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96-441: Fleischer Studios ( / ˈ f l aɪ ʃ ər / ) was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer , who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures , the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in

192-692: A Dr Pepper television commercial, and in 1985, he and Liza Minnelli , the daughter of his Oz costar Judy Garland , starred in That's Dancing! , a film written by Jack Haley Jr. , the son of Jack Haley , who portrayed the Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Oz . In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California , Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. In 2016, the City of Boston commissioned

288-410: A budget of $ 50,000, the highest ever for a Fleischer theatrical short, and was nominated for an Academy Award . The animated Superman series, with its action-adventure and science fiction fantasy content, was a huge success, but that did not help the studio out of its financial trouble. It was penalized $ 350,000 for going over budget on Gulliver's Travels , and the revenues earned from the rentals of

384-559: A featured role in The Harvey Girls . Also that year, he recorded a children's album, The Churkendoose , featuring the story of a misfit fowl ("part chicken, turkey, duck, and goose"), which teaches children that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it "all depends on how you look at things". Bolger's Broadway credits included Life Begins at 8:40 (1934), On Your Toes (1936), By Jupiter (1942), All American (1962) and Where's Charley? (1948), for which he won

480-454: A labor strike beginning in May 1937 which lasted for five months. This strike was a test case, the first launched in the motion picture industry, and produced a nationwide boycott of Fleischer cartoons for the duration. Max Fleischer had been petitioning Paramount for three years about producing an animated feature. Paramount vetoed his proposals until the proven success of Disney's Snow White and

576-601: A longer running manga or animated series. As the OAV market is not adapted to the rigors that are faced by television shows or feature films, they have been known to show gratuitous amounts of violence and/or pornography. Some OAV's have registered such strong acclaim that they have been remade as anime television series as well as theatrical releases. Since most new OVA's are derived from other animated media, many animation studios that have previously worked on animated series or movies, and adaptations of Japanese manga, have now entered

672-431: A major influence on many underground and alternative cartoonists. Kim Deitch , Robert Crumb , Jim Woodring , and Al Columbia are among the creators who have specifically acknowledged their inspiration. Much of Richard Elfman 's 1980 cult film Forbidden Zone is a live action pastiche of the early Fleischer Studios style. The Fleischer style was also used in the 1995 animated series The Twisted Tales of Felix

768-655: A mock-challenge dance with the band's pianist, Al Lerner . On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Bolger's performance was interrupted by President Roosevelt 's announcement of the news of the attack. Bolger toured in USO shows in the Pacific Theater during World War II , and appeared in the United Artists wartime film Stage Door Canteen (1943). In 1946, he returned to MGM for

864-865: A mural in Ray Bolger's honor in the Codman Square section of the Dorchester neighborhood. Bolger was married to Gwendolyn Rickard for more than 57 years. They had no children. He was a Roman Catholic and a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California . Bolger was a lifelong Republican who campaigned for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election and Richard Nixon in

960-506: A new animation studio, Studio Ghibli , which would be used for the personal works of Miyazaki and his close friend, Isao Takahata . Many of Ghibli's works have become Japan's top-grossing theatrical films, whether in live-action or animated form. The market for 'OAV's or ' Original Anime Video ' later the acronym would be better known as 'OVA' meaning 'Original video animation' as the term 'OAV' could often be misunderstood for 'Original Adult Video', began in 1984. These are often tended towards

1056-515: A new contract with Paramount to produce a revival of the "Bouncing Ball" song films, re-branded as Screen Songs , with The Sidewalks of New York as the first release on February 5, 1929. The early experiments with sound synchronization gave Fleischer Studios experience in perfecting the post-production method of recording, aided by several inventions by founder, Max Fleischer. With the conversion to sound, Paramount needed more sound films, and cartoons could be produced faster than feature films. As

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1152-508: A profitable enterprise and many have entered the made for television market since, with Joseph Barbera and William Hanna refining the production process for television animation on their show Ruff and Reddy . It was in 1958 that The Huckleberry Hound Show claimed the title of being the first all-new half-hour cartoon show. This, along with their previous success with the series Tom and Jerry , elevated their animation studio, H.B. Enterprises (later Hanna-Barbera Productions ), to dominate

1248-550: A very small core group. After being bought out or sold to other companies, they eventually consolidated with other studios and became larger. The drawback of this setup was that there was now a major thrust towards profitability with the management acting as a damper towards creativity of these studios, continuing even in today's scenario. Currently, the independent animation studios are looking to ensure artistic integrity by signing up with big animation studios on contracts that allow them to license out movies, without being directed by

1344-432: Is a director of animation. Dave Fleischer's role during production is more in line with a creative supervisor. Animation studio The idea of a studio dedicated to animating cartoons was spearheaded by Raoul Barré and his studio, Barré Studio , co-founded with Bill Nolan , beating out the studio created by J.R. Bray , Bray Productions , to the honor of the first studio dedicated to animation. Though beaten to

1440-535: Is dated around 1917, but it would take until 1956 for the Japanese animation industry to successfully adopt the studio format as used in the United States. In 1961, these productions began to be aired in the US. Toei Animation , formed in 1948, was the first Japanese animation studio of importance and saw the reduction of animators as independent anime artists. After the formation of Toei Animation Co. Ltd. in 1948,

1536-606: Is subject to local intellectual property rights. The animators must also be aware of the contracts laws and labour laws prevalent in the jurisdiction to which the animation studio is subject to. There have been numerous legal battles fought over the copyright of famous franchises, such as Kung Fu Panda and SpongeBob SquarePants . This has come about as a result of the clause in Copyright contracts that states that an idea cannot be protected, only an actual piece of work can be said to be infringed upon. This means that though

1632-461: The Screen Songs returned Fleischer to the established song film format, a new sound series, Talkartoons replaced the silent Inkwell Imps , the first being Noah's Lark released on October 25, 1929. Earlier entries in the series were one-shot cartoons, until the appearance of Bimbo as of the fourth entry. Bimbo evolved through several redesigns in each cartoon for the first year. While

1728-499: The 1968 election. Bolger had 11 nieces and nephews. Bolger was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1986, and at the end of that year, his health deteriorated and he left his Beverly Hills home to live at a nursing home in Los Angeles, where he died on January 15, 1987, at the age of 83. At the time of his death, Bolger was the last surviving main-credited cast member of The Wizard of Oz . At Judy Garland's funeral, Bolger

1824-637: The Color Classics series starting in 1934, but with the exclusivity of the three-color process still held by Disney, Fleischer Studios used the available two-color processes, Cinecolor , a two-emulsion red and blue process, and Two-color Technicolor , using red and green. By 1936, the Disney exclusivity had expired, and Fleischer Studios used the three-color process in its color cartoons beginning with Somewhere in Dreamland and continued using it for

1920-519: The Hays Code resulted in severe censorship for films. This affected the content of all of Paramount's films as well, which tended to reflect a more "mature" tone in the features of the Marx Brothers , W.C. Fields , and most of all, Mae West . As a result, each of these stars was released as Paramount changed the content of its films to reflect a more "general audience" in order to comply with

2016-469: The Popeye cartoons had to be used to offset the loss of $ 250,000 incurred by the rejection of cartoons in 1940. While profits dwindled, Paramount continued to advance money to Fleischer Studios to continue the production of cartoons with its focus mainly on Popeye , Superman , and Mr. Bug Goes to Town , a new feature film for the 1941 Christmas season. On May 24, 1941, Paramount demanded reimbursement on

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2112-403: The Popeye cartoons, in 1986. A small number of Popeye cartoons have also entered the public domain. Superman , the other series based on licensing, reverted to National Comics after Paramount's rights to the character expired. TV syndication rights were initially licensed to Flamingo Films, distributors of the 1950s Adventures of Superman TV series. All 17 entries in this series entered

2208-734: The Scarecrow had already been assigned to another dancing, studio-contract player, Buddy Ebsen . In time, the roles were shuffled around. Bolger's face was permanently lined by wearing the Scarecrow's makeup. Following The Wizard of Oz , Bolger moved to RKO Pictures . In 1941, he was a featured act at the Paramount Theatre in New York, working with the Harry James Band . He would do tap dance routines, sometimes in

2304-600: The Superman series. These include a 1991 VHS set produced by Bosko Video, titled The Complete Superman Collection: Golden Anniversary Edition – The Paramount Cartoon Classics of Max & Dave Fleischer released as two volumes which featured transfers from 35mm prints. It was reissued on DVD as The Complete Superman Cartoons — Diamond Anniversary Edition in 2000 by Image Entertainment , and Superman Adventures in 2004 by Platinum Disc Corporation. A third (and more "official") compilation using restored and remastered materials

2400-694: The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and in which he introduced "Once in Love with Amy", the song often connected with him. He repeated his stage role in the 1952 film version of the musical. Bolger appeared in his own ABC television sitcom with a variety show theme, Where's Raymond? (1953–1954), renamed the second year as The Ray Bolger Show (1954–55). He continued to star in several films, including Walt Disney's remake of Babes in Toyland (1961) and smaller cameos throughout

2496-531: The 1920s, Fleischer was one of the leading producers of animation with clever moments and numerous innovations. These innovations include the "Rotograph", an early "Aerial Image" photographic process for compositing animation with live action backgrounds. Other innovations included Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes and sing-along shorts (featuring the famous " bouncing ball "), a precursor to karaoke . In 1924, distributor Edwin Miles Fadiman and Hugo Riesenfeld formed

2592-618: The 1930s. Fleischer Studios included Out of the Inkwell and Talkartoons characters like, Koko the Clown , Betty Boop , Bimbo , Popeye the Sailor , and the comic character Superman . Unlike other studios, whose characters were anthropomorphic animals, the Fleischers' most successful characters were humans (with the exception of Bimbo, a black-and-white cartoon dog). The cartoons of

2688-610: The 1960s and 1970. Bolger made frequent guest appearances on television, including the episode "Rich Man, Poor Man" of the short-lived The Jean Arthur Show in 1966. In the 1970s, he had a recurring role as Fred Renfrew, the father of Shirley Partridge ( Shirley Jones ) on The Partridge Family , and appeared in Little House on the Prairie as Toby Noe and also guest-starred on other television series, such as Battlestar Galactica , Fantasy Island , and The Love Boat . In

2784-703: The 1980s, often on inexpensive videotapes sold in supermarkets and discount stores. Animation fans, the UCLA Film and Television Archive , and more recently the Max Fleischer estate and Paramount Pictures (via the Republic/Melange library) have worked to release high-quality restored editions of the Fleischer cartoons. These have also been made available on pay-cable, home video, DVD , and online on YouTube . Many of these restored versions now include

2880-458: The Cat . The studio's art style and surreal atmosphere was a central influence on the indie game Cuphead , with the studio being described as "magnetic north" for the game's art style. Genndy Tartakovsky has also cited the works of the studio as a major inspiration for the look of his 2023 animated series Unicorn: Warriors Eternal . Note: An animator who is credited first in a Fleischer cartoon

2976-589: The Chorus, also known as Backstage Comedies, was one of the Red Seal series that featured Max's daughter, Ruth, in a supporting role. Ray Bolger made his screen debut in this series and dated Ruth for a short time. Red Seal released cartoon novelty series such as The Animated Hair cartoons by cartoonist "Marcus", and Inklings . The Animated Hair series resembled the on-screen hand drawing gimmick established in Out of

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3072-525: The Clown in 1924. In 1921, The Bray Studio ran afoul of legal issues, having contracted for more films than it could deliver to its distributor, Goldwyn Pictures . The Fleischer Brothers left and began their own studio Out of the Inkwell Films with Dave Fleischer as director and production supervisor, and Max as producer, at 129 East 45th Street, later to 1600 Broadway , Midtown Manhattan , New York City . In 1924, animator, Dick Huemer came to

3168-493: The Clown, Bimbo and Grampy , though courts have never supported their ownership claims. It is headed by Max's grandson Mark Fleischer, who oversees merchandising activities. Fleischer Studios utilizes King Features Syndicate to license Fleischer characters for various merchandise. In 2021, after decades of being shown in altered and worn prints, the Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored company

3264-621: The Fleischer Popeye cartoons in three volumes as part of the Popeye the Sailor DVD collection. VCI Entertainment/Kit Parker Films' DVD compilation of all the Color Classics (except The Tears of an Onion ), entitled Somewhere In Dreamland , was released in 2003. It includes only a fraction of shorts remastered from 35mm film, but otherwise taken from the best available sources Kit Parker could provide VCI, and digitally recreating

3360-470: The Fleischer Studio were very different from those of Disney, both in concept and in execution. As a result, they were rough rather than refined and consciously artistic rather than commercial, but in their unique way, their artistry was expressed through a culmination of the arts and sciences. This approach focused on surrealism, dark humor, adult psychological elements, and sexuality. Furthermore,

3456-715: The Fleischer Studios produced three two-reel Popeye featurettes, Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936), Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937), and Popeye the Sailor Meets Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp (1939). This series of longer-format cartoons were an indication of the emergence of the animated feature film as a commercially viable project beginning with Walt Disney's Snow White and

3552-521: The Inkwell . In this case, "Marcus" produced high-quality ink line portraits of celebrities and political figures. Then through stop motion animation techniques, the lines and forms would break away to entertainingly re-form the portrait into another. Inklings was similar in concept to the Animated Hair films, but was more of a visual puzzle novelty using a variety of progressive scratch-off/reveal techniques and rearranged animated cutouts to change

3648-728: The Japanese studios churned out minor works of animation. But with the release of Toei's first theatrical feature, The Tale of the White Serpent released in October 1958, the animation industry in Japan came into the eye of the general public. The success of Alakazam the Great led to the finding of the artist Osamu Tezuka , who would go on to become the father of Japanese manga with his brand of modern, fast-paced fantasy storylines. He became influenced by Hanna-Barbera productions of

3744-455: The Miami period due to complications associated with the pressures of finishing the studio's first feature film and Dave's very public adulterous affair with his secretary, Mae Schwartz. Max and Dave stopped speaking to each other altogether by the end of 1939, communicating solely by memo. Dave gained total control of production in 1940, relegating Max to business affairs and research. The studio

3840-858: The North American and European markets, direct-to-video animation has seen a rise, as a concept, in the Western markets. With many comic characters receiving their versions of OVA 's, original video animations , under the Westernized title of direct-to-video animations, the OVA market has spread to American animation houses. Their popularity has resulted in animated adaptations of comic characters ranging from Hellboy , Green Lantern and Avengers . Television shows such as Family Guy and Futurama also released direct-to-video animations. DC Comics have continually released their own animated movies for

3936-406: The North American television animation market during the latter half of the 20th century. In 2002, Shrek , produced by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature . Since then, Disney / Pixar have produced the most number of movies either to win or be nominated for the award. Though the term "direct-to-video" carries negative connotations in

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4032-413: The OVA market, looking to capitalize on the popularity of their flagship shows. Studios participating in such circumstances include Production I.G and Studio Deen . Although there are permanent/full-time positions in studios, most animators work on a contract basis. There are some animators that are considered to be in the core group of the studio, which can either be as a result of being there since

4128-550: The Out of the Inkwell Films studio and redesigned "The Clown" for more efficient animation. Huemer's new design and experience as an animator moved them away from their dependency on the rotoscope for fluid animation. In addition to defining the clown, Huemer established the Fleischer style with its distinctive thick and thin ink lines. In addition, Huemer created Ko-Ko's companion, Fitz the Dog, who would evolve into Bimbo in 1930. Throughout

4224-728: The Red Seal Pictures Corporation. Riesenfeld was the theatrical manager of the Strand, Rivoli, and Rialto theaters on Broadway. Because the Out of the Inkwell films were a major part of the program in Riesenfeld's theaters, the Fleischers were invited to become partners. The Red Seal Company committed to an ambitious release schedule of 26 films with The Inkwell Studio as the primary supplier. The following year, Red Seal released 141 films that included documentaries, short comedy subjects, and live-action serials. Carrie of

4320-750: The Rye , My Wife's Gone to the Country , Margie, Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning , Sweet Adeline, Old Black Joe , Come Take A Trip in My Airship , and By the Light of the Silvery Moon . Red Seal owned 56 theaters, extending as far west as Cleveland, Ohio. But after only two years of operation, Red Seal was broke. Max Fleischer sought an appointment of receiver in bankruptcy in October 1926. Just as

4416-523: The Seven Dwarfs (1937). The Fleischer Studios had reached its zenith by 1936, with four series and 52 annual releases. Due to the phenomenal success of the Popeye cartoons, Paramount demanded more, and the Fleischer Studio experienced rapid expansion in order to balance out the increased workload. The crowded conditions, production speedups, drawing quotas, and internal management problems resulted in

4512-516: The Seven Dwarfs (1937). Paramount now wanted an animated feature for a 1939 Christmas release. This request came at the time of preparations for relocating to Miami, Florida . While the relocation had been a consideration for some time, its final motivation was made a reality due to lower corporate tax structures and an alleged escape from the remaining hostility from the strike. The new Fleischer Studio opened in October 1938, and production on its first feature, Gulliver's Travels (1939), went from

4608-498: The Seven Dwarfs , which laid the foundation for other studios to try to make full-length movies. In 1932 Flowers and Trees , a production by Walt Disney Productions and United Artists , won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . This period, from the 1920s to the 1950s or sometimes considered from 1911 to the death of Walt Disney in 1966, is commonly known as the Golden Age of American Animation as it included

4704-477: The animators may have forwarded ideas to the animation studios about certain characters and plots, these ideas alone cannot be protected and can lead to studios profiting on individual animator's ideas. However, this has not stopped many independent artists from filing claims to characters produced by different studios. Due to the wide range of animation techniques and styles, many animation studios typically specialize in certain types. Traditional animation employs

4800-547: The bigger studios. Examples of such co-operation are the joint ventures between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and that of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Studios . On August 22, 2016, Comcast's NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation , appointing Meledandri oversee Comcast's Universal Animation/DreamWorks/Illumination, Disney's Disney Animation/Pixar/20th Century Animation, & Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Animation/Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. The first known example of Japanese animation, also called anime ,

4896-583: The copyrights, which placed the majority of the Fleischer film library (including the Color Classics series, the Screen Songs series, and Gulliver's Travels ) into the public domain . Mr. Bug Goes to Town , various Betty Boop cartoons, and the 1938 Color Classic , The Tears of an Onion , are among the few films that remain under copyright to Melange Pictures, LLC. In the mid-1970s, NTA converted 85 black and white Betty Boop cartoons to color through Fred Ladd's Color Systems company. The process

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4992-641: The development stage begun in New York to active production in Miami. The score was by Paramount staff composer, Victor Young and recorded at the Paramount west coast facilities. While limited to only 60 theaters in a one-month release, Gulliver's Travels earned more than $ 3 million, in spite of exceeding its original $ 500,000 estimated cost. Accordingly, a second feature was ordered for the Christmas period, Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941). The personal relationship between Max and Dave Fleischer deteriorated during

5088-731: The end of the Imps contract. Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. filed bankruptcy in January 1929. In March, Max formed Fleischer Studios with Dave as his partner. Operations were first set up at the Carpenter-Goldman Laboratories in Queens. With a skeleton staff, Fleischer Studios started out doing industrial films, most notably, Finding His Voice , a technical demonstration film explaining Western Electric's Variable Density recording and reproduction system. Max Fleischer secured

5184-605: The environments were grittier and urban, often set in squalid surroundings, reflecting the Great Depression as well as German Expressionism . The Fleischer Studio was built on Max Fleischer 's novelty film series Out of the Inkwell (1918–1927). The novelty was based largely on the results of the " rotoscope ", invented by Fleischer to produce realistic animation. The first Out of the Inkwell films were produced through The Bray Studio . They featured Fleischer's first character, "The Clown", which became known as Ko-Ko

5280-611: The first MGM film in Technicolor , starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald . He also appeared in the Eleanor Powell vehicle Rosalie (1937), which also starred Eddy and Frank Morgan. Bolger's MGM contract stipulated that he would play any part the studio chose. However, he was unhappy when he was originally cast as the Tin Woodman in the studio's 1939 feature-film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz . The role of

5376-452: The first forays of animation designed for the smaller screen and was to be followed by the first animated series specifically made for television, Crusader Rabbit , in 1948. Its creator, Alex Anderson , had to create the studio 'Television Arts Productions' specifically for the purpose of creating this series as his old studio, Terrytoons , refused to make a series for television. Since Crusader Rabbit, however, many studios have seen this as

5472-519: The growth of Disney, as well as the rise of Warner Bros. Cartoons and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio as prominent animation studios. Disney continued to lead in technical prowess among studios for a long time afterwards, as can be seen with their achievements . In 1941, Otto Messmer created the first animated television commercials for Botany Tie ads/weather reports. They were shown on NBC-TV in New York until 1949. This marked

5568-414: The home video market, while not tending to the television or theatrical audience as such. They refer to those movies that are launched as direct-to-video releases and not meant to be released in theatres. Video productions can run from half an hour productions to well over two hours. They require that premise or story be original in order to be counted as an OVA, though sometimes, the story can be derived from

5664-446: The images. It was during this time that Lee de Forest started filming his Phonofilms experiments featuring several of the major Broadway headliners. The Red Seal company began acquiring more theaters outside of New York and equipped them with sound equipment produced by Lee de Forest , displaying "talkies" three years before the sound revolution began. Because of Max's interest in technology, Riesenfeld introduced him to de Forest. It

5760-421: The inception of the company or being talented recruits from other animation studios. These are the more secure positions in an animation studio, though the studio might have policies concerning the possible tenure of animators. Since studios can hire animators on a work for hire basis nowadays, many artists do not retain rights over their creations, unlike some of the early animators. The extent of these copyrights

5856-440: The intent was to develop him as the star of the series, it was the cameo appearance of a Helen Kane caricature in the seventh entry, Dizzy Dishes that took center stage. Audience reactions to the New York preview were so great that Paramount encouraged the continued development of the most famous character to come from the Fleischer Studio by that time, Betty Boop . While originated as a hybrid human/canine character, Betty Boop

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5952-575: The late 1950s and made Japan's first made for television animation studio, Mushi Productions . The success of the studios' first show in 1963, Astro Boy , was so immense that there were 3 other television animation studios by the end of the year and Toei had opened their own made for television division. The greatest difference between Japanese studios and North American studios was the difference in adult-themed material to make way in Japan. Tezuka's thought that animation should not be restricted to kids alone has brought about many studios that are employed in

6048-400: The late 1970s, Bolger played in a commercial for Safeway Supermarket's "Scotch Buy" brand, in which he popularized the jingle, "Scotch Buy – 'taint fancy, but it shore is good." His last television appearance was on Diff'rent Strokes in 1984, three years before his death. In 1976 Bolger performed the opening number for the 48th Academy Awards ceremony. In his later years, he danced in

6144-520: The male lead Junior, as well as the hero of the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue ballet within the musical, Bolger signed his first cinema contract with MGM in 1936, and although The Wizard of Oz was early in his film career, he appeared in other movies of note. His best-known pre-Oz appearance was The Great Ziegfeld (1936), in which he portrayed himself. He also appeared in Sweethearts (1938),

6240-473: The month before, and Paramount finished out the last five months of the Fleischer contract without the Fleischer brothers. The last cartoon produced at the credited Fleischer Studios was the Superman cartoon Terror on the Midway . Paramount formed a new company, Famous Studios , as a successor to Fleischer Studios effective on July 3, 1942. With the exception of the Superman and Popeye cartoons, Paramount's cartoon library of releases prior to October 1950

6336-437: The new Code and stay in business. Paramount had also gone through three reorganizations from bankruptcy between 1931 and 1936. The new management under Barney Balaban set out to make more general audience films of the type made at MGM, but for lower budgets. This change in content policy affected the content of cartoons that Fleischer was to produce for Paramount, which urged emulation of the Walt Disney product. While Paramount

6432-435: The original front-and-end Paramount titles. Most of the silent Fleischer titles from the Out of the Inkwell / Inkwell Imps series have entered the public domain. An official Betty Boop VHS set, Betty Boop Confidential , was released by Republic Pictures in 1995, included several black-and-white Betty Boop cartoons as well as Betty's only color appearance, Poor Cinderella . There have been several video releases for

6528-429: 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. VCI Entertainment also released a DVD compilation of all the public domain Popeye cartoons (both Fleischer and Famous) entitled Popeye the Sailor Man Classic Cartoons: 75th Anniversary Collector's Edition in 2004. In Japan , Mr. Bug Goes to Town

6624-438: The penalties still owed after 18 months and assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, Inc. The Fleischers remained in control of production until that November. Mr. Bug Goes to Town , intended for release in December 1941, was not released until February 1942, and never recouped its costs. In spite of living up to his contractual obligations and delivering the film, Max Fleischer was asked to resign. Dave Fleischer had resigned

6720-431: The post of being the first studio, Bray's studio employee, Earl Hurd , came up with patents designed for mass-producing the output for the studio. As Hurd did not file for these patents under his own name but handed them to Bray, they would go on to form the Bray-Hurd Patent Company and sold these techniques for royalties to other animation studios of the time. The biggest name in animation studios during this early time

6816-479: The premier vaudeville theater in the United States. His limber body and improvisational dance movements won him many leading roles on Broadway in the 1930s. Eventually, his career also encompassed film, television, and nightclub work. In 1932 he was elected to the theater club The Lambs and performed on opening night at Radio City Music Hall in December 1932. After starring in Richard Rodgers ' first stage production of On Your Toes in 1936, in which he played

6912-560: The production of adult-themed adaptations of classic stories such as Heidi ( Heidi, Girl of the Alps ), One Thousand and One Nights and The Diary of a Young Girl and many more. In the 1980s, animation studios were led back to their theatrical roots due to the success of Hayao Miyazaki 's film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , which led publishing house Tokuma Shoten to finance

7008-442: The public domain in the late 1960s, when National failed to renew their copyrights. Nevertheless, the Superman and Popeye cartoons are now under the ownership of Warner Bros. , a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery ; Warner bought the original film elements to the Superman series in 1969, after becoming a sibling (and later the parent) to DC Comics. Most of the Fleischer color titles have been widely available on video since

7104-403: The remainder of its active years. The Fleischer Studio's greatest success came with the licensing of E.C. Segar 's comic strip character Popeye the Sailor beginning in 1933. Popeye eventually became the most popular series the studio ever produced, and its success surpassed Walt Disney 's Mickey Mouse cartoons, documented by popularity polls. With the availability of full spectrum color,

7200-640: The resulting frames are played back. Notable studios specializing in this style of animation include Aardman Animations , Laika and ShadowMachine . 3D animation is the newest of the animation techniques, using the assistance of computers and software, such as Houdini , to create 3D models that are then manipulated and rendered to create movement. Notable studios include Pixar Animation Studios , Sony Pictures Imageworks , Blue Sky Studios , Illumination , DNEG and Marza Animation Planet . Ray Bolger Raymond Wallace Bolger ( / ˈ b oʊ l dʒ ər / ; January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987)

7296-491: The same year. In March of 2023, a week long screening event took place at the Museum of Modern Art which showcased around 60 brand new Fleischer restorations. The loose, improvisatory animation , frequently surreal action generally termed "The New York Style" (particularly in films such as Snow White and Bimbo's Initiation ), grungy atmosphere, and racy pre-Code content of the early Fleischer Studios cartoons have been

7392-504: The situation looked hopeless, Alfred Weiss appeared from the horizon with a Paramount contact. The Paramount deal provided financing and distribution, but due to legal complications of the bankruptcy, the title to Out of the Inkwell was changed to The Inkwell Imps (1927–1929) and the studio was renamed Inkwell Studios. One year into the relationship, the Fleischer Brothers discovered mismanagement under Weiss and left before

7488-417: The sole purpose of sale in the direct-to-video market. With growing worries about piracy, direct to video animation might become more popular in the near future. With the growth of animation as an industry, the trends of ownership of studios have gradually changed with time. Current studios such as Warner Bros. and early ones such as Fleischer Studios , started life as small, independent studios, being run by

7584-399: The theatrical rights. The Popeye series, a property licensed from King Features Syndicate , was acquired by Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) , which later became part of United Artists (for info on the Popeye retitling, see the a.a.p. article) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Turner Entertainment Co. , after briefly owning MGM outright, settled for ownership of the library, including

7680-634: The top Black Jazz performers of the day including Louis Armstrong ( I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal, You ), Don Redman ( I Heard ), and most notably, the three cartoons made with Cab Calloway , Minnie the Moocher , Snow White , and The Old Man of the Mountain . This was considered a bold action in light of the Jim Crow policies active in the South where such films would not be shown. In 1934,

7776-513: The use of hand-drawn frames, and is used in the world of cartoons, movies and anime. Notable studios that specialize in this style include Studio Ghibli , Cartoon Saloon , Nickelodeon Animation Studio , Disney Television Animation , 20th Television Animation , Warner Bros. Animation , Cartoon Network Studios , Titmouse , Ufotable , Studio Chizu and CoMix Wave Films . Stop-motion animation uses objects that are incrementally moved and photographed in order to create an illusion of movement when

7872-400: Was Disney Brothers Animation Studio (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios ), co-founded by Walt and Roy O. Disney . Started on October 16, 1923, the studio went on to make its first animated short, Steamboat Willie in 1928, to much critical success, though the real breakthrough was in 1937, when the studio was able to produce a full-length animated feature film i.e. Snow White and

7968-410: Was a large organization with a network of theaters, its fiscal consciousness was largely responsible for preventing Fleischer Studios from acquiring the three-strip Technicolor process, leaving it available for a four-year exclusivity with Walt Disney , who created a new market for color cartoons, established by Academy Award winner, Flowers and Trees (1932). Paramount acquiesced to the release of

8064-534: Was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian , and stage performer (particularly musical theater) who started his movie career in the silent-film era. Bolger was a major Broadway performer in the 1930s and beyond. He is best known for his roles in The Wizard of Oz (1939) as the Scarecrow and in Walt Disney 's holiday musical fantasy Babes in Toyland in 1961 as the villainous Barnaby. Bolger

8160-630: Was born into a large Irish-American family in Bridgewater, Massachusetts . Bolger grew up and attended school in the Codman Square section of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston . His entertainment aspirations evolved from the vaudeville shows of his youth. He began his career in a vaudeville tap show, creating the act "Sanford & Bolger" with his dance partner. In 1926, he danced at New York City's legendary Palace Theatre ,

8256-464: Was corrected on all subsequent prints exhibited on television. Before U.M.& M. had finished the title alterations, the company was bought by National Telefilm Associates . NTA placed their logo at the heads and tails of the films and blacked out references to Paramount, Technicolor , Cinecolor and Polacolor . The majority of the Fleischer cartoons were off the air by the mid 60s when the original copyrights were due for renewal. NTA failed to renew

8352-401: Was done by having the cartoons traced and re-colored by Korean animators. These were packaged in 1976 under the title Betty Boop for President . This was refashioned as a compilation feature, Hooray for Betty Boop , and ran on HBO in 1980. Paramount has reacquired ownership of the original Fleischer film library (through their acquisition of Republic Pictures ) since 1996 and continues to own

8448-469: Was in need of new products going into the new decade, but the new shorts series that debuted in 1939 and 1940, Gabby , Stone Age Cartoons , and Animated Antics , were unsuccessful. Theater operators complained, with the Popeye cartoons having the only value. Paramount acquired the rights to comic book superhero Superman in 1941, and the Fleischers were assigned to work on a series of animated Superman shorts. The first entry, Superman , had

8544-537: Was originally sold to U.M. & M. TV Corporation in 1955. A condition of the purchase required the removal of the Paramount logos and copyright lines from the main titles. As soon as the Fleischer library was sold to television, Max Fleischer noticed that some of the cartoons were being shown without his name in the credits, which was a violation of his original contracts. On June 17, 1956, Max Fleischer filed suit against Paramount and its TV distribution partners, seeking $ 2,750,000 in damages. The infringement on his name

8640-571: Was released in November 2006 by Warner Home Video as part of their DVD box set of Superman films . In 2009, Warner gave these Superman shorts their own stand-alone 2-disc DVD release, Max Fleischer's Superman: 1941–1942 . Olive Films, under exclusive license from Melange/Viacom, acquired the rights to the 66 non-public domain Betty Boop cartoons, and released four volumes of Betty Boop DVDs and Blu-rays. Warner Home Video has released all of

8736-571: Was released on DVD in April 2010 by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment as part of the Studio Ghibli 's Ghibli Museum Library collection. In 1985, DC Comics named Fleischer Studios as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great for its work on the Superman cartoons . Today, a new iteration of Fleischer Studios effectively holds the rights to Betty Boop and associated characters such as Koko

8832-520: Was started by Max Fleischer's granddaughter, Jane Fleischer Reid, to focus on the restoration and screening of the Fleischer Studios library. The restoration efforts are a collaboration between film archives around the world including Paramount Pictures which owns the original camera negatives. Beginning with Somewhere in Dreamland ; the restored cartoon had its premiere on the MeTV network in December of

8928-492: Was the host of The Ray Bolger Show on TV from 1953 to 1955, originally titled Where's Raymond? Raymond Wallace Bolger was born at 598 Second St., South Boston , Massachusetts , into a Catholic family of Irish descent. He was the son of James Edward Bolger and Anne C. (née Wallace). His father, James, was a first-generation American of Irish descent, who was born in Fall River, Massachusetts . Bolger's mother "Annie"

9024-465: Was the only one of her Oz costars who attended. He joined Harold Arlen , the composer of " Over the Rainbow ", and his wife, Anya Taranda . They were reported as among the last remaining guests at the conclusion of the service. Whenever asked whether he had received any residuals from telecasts of The Wizard of Oz , Bolger would reply: "No, just immortality. I'll settle for that." Bolger's Scarecrow

9120-601: Was through this partnership that Max produced a number of the Ko-Ko Song Car-tunes as sound releases. Of the 36 song films produced between 1924 and 1927, 12 were produced as sound films beginning in 1926 with standard silent versions as well. The first sound release was Mother Pin a Rose on Me . Other sound releases included Darling Nellie Gray , Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? , When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam' , Coming Through

9216-562: Was transformed into the human character she is known as by 1932. Having become the main attraction of the Talkartoons , she was given her own series, which ran until 1939. The "Jazz Baby" Flapper character, Betty Boop lifted the spirits of Depression Era audiences with her paradoxical mixture of childlike innocence and sexual allure. Being a musical novelty character, she was a natural for theatrical entertainment. Several of her early cartoons were developed as promotional vehicles for some of

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