain
The Arts & Culture beat covers music, film, museums, food, and traditions from the United States and around the world. The reports are short, vivid, and full of everyday descriptive language — great for learners who want vocabulary beyond textbooks.
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01Popeye the Sailor and the Belgian boy reporter Tintin lead the class of characters and works of art to enter public domain in 2025.
02On January 1, 2025, the U.S.
03copyright ends on creations from 1929.
04That means the early versions of the comic characters can be used without permission or payment.
05They will be joined by the books A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.
06Other works coming into the public domain include songs from American artist Cole Porter, early films from Alfred Hitchcock and the Marx Brothers, and several more films starring Mickey Mouse, whose earliest version became public domain last year.
07It's a trove.
08There are a dozen new Mickey cartoons.
09He speaks for the first time and dons the familiar white gloves, said Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, part of Duke University Law School in North Carolina.
10There are masterpieces from Faulkner and Hemingway, the first sound films from Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B.
11DeMille, and John Ford, and amazing music from Fats Waller, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin.
12Pretty exciting, she added.
13Here is a closer look from the Associated Press at this year's crop of public domain works.
14Popeye the Sailor, with his big arm muscles and fighting spirit, was created by E.C.
15Segar and made his first appearance in the newspaper comic strip Thimble Theater in 1929.
16His first words were, D'ya think I'm a cowboy?
17when asked if he was a sailor.
18It was supposed to be a one-time appearance for the character.
19Instead, he became the main character, and the strip would be renamed Popeye.
20Popeye did not become a film character until 1933, and that version remains under copyright.
21The 1929 version of the character Tintin, the creation of Belgian artist Hergé, will also come into the public domain.
22The simply drawn teenager with dots for eyes and hair shaped like an ocean wave, was among the most popular characters in Europe for much of the 20th century.
23However, in much of the world, Tintin will not become public property until 70 years after the 1983 death of his creator.
24The books entering the public domain this year read like a list for an American literature class.
25The Sound and the Fury is arguably William Faulkner's most famous book.
26Its special style of expression was a big hit, although the book was widely considered difficult to read and understand.
27The story is set in the southern state of Mississippi, where Faulkner was born and lived most of his life.
28It tells about the ruin of a leading family there.
29And Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms joins his earlier The Sun Also Rises in the Public Domain.
30The story about an ambulance driver is set in Italy during World War I.
31It was based in part on Hemingway's real life.
32It has been made into film, TV, and radio versions, and now can be done anew without permission.
33American John Steinbeck's first novel, A Cup of Gold, will also enter the public domain.
34Filmmaking was changing from silent to sound production during the late 1920s.
35The famous movie maker Alfred Hitchcock was still living in Britain when he made the film Blackmail.
36The movie began as a silent film but was turned to sound film during production.
37Two versions of Blackmail were released.
38One of the versions became Britain's and Hitchcock's first sound film.
39American John Ford is probably best remembered for making the kind of films called westerns.
40Those movies remain protected.
41But Ford's first sound film, 1929's The Black Watch, enters the public domain next month.
42The action movie includes a young John Wayne who appears in a small part.
43Years later, Wayne was the star of many Ford films.
44Another notable director, Cecil B.
45DeMille, already a Hollywood leader in silent films, made Dynamite his first sound film in 1929.
46Groucho, Harpo, and the other Marx Brothers humor group had their first starring parts in 1929's The Coconuts.
47The brothers went on to make the popular comedies Animal Crackers and Duck Soup.
48And the Broadway Melody will also enter the public domain on January 1st.
49It became the first sound film and the second film ever to win the Oscar for Best Picture, then called Outstanding Production.
50Songs from the last year of the 1920s are also about to become publicly available for use.
51Cole Porter's compositions, What is this thing called love?
52And Tiptoe Through the Tulips are among the highlights, as is the jazz classic Ain't Misbehavin', written by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks.
53Different laws cover sound recordings.
54Those newly in the public domain date to 1924.
55They include a recording of Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen from star and civil rights icon Marion Anderson and Rhapsody in Blue, performed by its composer George Gershwin.
56I'm Katie Weaver.
57And I'm Dorothy Gundy.
58I'm Katie Weaver.
59I'm Katie Weaver.
60I'm Katie Weaver.
61I'm Katie Weaver.
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