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95-475: The original plan for Present was to release a double album which devoted one side to each member of the group, who by now were recording virtually as solo artists. With Tork now gone, and record sales waning, the decision was made to pare the track selection down to a single disc. By the time recording had begun in earnest for Present , the Monkees had passed their commercial peak. As Screen Gems ' interest in

190-402: A SG-affiliated production company to produce his own projects with that company. The most notable of these productions was Police Story , an NBC police crime drama. In 1973, Allan Blye and Chris Bearde via Blye-Bearde Productions signed an independent production agreement with Screen Gems to develop their own projects. Also that year, Harry Ackerman, who was vice president of production left

285-425: A big success for Fleischer. That same year, Helen Kane filed a lawsuit against Fleischer, Fleischer Studios, and Paramount claiming that the cartoons were a deliberate caricature of her, created unfair competition, and had ruined her career. The suit went to trial in 1934. Judge Edward J. McGoldrick ruled, "The plaintiff has failed to sustain either cause of action by proof of sufficient probative force." In his opinion,

380-588: A cameo caricature in the early Talkartoon , Dizzy Dishes (1930). Fashioned after popular singer Helen Kane , she originated as a hybrid poodle/canine figure and was such a sensation in the New York preview that Paramount encouraged Fleischer to develop her into a continuing character. While she originated under animator Myron "Grim" Natwick , she was transformed into a human female under Seymour Kneitel and Berny Wolf and became Fleischer's most famous character. The "Betty Boop" series began in 1932 and became

475-480: A combined projector and easel for tracing images from a live-action film. This device, known as the Rotoscope , enabled Fleischer to produce the first realistic animation since the initial works of Winsor McCay . Although his patent was granted in 1917, Max and his brothers Joe and Dave Fleischer made their first series of tests between 1914 and 1916. The Pathé Film exchange offered Max his first opportunity as

570-403: A composited image. This was an improvement over the method used by Bray where a series of 8" x 10" stills were made from motion picture film and used as backgrounds behind animation cels. The Rotograph technique went into more general use as "aerial image photography" and was a staple in animation and optical effects companies for making titles and various forms of matte composites. In addition to

665-547: A demonstration film illustrating the Western Electric Variable Density sound recording and reproduction method. Despite the conflicts with Weiss, Fleischer managed to negotiate a new contract with Paramount to produce a revised version of the "Song Car-tunes", produced with sound and renamed Screen Songs , beginning with The Sidewalks of New York . At this early stage in the sound era, Fleischer produced many technically advanced films that were

760-514: A feature just when he was preparing to move the studio from New York City to Miami, Florida . Once in Miami relations between Max and Dave began deteriorating, beginning with the pressures to deliver their first feature, complicated further by Dave's adulterous affair with his secretary, Mae Schwartz. Jonathan Swift's classic novel Gulliver's Travels was a favorite of Max's and was pressed into production. Fleischer and Paramount originally budgeted

855-539: A film production that specializes in genre films, mainly horror. Screen Gems is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). When producer Pat Sullivan came to Harry Warner to sign a contract with him on his and Otto Messmer 's series Felix the Cat , he declined and instead told his soon-to-be former secretary Margaret J. Winkler that she should form her own company and take control of

950-526: A half-hour dramatic anthology concept to the Ford Motor Company which became Ford Theatre , which was one of the first times a major Hollywood movie studio had produced content for television. They also produced seven episodes of the first season of Cavalcade of America . The name "Screen Gems," at the time, was used to hide the fact that the film studio was entering television production and distribution. Many film studios saw television as

1045-509: A huge hit at the time, "Listen to the Band" has become a sort of theme for the group. Though Nesmith claims the lyrics weren't a plea to be judged on musical merit, people nonetheless chose to view them that way. Rhino records even chose the song's title as the name of the group's box set released in April 1991. Nesmith would later re-record it with his own group The First National Band . "Listen to

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1140-624: A level of success comparable to Walt Disney Productions , Warner Bros. Cartoons , and the MGM Cartoon Studio . The studio's purpose was assumed by an outside producer, United Productions of America (UPA), whose cartoons, including Gerald McBoing-Boing and the Mr. Magoo series, were major critical and commercial successes. Following UPA, a deal with Hanna-Barbera was made in 1957, which lasted until 1967. In 1999, Columbia TriStar International Television produced Totally Tooned In -

1235-621: A metaphoric account of the building and loss of his studio, casting himself as Noah. Following the war, he supervised the production of the animated adaptation of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948), sponsored by Montgomery Ward . Fleischer left Handy in 1953 and returned as production manager for the Bray Studios in New York, where he developed an educational television pilot about unusual birds and animals titled, Imagine That! In 1954, Max's son, Richard Fleischer ,

1330-735: A non-exclusive agreement with the studio for joint distribution of its TV productions. Even though none of Greenway's shows went to SG, Greenway immediately struck out a deal with rival television producer 20th Century-Fox Television in 1964. In 1963, Screen Gens entered music publishing with the purchase of Don Kirshner 's Aldon Music with Kirshner named head of the Columbia-Screen-Gems music division. Four years later, he departed Screen Gems after coming into conflict with The Monkees over their desire to play on their records. Lester Sill replaced Kirshner , and remained head of music publishing until 1985. Screen Gems-Columbia Music

1425-664: A package of Universal Pictures horror films (later shifted to MCA TV ), which was enormously successful in reviving that genre. From 1958 to 1974, under President John H. Mitchell and Vice President of Production Harry Ackerman , Screen Gems delivered TV shows and sitcoms: Dennis the Menace , The Donna Reed Show , Hazel , Here Come the Brides , Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Gidget , Bewitched , I Dream of Jeannie , The Flying Nun , The Monkees , The Girl with Something Extra and The Partridge Family . It

1520-750: A poor Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn . He continued his education at evening high school. He received commercial art training at Cooper Union and formal art instruction at the Art Students League of New York , studying under George Bridgman . He also attended the Mechanics and Tradesman's School in midtown Manhattan . Fleischer began his career at The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . Beginning as an errand boy, he advanced to photographer, photoengraver, and eventually, staff cartoonist. At first, he drew single-panel editorial cartoons, but then graduated to

1615-442: A producer due in part to the fact that Dave had been working there as a film cutter since 1914. Max chose a political satire of a hunting trip by Theodore Roosevelt . After several months of labor, the film was rejected, and Max was making the rounds again when he was reunited with John R. Bray at Paramount Pictures . Bray had a distribution contract with Paramount at the time and hired Max as production supervisor for his studio. With

1710-594: A result, in funding its acquisitions, 18% of Screen Gems' shares was spun off from Columbia and it became a publicly-traded company on the NYSE until 1968. Screen Gems also provided technical assistance and partial control of a private television station in Venezuela , Canal 11 Televisión , which existed from 1966 to 1968. In 1963, William Dozier, who was one of the top Screen Gems employees, and senior vice president of production left to start out Greenway Productions, with

1805-634: A revived TriStar Television on February 21, 1994 to form Columbia TriStar Television . The name "Screen Gems" was also utilized for a syndicated hour-long program for classic television called Screen Gems Network that first aired in 1999 and ran until 2002. The television division is presently known as (and as a name-only unit of) Sony Pictures Television . Television programs produced and/or syndicated by Screen Gems: Note: (*)= Currently owned by Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Bros. Note: (*) = Currently owned by Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery On December 8, 1998, Screen Gems

1900-656: A sideshow clown at Coney Island. It was one of the later tests made from footage of Dave as a clown that interested Bray. Fleischer's initial series was first produced at the Bray Studios and released as a monthly installment in the Bray-Goldwyn Pictograph Screen Magazine from 1919 to 1921. In addition to producing Out of the Inkwell , Max's position at Bray was primarily production manager, and supervisor of several educational and technical films such as The Electric Bell , All Aboard for

1995-604: A studio due to the demand for military training films, Fleischer was brought in as head of the animation department for the industrial film company, The Jam Handy Organization in Detroit, Michigan. While there he supervised the technical and cartoon animation departments, producing training films for the Army and Navy. Fleischer was also involved with top-secret research and development for the war effort including an aircraft bomber sighting system. In 1944, he published Noah's Shoes ,

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2090-498: A syndicated TV package showcasing Columbia's classic cartoon library. With the aid of animation historian Jerry Beck , Columbia restored and remastered the majority of the color Screen Gems cartoons (as well as all the UPA cartoons) from their original 35mm elements. The show aired in several international markets before making its American television debut on Antenna TV on January 8, 2011. They would later be aired on Toon In With Me on

2185-563: A threat to their business, thus it was expected that they would shun the medium. However, Columbia was one of a few studios who branched out to television under a pseudonym to conceal the true ownership of the television arm. That is until 1955, when Columbia decided to use the woman from its logo under the Screen Gems banner, officially billing itself as a part of "the Hollywood studios of Columbia Pictures", as spoken in announcements at

2280-818: A year, the Fleischer brothers started experiencing mismanagement under Weiss and left the company in late 1928. Inkwell Films, Inc. filed for bankruptcy in January 1929, and Fleischer formed Fleischer Studios, Inc. in March 1929. Fleischer first set up operations at Carpenter-Goldman Laboratories in Queens with a small staff (see Fleischer Studios ). After eight months, his new company was solvent enough to move back to its former location at 1600 Broadway, where it remained until 1938. At Carpenter-Goldman, Fleischer began producing industrial films including Finding His Voice (1929),

2375-405: Is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment , a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation . The Screen Gems brand has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation, initially as a cartoon studio, then a television studio, and later on as a film studio. The label currently serves as

2470-584: The Billboard charts. Shortly after the album's release, Nesmith announced that he was leaving the Monkees to form his own group, the First National Band . The album featured two singles: " Listen to the Band ", b/w the non-LP song "Someday Man"; and " Good Clean Fun " b/w "Mommy and Daddy", which upon release reached No. 63 and No. 82 , respectively, in the US, with neither charting in

2565-549: The Superman series has been grossly overstated for decades on the basis of Dave Fleischer's UCLA 1968 Oral History interview by Joe Adamson. The actual figure stated in Fleischer's 1941 contract was in the $ 30,000 range, twice the cost of a Popeye cartoon. Superman was a "serious" type of cartoon that was not being made by rival studios which features anthropomorphic comic animal characters. The science fiction/fantasy elements of Superman appealed to Max's interests, finally leading

2660-541: The MeTV Network in November 2021. Despite these restoration efforts, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has no current plans to release these shorts on DVD or Blu-ray. Since CPE Holdings, Inc. became dormant on May 9, 2024, Sony Pictures Releasing now owns the theatrical distribution on behalf of Columbia Pictures , while Sony Pictures Television owns the television distribution on behalf of CPT Holdings, Inc. to

2755-497: The Motion Picture Country House in 1967. Fleischer died from arterial sclerosis of the brain on September 11, 1972, two months after his 89th birthday. In the announcement of his death, Time Magazine labeled him the "dean of animated cartoons". His death preceded the reclaiming of his star character, Betty Boop, and a national retrospective. The anthology film The Betty Boop Scandals of 1974 started

2850-682: The Nine Network . In the late 1950s, Screen Gems also entered into ownership and operation of television stations. Stations owned by Screen Gems over the years included KCPX (Salt Lake City; now KTVX , owned by Nexstar Media Group ), WVUE-DT (New Orleans; now owned by Gray Television ), WAPA-TV (San Juan; now owned by the Hemisphere Media Group), WNJU (Linden, NJ; now Telemundo / NBCUniversal O&O), and several radio stations as well, including 50,000-watt clear channel WWVA (Wheeling, WV; now owned by iHeartMedia ). As

2945-730: The "Stereoptical Process", a precursor to Disney's Multiplane animation. This technique used 3-D model sets replacing flat pan backgrounds, with the animation cels photographed in front. This technique was used to the greatest degree in the two-reel Popeye Features Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936) and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937). These double-length cartoons demonstrated Fleischer's interest in animated feature films. While Fleischer petitioned for this for three years, it

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3040-462: The "baby" technique of singing did not originate with Kane. Fleischer's greatest business decision came with his licensing of the comic strip character Popeye the Sailor , who was introduced to audiences in the Betty Boop cartoon short, Popeye the Sailor (1933). Popeye became one of the most successful screen adaptations of a comic strip in cinema history. Much of this success was due to

3135-592: The 1941 short The Fox and the Grapes . Based on the Aesop's Fable of the same name, the short would inadvetably spawn Columbia's most successful characters with The Fox and the Crow , a comic duo of a refined Fox and a street-wise Crow. Tashlin's stay at Screen Gems would be short-lived, as he would later leave the studio, following an argument with Columbia higher-ups. When interviewed by Michael Barrier, Tashlin said that

3230-567: The 36 Song Car-Tunes 12 used the De Forest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, the first of which was My Old Kentucky Home in 1926. This preceded Walt Disney 's Steamboat Willie (1928), which has been erroneously cited for decades as the first cartoon to synchronize sound with animation. The Song Car-Tunes series lasted until early 1927 and was interrupted by the bankruptcy of the Red Seal company—just five months before

3325-405: The Band" was originally performed with Tork on their NBC TV Special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee early that same year. That version differs greatly from the single or album release. The album mix of the song has a slightly longer organ bridge section than the single mix does. "Mommy and Daddy" finds Micky overtly tackling the political issue of the treatment of American Indians. The album version

3420-497: The CPT name. Columbia also ran Colex Enterprises , a joint venture with LBS Communications to distribute most of the Screen Gems library, which ended in 1987. In 1985, the name was brought back by Columbia Pictures Television to distribute classic television series from its vaults to first-run syndication. On December 18, 1987, Coca-Cola spun off its entertainment holdings and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. for $ 3.1 billion. It

3515-555: The East Coast, extending as far west as Cleveland, Ohio . During this period, Fleischer invented the " Follow the Bouncing Ball " technique in his Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes series of animated sing-along shorts. In these films, the lyrics of a song appear on screen and theater patrons are encouraged to sing along with the characters. An animated ball bounces across the top of the lyrics to indicate when words should be sung. Of

3610-620: The Fleischer Renaissance with new 35mm prints of a selection of the best Fleischer cartoons made between 1928 and 1934. This was followed by The Popeye Follies . These special theatrical programs generated interest in Max Fleischer as the alternative to Walt Disney, spawning a new wave of film research devoted to an expanded interest in animation beyond trivial entertainment. Notes Citations Also, he appears in Walt

3705-605: The Inkwell Films, Inc. and partnered with his former animator Hal Seeger , to produce 100 color Out of the Inkwell (1960–1961) cartoons for television. Actor Larry Storch performed the voices for Koko the Clown and supporting characters Kokonut and Mean Moe. While Max appeared in the un-aired pilot, he became too ill to appear in the series, and, in poor health, he spent the rest of his life attempting to regain ownership of Betty Boop . Fleischer and wife Essie moved to

3800-451: The Monkees' activities waned, the members were given more control over the creation of the album. Unlike Instant Replay , all but two songs were recorded in 1968 or 1969, and the album was accompanied by a strong advertising push (including a cross promotion with Kool-Aid ) and a tour with Sam & The Goodtimers — a seven-piece R&B backing band. This was the Monkees' last attempt at commercial viability, reaching only No. 100 on

3895-463: The Moon , and Hello, Mars . And it was as production manager that Fleischer hired his first animator, Roland Crandall , who remained with him throughout the active years of Fleischer's studio. Out of the Inkwell featured the novelty of combining live action and animation and served as semi-documentaries with the appearance of Max Fleischer as the artist who dipped his pen into the ink bottle to produce

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3990-644: The Ocean ". In 1939, a short while before his death, after becoming indebted to Columbia, Mintz relinquished ownership of his studio and the Screen Gems name to Columbia to settle longstanding financial problems. Mintz was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Short Subject. His first nomination was in 1935 for Holiday Land , and he was nominated again in 1938 for The Little Match Girl . For an entire decade, Charles Mintz produced Krazy Kat , Scrappy , and Color Rhapsody animated film shorts through Columbia Pictures. Mintz's production manager became

4085-521: The UK. Both singles did much better in Australia, reaching No. 15 and No. 26 , respectively, and giving the Monkees their last hits. The title of "Good Clean Fun", which bears no relation to the lyrics, was a direct response to a music publisher (believed to be Lester Sill ) who told Michael Nesmith that, in order to have hits, he would have to write songs that were "good clean fun". Though not

4180-446: The cartoons made during this period were described as being "misguided" or "imitation Warner Bros." Hubley also said to have disliked his work at the studio, and that Columbia "hated" the cartoons they were making. Historians note that the decline in quality could have been caused by several key factors; Tashlin's departure from the studio, the inability to obtain confident animators, writers or directors and Columbia's mismanagement behind

4275-705: The cartoons. Mintz refused, and hired away all of Walt Disney Studios 's animators except Iwerks, Les Clark, and Johnny Cannon, who all refused to leave Disney. He moved the production of the Oswald cartoons to Winkler Pictures, along with Margaret Winkler's brother, George. After losing the Oswald contract to Walter Lantz , Mintz focused on the Krazy Kat series, which was the output of a Winkler-distributed property. M.J. Winkler Productions became known as Winkler Pictures after Mintz took over in 1926 and partnered with Columbia Pictures for distribution in 1929. In 1931, when

4370-576: The clown figure on his drawing board. While the technique of combining animation with live action was already established by others at the Bray Studio, it was Fleischer's clever use of it combined with Fleischer's realistic animation that made his series unique. In 1921, Max and Dave established Out of the Inkwell Films, Incorporated, and continued production of Out of the Inkwell through various states-rights distributors. "The Clown" had no name until 1924, when Dick Huemer came aboard after animating on

4465-504: The distribution of the series. Winkler formed M.J. Winkler Productions and soon also took control of Max and Dave Fleischer 's series Out of the Inkwell . By 1923 she and Sullivan were arguing, and that same year the Fleischer Brothers formed their own distribution company named Red Seal. Winkler saw an unreleased short called Alice's Wonderland , a cartoon produced and directed by Walt Disney , and became impressed with

4560-529: The early Mutt and Jeff cartoons. He set the style for the series, redesigning "The Clown", and named him "Ko-Ko". Huemer created Ko-Ko's canine companion, known as Fitz, and moved the Fleischers away from their dependency on the Rotoscope for fluid animation, leaving it for special uses and reference points where compositing was involved. Because Max valued Huemer's work, he instructed Huemer to make just

4655-973: The end of some Screen Gems series. By 1952, the studio had produced a series of about 100 film-record coordinated releases for television under the brand "TV Disk Jockey Toons" in which the films "synchronize perfectly with the records". In 1954, the studio started producing Father Knows Best on CBS and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin on ABC, which became their biggest successes at the time. On July 1, 1956, studio veteran Irving Briskin stepped down as stage manager of Columbia Pictures and formed his own production company Briskin Productions, Inc. to release series through Screen Gems and supervise all of its productions. On December 10, 1956, Screen Gems expanded into television syndication by acquiring Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. Serials Inc.) and its affiliated company United Television Films, Inc. Hygo Television Films

4750-474: The film Gulliver's Travels at $ 500,000—the same miscalculation made by Disney with Snow White . The final cost for Gulliver's Travels was $ 1.5 million. It played limited engagements with only 24 prints in 36 theaters during the 1939 Christmas season, but grossed more than $ 3 million during the Christmas week, giving Paramount a profit of $ 1.5 million before going into foreign release. But Fleischer Studios

4845-423: The first major film studio to move into television. Although Harry wasn't convinced by the suggestion, Columbia invested $ 50,000 acquiring Pioneer and reorganized it as Screen Gems. The studio started its new business in New York on April 15, 1949. By 1951, Screen Gems became a full-fledged television studio by producing and syndicating several popular shows (see below ) . Within a few months, Ralph Cohn had sold

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4940-612: The full strips "Little Algie" and "S.K. Sposher, the Camera Fiend". These satirical strips reflected his life in Brownsville and his fascination with technology and photography, respectively—both displaying his sense of irony and fatalism. It was during this period he met newspaper cartoonist and early animator, John Randolph Bray , who would later give him his start in the animation field. On December 25, 1905, Fleischer married his childhood sweetheart, Ethel (Essie) Goldstein. On

5035-460: The key poses and have an assistant fill in the remaining drawings. Max assigned Art Davis as Huemer's assistant and this was the beginning of the animation position of "inbetweener", which was essentially another Fleischer "invention" that resulted in efficient production and was adopted by the entire industry by the 1930s. It was during this time that Max developed Rotoscoping , a means of photographing live action film footage with animation cels for

5130-523: The last major studio to enter television by name. Changes in corporate ownership of Columbia came in 1982, when Coca-Cola bought the company, although continuing to trade under the CPT name. In the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola reorganized its television holdings to create Coca-Cola Television, merging CPT with the television unit of Embassy Communications as Columbia/Embassy Television, although both companies continued to use separate identities until January 4, 1988, when it and Tri-Star Television were reunited under

5225-401: The majority of the color Screen Gems cartoons (as well as all the UPA cartoons) library. All series were distributed by Columbia unless otherwise noted. Ralph Cohn, the son of Columbia co-founder Jack Cohn and nephew of Columbia head Harry Cohn , founded Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial production company, in 1947. Ralph later wrote a 50-page memo arguing that Columbia should be

5320-431: The management "can't stay happy long when things are going well, so we ended up in another fracas and I left." He was replaced by Dave Fleischer , previously the co-founder and head director of Fleischer Studios . John Hubley described Fleischer as "one of the world's intellectual lightweights", as he had very little involvement in the making of cartoons. However he was also noted for his baffling editing practices. Dave

5415-411: The mere mention of Disney's name, Max would mutter, "that son-of-a-bitch". Fleischer won a lawsuit against Paramount in 1955 over the removal of his name from the credits of his films. While Fleischer had issues over the breach of contract, he had avoided suing for a decade to protect his son-in-law, Seymour Kneitel, who was a lead director at Paramount's Famous Studios. In 1958, Fleischer revived Out of

5510-516: The most notable other production of Goldberg's tenure at Screen Gems being the 1971 television movie Brian's Song . He then formed a production company with producer Aaron Spelling . In 1971, Douglas S. Cramer , former executive VP in charge of production at Paramount Television , set up a SG-affiliated production firm, The Douglas S. Cramer Company, to produce projects for feature films and TV projects via Columbia Pictures. In 1972, David Gerber , who had left 20th Century Fox Television , set up

5605-442: The newly formed Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. for $ 24.5 million. In the following year, former ABC vice president of programming Leonard Goldberg joined Screen Gems, displacing Jackie Cooper as vice president of program development. Goldberg failed to receive the same level of success as Cooper. His shows all tanked after one season, with the exception of The Partridge Family , and he abruptly left after three years, with

5700-686: The outbreak of World War I , Max was sent to Fort Sill , Oklahoma to produce the first Army training films on subjects that included Contour Map Reading , Operating the Stokes Mortar , Firing the Lewis Machine Gun , and Submarine Mine Laying . Following the Armistice , Fleischer returned to Bray and the production of theatrical and educational films. Fleischer produced his Out of the Inkwell films featuring "The Clown" character, which his brother Dave originated; he had worked as

5795-488: The perfect match of the Fleischer Studio style combined with its unique use of music. By the late 1930s, a survey indicated that Popeye had eclipsed Mickey Mouse in popularity, challenging Disney's preeminence in the market. During its zenith by the mid-1930s, Fleischer Studios was producing four series, Betty Boop , Popeye , Screen Songs , and Color Classics , resulting in 52 releases each year. From

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5890-461: The progress it was clear that Disney was unhappy with the production costs on cartoons, and he asked Disney and Ub Iwerks to develop a new character. The result was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , the first animated character for Universal Pictures . In February 1928, when the character proved more successful than expected, Disney sought to meet with Mintz over the budget, wanting to spend more on

5985-748: The recommendation of Bray, Fleischer was hired as a technical illustrator for the Electro-Light Engraving Company in Boston. In 1909 he moved to Syracuse, New York , working as a catalog illustrator for the Crouse-Hinds Company, and a year later returned to New York as art editor for Popular Science magazine under editor Waldemar Kaempffert . By 1914, the first commercially produced animated cartoons began to appear in movie theaters. They tended to be stiff and jerky. Fleischer devised an improvement in animation through

6080-414: The result of his continued research and development that perfected the post-production method of sound recording. Several of these devices provided visual cues for the musical conductor to follow. As dialogue and songs became major elements, more precise analysis of soundtracks was possible through other inventions from Fleischer such as "The Cue Meter". Max Fleischer's Betty Boop character was born out of

6175-497: The scenes. Other staff members during this period included people such as Bob Wickersham, Paul Sommer, Alec Geiss, Sid Marcus, Howard Swift and Alex Lovy . Bob Clampett was also brought in as a gag writer before setting up his own animation studio for Republic Pictures . Screen Gems was, in an attempt to keep costs low, the last American animation studio to stop producing black and white cartoons. The final black-and-white Screen Gems shorts appeared in 1946, over three years after

6270-746: The second of six children of a tailor from Dąbrowa Tarnowska , Aaron Fleischer, who later changed his name to William in the United States, and Malka "Amelia" Pałasz. His family emigrated to the United States in March 1887, settling in New York City, where he attended public school. During his early formative years, he enjoyed a middle-class lifestyle, the result of his father's success as an exclusive tailor to high society clients. This changed drastically after his father lost his business ten years later. His teens were spent in Brownsville ,

6365-472: The second-longest holdouts ( Famous Studios and Leon Schlesinger Productions). During that same year, Columbia decided to shut its doors for good, while releasing a back catalog up until 1949. It later merged with the television version of Screen Gems (previously Pioneer Telefilms). In spite of the studio's internal affairs, Screen Gems' cartoons were still moderately successful, with it achieving additional Academy Awards nominations . However it never achieved

6460-595: The short. The two agreed to make a series about the cartoon. In 1924, Charles Mintz married Winkler, and the latter's career began to decline. Mintz quickly assumed Winkler's role in the company, later rebranding it Winkler Pictures. In 1925 Winkler's renewal contract for the Felix shorts was written, yet Winkler declined to renew due to her dispute with Sullivan. The following year the Alice Comedies stopped being distributed by Winkler. After Mintz become involved with

6555-454: The start of the sound era. Alfred Weiss, owner of Artcraft Pictures, approached Fleischer with a contract to produce cartoons for Paramount. Due to legal complications of the bankruptcy, the Out of the Inkwell series was renamed The Inkwell Imps and ran from 1927 to 1929. This was the start of Fleischer's relationship with the huge Paramount organization, which lasted for the next 15 years. After

6650-461: The studio head but was shortly replaced by Mintz's brother-in-law, George Winkler. Columbia then decided to hire Frank Tashlin , then a writer for Walt Disney Productions , as lead producer. There he would hire many displaced animators from the 1941 Disney animators' strike , as well as making the decision of firing the bulk of their initial staff (included Arthur Davis , Manny Gould , Lou Lilly , Ben Harrison and Winkler). Tashlin would also direct

6745-432: The studio into maturity and relevance for the 1940s. The early returns on Gulliver prompted Paramount president Barney Balaban to order a second feature for their 1941 Christmas release. This second feature, Mr. Bug Goes to Town , was unique, having a contemporary setting. Most importantly, it was technically and artistically superior to Gulliver's Travels . Paramount had high hopes for its Christmas 1941 release, which

6840-569: The studio moved from New York to California, it was renamed The Charles Mintz Studio. The Charles Mintz studio became known as Screen Gems in 1933. The name was originally used in 1933, when Columbia Pictures acquired a stake in Charles Mintz's animation studio. The name was derived from an early Columbia Pictures slogan, "Gems of the Screen"; itself a takeoff on the song " Columbia, the Gem of

6935-429: The studio to start his own production company to be affiliated with Paramount Television . On May 6, 1974, Screen Gems was renamed to Columbia Pictures Television as suggested by then-studio president David Gerber , who succeeded Art Frankel as his studio president. The final notable production from this incarnation of Screen Gems before the name change was the 1974 miniseries QB VII . Columbia was, technically,

7030-558: The theatrical comedy films, Fleischer produced technical and educational films including That Little Big Fellow and Now You're Talking for A.T.&T. In 1923, he made two 20-minute features explaining Albert Einstein 's Theory of Relativity and Charles Darwin 's Evolution using animated special effects and live action. In 1924, Fleischer partnered with Edwin Miles Fadiman, Hugo Riesenfeld and Lee de Forest to form Red Seal Pictures Corporation, which owned 36 theaters on

7125-443: The time-consuming and tedious process of cel inking. While ahead of his time, that same year Fleischer and Paramount experienced lost revenues owing to the failure of the new series Gabby , Animated Antics , and Stone Age , all launched under the leadership of Dave. After Republic Studios allegedly failed to develop Superman as a live-action serial, Max acquired the license that fall and initiated development. The cost for

7220-569: The unit similar to Dimension Films (part of Lantern Entertainment ), Hollywood Pictures with Searchlight Pictures (divisions of The Walt Disney Company ), and Rogue Pictures (when it was formally owned by Relativity Media and before that, Universal Pictures ). As of 2023, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) is Screen Gems' highest-grossing film with over $ 300 million dollars worldwide in box office earnings. Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer / ˈ f l aɪ ʃ ər / ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972)

7315-532: The very beginning, Fleischer's business relationship with Paramount was a joint financial and distribution arrangement, making his studio a service company supplying products for the company's theaters. During the Great Depression , Paramount went through four bankruptcy reorganizations, which affected their operational expenses. As a founding member of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers , Fleischer

7410-457: Was a Polish-American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków , Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios , which he co-founded with his younger brother Dave . He brought such comic characters as Koko the Clown , Betty Boop , Popeye , and Superman to the movie screen, and

7505-449: Was affected by a five-month strike , resulting in a boycott that kept the studio's releases off theater screens until November. Having a paternal attitude towards his employees, Max took it personally, as if he had been betrayed, and thus developed an ulcer. Following the strike, Max and Dave Fleischer decided to move the studio for more space and to escape further labor agitation. In March 1938, Paramount approved Max's proposal to produce

7600-749: Was also the first distributor for Hanna-Barbera Productions, an animation studio founded by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera after leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , and was also the distributor of the Soupy Sales show. The company also entered a co-production deal with Canada 's CTV Television Network and produced several shows, many of which were filmed or taped in Toronto for distribution to Canadian stations ( Showdown , The Pierre Berton Show ). The company even expanded as far as Australia , opening Screen Gems Australia to produce shows for that country's networks, including The Graham Kennedy Show for

7695-427: Was asked for his resignation. Dave had resigned following the completion of Post-production on Mr. Bug in late November 1941. Paramount finished out the remaining five months of the 1941 Fleischer contract with the absence of both Max and Dave Fleischer, and the name change to Famous Studios became official on May 27, 1942. Paramount installed new management, among them Max's son-in-law, Seymour Kneitel . Unable to form

7790-524: Was aware of the technical advancements of the industry, particularly in the development of color cinematography. Due to Paramount's financial restructuring, he was unable to acquire the three-color Technicolor process from the start. This created the opportunity for Walt Disney , who was then a small fledgling producer, to acquire a four-year exclusivity. With this, he created a new market for color cartoons beginning with Flowers and Trees (1932). In 1934 Paramount approved color production for Fleischer, but he

7885-532: Was directing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Walt Disney . This brought about the honorary luncheon that united Max with his former competitor and reunited him with several former Fleischer animators who were then employed by Disney. This meeting of the former rivals seemed cordial, and Max remarked that he was very happy making educational films at this point in his career. However, in his collection of memoirs entitled Just Tell Me When to Cry , Richard relates how, at

7980-590: Was dramatically toned down from the original, which also touched on drug use, war, sexual reproduction, social ignorance and the JFK assassination. Nesmith's "Hollywood", as well as Boyce and Hart 's "Apples, Peaches, Bananas and Pears" and "(My) Storybook of You", were songs that were considered for the album but ultimately rejected. Credits adapted from Rhino Handmade 2013 "Deluxe Edition" box set. The Monkees Additional musicians Unconfirmed personnel and duties Technical Screen Gems Screen Gems

8075-402: Was founded in 1951 by Jerome Hyams, who also acquired United Television Films in 1955 that was founded by Archie Mayers. During that year, the studio began syndicating Columbia Pictures' theatrical film library to television, including the series of two-reel short subjects starring The Three Stooges in 1957. Earlier on August 2, 1957, they also acquired syndication rights to " Shock Theater ",

8170-580: Was later fired and succeeded by a revolving door of producers, including musician Paul Worth, Three Stooges producer Hugh McCollum and ex-Schlesinger assistants Ray Katz and Henry Binder. The studio would also create several more recurring characters around this time, including Tito and His Burrito, Flippy , Flop the Cat , Igor Puzzlewitz, Willoughby Wren , and an adaptation of Al Capp's comic series Li'l Abner , with varying levels of success. The studios output following Tashlin's departure was, in retrospect, considered to be vastly inferior as many of

8265-636: Was left with the limited two-color processes of Cinecolor (red and cyan) and Two-Color Technicolor (red and cyan) for the first year of his Color Classics . The first entry, Poor Cinderella (1934) was made in the two-emulsion/two-color Cinecolor Process and starred Betty Boop in her only color appearance. By 1936, Disney's exclusivity had expired, and Fleischer had the benefit of the three-color Technicolor Process beginning with Somewhere in Dreamland . These color cartoons were often augmented with Fleischer's patented three-dimensional effects promoted as

8360-625: Was not until the New York opening at Radio City of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (February 1938) that Paramount executives realized the value of animated features and ordered one for a 1939 Christmas release. The popularity of the Popeye cartoons created a demand for more. To meet Paramount's demands, the studio was challenged with rapid expansion, production speed-ups, and crowded working conditions. Finally, in May 1937, Fleischer Studios

8455-457: Was penalized $ 350,000 for going over budget, and the contract did not allow Max and Fleischer Studios participation in the foreign earnings. This was the beginning of the financial difficulties of Fleischer Studios with reduced royalties due to this debt to Paramount. In 1940, Max was relegated to business affairs and continued technical development. His efforts resulted in a reflex camera viewfinder and research into line transfer methods to replace

8550-460: Was renamed to Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc., also creating Columbia/Tri-Star by merging Columbia and Tri-Star. Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names. In 1989, Sony Corporation of Japan purchased Columbia Pictures Entertainment. On August 11, 1991, Columbia Pictures Entertainment was renamed as Sony Pictures Entertainment as a film production-distribution subsidiary and subsequently combined CPT with

8645-470: Was responsible for several technological innovations, including the rotoscope , the " follow the bouncing ball " technique pioneered in the Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes films, and the " stereoptical process ". Film director Richard Fleischer was his son. Majer Fleischer was born July 19, 1883, to a Jewish family in Kraków , (then part of Austria-Hungary : Austrian Partition ). He was

8740-443: Was resurrected as a fourth speciality film-producing arm of Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. It was created after Triumph Films closed. Screen Gems produces and releases "films that fall between the wide-release films traditionally developed and distributed by Columbia Pictures and those released by Sony Pictures Classics ". Many of its releases are of the horror, thriller, action, drama, comedy and urban genres, making

8835-478: Was sold to EMI for $ 23.5 million in 1976. From 1964 to 1969, former child star Jackie Cooper was Vice President of Program Development. He was responsible for packaging series (such as Bewitched ) and other projects and selling them to the networks. For the 1965–1966 season, Screen Gems announced that they would sign three big creative programmers to develop new series, which was announced in June 1964. Among them

8930-429: Was well received by critics during its December 5 preview. However, the exhibitors rejected it, fearing that it would not do business because it was not a Disney animated Fairy Tale. And with the bombing of Pearl Harbor two days after the preview, the original Christmas release due in three weeks was cancelled. With the cancellation of Mr. Bug Goes to Town , Max was called to a meeting with Balaban in New York, where he

9025-606: Was writer Sidney Sheldon , director Hy Averback , and writer David Swift . In 1965, Columbia Pictures acquired a fifty per cent interest in the New York-based commercial production company EUE, which was incorporated into Screen Gems and renamed EUE/Screen Gems . The studios were sold in 1982 to longtime Columbia Pictures executive George Cooney shortly after Columbia Pictures was sold to The Coca-Cola Company . On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with its parent company Columbia Pictures Corporation and became part of

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