Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc. is an
American corporation which originated as an
animation studio located at 1600
Broadway,
New York City, New York. It was founded in
1921 by brothers
Max Fleischer and
Dave Fleischer, who ran the company from its inception until being fired by parent company
Paramount Pictures in January
1942. In its prime, it was the most significant competitor to
Walt Disney Productions, and is notable for bringing to the screen cartoons featuring
Koko the Clown,
Betty Boop,
Popeye the Sailor, and
Superman.
Silent Films
The company had its start when Max Fleischer invented the
rotoscope which allowed for extremely lifelike animation. Using this device, the Fleischer brothers got a contract with
Bray Studio in
1919 to produce their own series called
Out of the Inkwell which featured their first character,
Koko the Clown. This became a very successful series which gave them the confidence to start their own studio in 1921.
Throughout the 1920s, the studio was one of the top producers of animation, with clever humor and numerous innovations. These included
Ko-Ko Song Cartunes, sing-along shorts (featuring "The Famous Bouncing Ball"), which were a precursor to
music videos; and extended length educational films on subjects like
relativity.
The studio even produced some experimental sound films years before
The Jazz Singer. The sound shorts attracted little interest at the time though, in part because only a few theaters were then equipped with electronic speakers.
The studio used
Lee De Forest's methods to produce over a dozen early cartoons with synchronized sound tracks, including,
Come Take a Trip in My Airship,
Darling Nelly Gray,
My Old Kentucky Home, and
In the Good Old Summer Time.
Sound and Color
With the full adoption of sound films in the late 1920s, the studio was one of the few animation companies to successfully make the transition with
Screen Songs, a continuation of the earlier
Ko-Ko Song Cartunes. The first of these was
The Sidewalks of New York, released on
February 5,
1929. In October of that same year, the Fleischers introduced a new series called
Talkartoons. Earlier entries in the series were mostly one-shot cartoons, but a new character,
Bimbo became eventually a staple of the series. Bimbo was quickly upstaged by his girlfriend,
Betty Boop, who quickly became the star of the studio. Betty was the first featured female character in American animation, and she reflected the distinctive adult urban orientation of the studio's product.
 |
Betty Boop, from the opening title sequence of the earliest entries in the Betty Boop Cartoons series. |
The Fleischers' success was further solidified when they licensed
E.C. Segar's
comic strip character
Popeye the Sailor for a cartoon series of his own.
Popeye eventually became the most popular series the Fleischers ever produced, and its success rivaled that of
Walt Disney's
Mickey Mouse cartoons. Three
Technicolor Popeye featurettes were produced in the late 1930s, which were billed in many theatres alongside with or above the main feature.
Unfortunately, the studio's fortunes began to turn as the 1930s continued. In
1934, the
Hays Code was enacted in Hollywood, which meant severe censorship for films. As a result, Betty was desexualized and much of her charm was lost. Even worse, the Fleischers caved in to pressure from their distributor,
Paramount Pictures, to begin emulating the style and content of Walt Disney's cartoons, which robbed the studio of their distinctive flavor. The most notable example of the Fleischers' adaptation of the Disney style was their
Color Classics series, which was essentially a copy of Disney's
Silly Symphonies.
Later period
Fleischer Studios' efforts to emulate the Disney studio culminated in the production of animated feature films, following the success of Disney's
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Paramount loaned Fleischer the money for a larger studio, which was built in
Miami, Florida in order to take advantage of
tax breaks and to break up
union activity resulting from a bitter 1937 strike. The new Fleischer studio opened in October
1938, and production on the first feature,
Gulliver's Travels, went from the development stage into active production.
Upon its
Christmas 1939 release,
Gulliver performed modestly, although the quality of the story and animation was far behind that of the film it tried to emulate,
Snow White. Between the release of
Gulliver and the follow-up feature,
Mister Bug Goes to Town, the Fleischers produced their best work from this period, a series of high quality shorts based upon the
comic book superhero Superman. The first short in the series, simply titled
Superman, had a budget of $100,000, one of the highest ever for a theatrical short, and was nominated for an
Academy Award.
|
The Superman series, Fleischer Studio's most successful late period project. |
However, this late success did not help the studio lift its financial trouble. The expanded staff of the new Miami studio created a high overhead, necessitating steady production. A number of the shorts turned out during this period, such as the continuing
Popeye shorts and a
1941 adaptation of
Raggedy Ann and Andy, maintained a high level of quality. Others, like the
Stone Age shorts, and the various
Gulliver spin-off series, were among the studio's least successful output.
As profits dwindled, the Fleischers had to continuously request loans from Paramount, putting more and more of the shares of their studio up as collateral. In addition, Max and Dave Fleischer were no longer on friendly speaking terms. Paramount had both Fleischers submit a signed letter of resignation, to be used at Paramount's discretion, in order for the Fleischer Studio to receive financing for the 1940â€"1941 film season. On
May 24 1941, Paramount assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, Inc., and incorporated a new company,
Famous Studios, as the successor to Fleischer Studios, which remained active as a corporate shell. The Fleischers remained in control of production through the end of
1941.
Mister Bug Goes to Town was finally released in December 1941. Unlike
Gulliver,
Mister Bug failed to make an impression of any kind, and sunk quickly. Dave Fleischer left the studio at that time to become the head of
Columbia's
Screen Gems animation studio in
California. With the co-owner of their animation studio now working for a competitor, Paramount produced the letters of resignation and called their loan, bankrupting Fleischer Studios, Inc. and officially removing the Fleischers from control of the studio. Max Fleischer went on to become an employee of the
Jam Handy studio, and
Isadore Sparber,
Dan Gordon, and Max Fleischer's son-in-law
Seymour Kneitel became the new heads of the studio, which was moved from Miami back to New York by
1943. The Fleischers were never a major force in the industry again, but their films and characters have remained popular, and by the 1980s, the Fleischers were recognized as the animation pioneers that they were.
Fleischer Studios is today an in-name-only company, handling the licensing of characters such as Betty Boop and Koko the Clown.
Public Domain
The issue of rights to the Fleischer/Famous Studios cartoon library is complicated. With the exception of the
Superman and
Popeye cartoons, Paramount's cartoon library was originally sold to a company called
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. (which later became National Telefilm Associates [NTA] and
Republic Pictures). U.M.&M. (as well as its NTA successor) altered the original negatives to a majority of the cartoons and modified their original front-and-end credit sequences, either blocking out all references to Paramount or creating new but cheaply done credits. True animation historians and fans should be aware that this was not the way these classic cartoons were originally intended to be seen.
In
1958, the 1950â€"1958 cartoons were sold to Harvey Comics, which also bought the 1958â€"1962 cartoons as well (today they are owned by
Classic Media). The copyright for the Fleischers' cartoons was not renewed by Famous or Paramount, and as a result the majority of the Fleischers' cartoons entered the
public domain. This included the
Color Classics series, the
Superman series, and the two full-length feature films. The
Popeye series did not become public domain as Popeye's trademark was enforced by King Features Syndicate and the cartoons themselves acquired by
Associated Artists Productions (which became part of
United Artists), including the three two-reel
Popeye Color Specials (
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor,
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves, and
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp).
Most of the Fleischers' color films have been widely available on video since the 1980s, often on inexpensive (and poor quality) videotapes sold in supermarkets and department stores as parts of collections of other public-domain cartoons. Both animation fans and the
UCLA Film and Television Archive have worked to give the classic Fleischer cartoons the credit they deserve, and high-quality restored editions of the Fleischer cartoons have also been made available on pay-cable, home video and
DVD. Many of these restored prints include the original front-and-end Paramount titles.
Roughly half of the entries in the
Betty Boop series, and most of those in the
Out of the Inkwell/
Inkwell Imps series have also entered the public domain, though they are not as widely available because of the popular belief among today's video producers that
black-and-white and
silent cartoons in general do not appeal to young children. Some of these cartoons have also appeared in restored versions (mostly with their original credits).
In any case,
DC Comics (via
Warner Bros.) now owns the original film elements to the
Superman series, while
Turner Entertainment (also via Warner Bros.) owns the
Popeye series outright (with the exception, of course, of the later produced 1960s made-for-TV shorts which are owned by King Features Entertainment). Meanwhile, Paramount (through Republic, which the studio's parent company,
Viacom, acquired in
1999), in a twist of irony, now owns the original elements to its 1927â€"1950 output they themselves originally released (in addition to the 1962â€"1967 shorts they have retained the rights to). Paramount now also owns the theatrical and video rights, having inherited them via sister company Republic (whose previous video licensee,
Lions Gate Home Entertainment, had held video rights until September
2005 when Paramount took over), while what is now
CBS Paramount Television now holds most major TV rights (aside from other major and minor/low budget film, TV, and video companies that distribute the public domain cartoons). Although there were official releases in the late 1980s of
Betty Boop compilation VHS and
LaserDisc box sets by
Live Entertainment (Lions Gate's predecessor), and select
Superman cartoons by Warner Home Video (as part of separate VHS and LaserDisc collections of episodes from
The Adventures of Superman TV series of the 1950s), sadly it would take longer for any official DVD releases of the Fleischer cartoons due to Republic's ownership and video license changes, the potential film and/or digital restoration costs, and the financial viablility as the result of releasing restored versions.
Recently however, there have been (and plan to be) some notable video releases â€" at least two separate versions of the
Superman series released on DVD, both of which feature all 17 original episodes:
The Complete Superman Cartoons â€" Diamond Aniversary Edition (released in
2000 by Image Entertainment) and
Superman Adventures (released in 2004 by Platinum Disc Corporation)--a third "official" compilation using restored and remastered materials will be released in November, 2006 by
Warner Home Video as part of their DVD
box set of Superman films; and
VCI Entertainment/
Kit Parker Films' DVD compilation of all the
Color Classics entitled
Somewhere In Dreamland, which includes only a fraction of shorts remastered from 35MM, but otherwise taken from the best available sources Kit Parker could provide VCI, and digitally recreating the original front-and-end Paramount titles. (Animation archivist
Jerry Beck served as consultant for this box set, as well as providing audio commentary for select shorts.)
*
Animation Before Hollywood: The Silent Period*
The Golden Age of American animation*
Toonopedia: Max Fleischer Studio*
Fleischer Sound Cartoons Filmography*
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves at the Internet Archive.
*
"The Real Heroes of Superman" essay on Max Fleischer from Flixens.com
