On January 1, 2025, many people (including myself), celebrate Public Domain Day. What, exactly, is this special event? It’s the day when copyrighted works (including books, poems, movies) from 1929 become available for public use. Also included are sound recordings from 1924. The great thing about Public Domain day is that all sorts of creative material is now freed up for artists to share, adapt, and teach from. Here is a link to the Catalog of Copyrighted Entries managed by the U.S. Copyright Office. And this year, some of the works include books that were once banned for political, moral, obscenity, and/or war trauma reasons including A Farewell to Arms, A Room of One’s Own, and The Sound and the Fury.
Below I’ve only included a brief selection of books, films, musical compositions (from 1929), and sound recordings (from 1924) that are now in the Public Domain. For more information, I encourage you to check out the Catalog of Copyrighted Entries. And here is a brief description of last year’s list. Also, this new Public Domain list is for the United States ONLY. It’s always a good idea to check with other countries’ copyright laws if you’re using a copyrighted work you don’t own. Also, there are all sorts of legal issues going on right now about if specific characters in a story/movie/etc can be copyrighted. So the best practice is to ALWAYS check with a lawyer who specializes in copyright law before using any book/movie/poem/recording/etc. you’re not sure about.
Disclaimer: This article offers a snapshot of what’s entering the Public Domain this year, but it does not constitute legal advice.
A Selection of 1929 Books in the Public Domain:
- The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
- A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
- Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque (first English translation)
- Berlin Alexanderplatz, Alfred Döblin
- A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes
- The Roman Hat Mystery, Ellery Queen (first Ellery Queen mystery)
- Dodsworth, Sinclair Lewis
- Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, Rachel Field
- A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
- Good-Bye to All That, Robert Graves
- Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe
- Mamba’s Daughters, DuBose Heyward
- The Bishop Murder Case, S. S. Van Dine
- Les Enfants Terribles, Jean Cocteau
- The Magic Island, William Seabrook
A Selection of 1929 Films in the Public Domain:
- The Cocoanuts, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley, the first film starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo)
- Disney’s Plane Crazy (sound version), The Karnival Kid (in which Mickey Mouse speaks his first words), The Plowboy (first appearance of Horace Horsecollar), and The Skeleton Dance (the first Silly Symphony cartoon)
- Jungle Jingles, Race Riot, and Weary Willies, along with several other Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts
- Small Talk, the first Our Gang short to be released with sound
- Pandora’s Box (Die Büchse der Pandora) and Diary of a Lost Girl (Tagebuch einer Verlorenen), both directed by G.W. Pabst and starring Louise Brooks
- Say It with Songs, directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Al Jolson (Jolson’s first full-length talkie)
- The Broadway Melody, directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Anita Page and Charles King (the first musical released by MGM and Hollywood’s first all-talking musical)
- Welcome Danger, directed by Clyde Bruckman and starring Harold Lloyd (Lloyd’s first sound film)
- Dynamite, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Conrad Nagel (DeMille’s first sound film)
- On with the Show!, directed by Alan Crosland and starring Betty Compton and Arthur Lake (the first all-talking, all-color feature-length film)
- Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor and starring Daniel L. Haynes and Nina Mae McKinney (one of the first films with an all-Black cast produced by a major studio)
- Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anny Ondra (sound version voiced by Joan Barry; Hitchcock’s first sound film)
- Eternal Love, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring John Barrymore and Camilla Horn
- The Virginian, directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Basil Dean and starring Clive Brook (the first sound film to feature Sherlock Holmes)
- Spite Marriage, directed by Buster Keaton and Edward Sedgwick and starring Keaton
- Bulldog Drummond, directed by F. Richard Jones and starring Ronald Colman
- The Three Masks (Les trois masques), directed by André Hugon and starring Renée Héribel, Jean Toulout and François Rozet (the first French sound film, though filmed in London)
- Behind That Curtain, directed by Irving Cummings and starring Warner Baxter and Lois Moran
- The Black Watch, directed by John Ford and starring Victor McLaglen and Myrna Loy (Ford’s first sound film)
- Where East Is East, directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney
- Land Without Women (Das Land ohne Frauen), directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Conrad Veidt (the first full-length German-speaking sound film)
- Show Boat, directed by Harry Pollard and starring Laura La Plante
- The Desert Song, directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring John Boles and Carlotta King
- Applause, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Helen Morgan
- Disraeli, directed by Alfred E. Green and starring George Arliss
- Woman in the Moon, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Willy Fritsch and Gerda Maurus
- The Love Parade, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald
- Gold Diggers of Broadway, directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner and Nick Lucas
A Selection of 1929 Musical Compositions in the Public Domain:
- “Honeysuckle Rose,” w. Andy Razaf, m. Thomas “Fats” Waller
- “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” w. Andy Razaf, m. Harry “Fats” Waller & Harry Brooks
- “What Is This Thing Called Love?,” w. & m. Cole Porter
- “Am I Blue?,” w. Grant Clarke, m. Harry Akst
- “Singin’ in the Rain,” w. Arthur Freed, m. Nacio Herb Brown
- “Tiptoe Thru’ the Tulips with Me,” w. Al Dubin, m. Joe Burke
- “Moanin’ Low,” w. Howard Dietz, m. Ralph Rainger
- “Happy Days Are Here Again,” w. Jack Yellen, m. Milton Ager
- “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling,” w. Billy Rose, m. Thomas “Fats” Waller & Harry Link
- “You Were Meant for Me,” w. Arthur Freed, m. Nacio Herb Brown
- “I’m a Dreamer, Aren’t We All?,” w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown, m. Ray Henderson
- “Can’t We Be Friends?,” w. Paul James, m. Kay Swift
- “Without a Song,” w. Billy Rose & Edward Eliscu, m. Vincent Youmans
- “My Kinda Love,” w. Jo Trent, m. Louis Alter
A Selection of 1924 Sound Recordings in the Public Domain:
It’s not easy finding and listening to old recordings. But one great source is the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The Library of Congress has made all of the 1924 (and earlier) recordings in its collection available for download. All recordings from 1925 and forward are streaming only until they enter in the Public Domain.
- “Rhapsody in Blue,” Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
- “It Had to Be You,” Marion Harris
- “California, Here I Come,” Al Jolson
- “Somebody Stole My Gal,” Ted Weems and His Orchestra
- “Somebody Loves Me,” Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
- “Memory Lane,” Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians
- “What’ll I Do,” Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
- “I Wonder What’s Become of Sally?,” Al Jolson
- “Wreck of the Old 97,” Vernon Dalhart
- “Jealous,” Marion Harris
- “June Night,” Ted Lewis and His Orchestra
- “Nobody’s Sweetheart,” Isham Jones and His Orchestra
- “Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy,” Uncle Dave Macon
- “Mandalay,” Al Jolson
- “Everybody Loves My Baby,” Louis Armstrong with Clarence Williams’ Blue Five
- “How Come You Do Me Like You Do,” Marion Harris
