Fleischer Studios Blog

Just in time for Halloween: Surrealism!

10/27/2017

Just in time for Halloween!

Check out the fourth installment of our interview with Ray Pointer, animator, historian and author of The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer. This fascinating - and final - portion of our interview focuses on the Surrealism found in so many Fleischer cartoons, and why we shouldn't let it get in the way of enjoying the opportunity to be amused.

It's the perfect addition to your Halloween viewing, including some seriously surreal clips, like the one above from "Bubbles." Check it out here!

The Rotoscope: 100 Amazing Years of Animation!

10/9/2017

Nearly two years ago, on December 6, 2015, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the day Max Fleischer submitted his patent application for the Rotoscope. This year we're celebrating the date on which the United States Patent and Trademark Office officially approved Max Fleischer's patent application: October 9, 1917.

The Rotoscope was used to give Betty Boop's hula some serious hip action in "Bamboo Isle." See more on the Rotoscope Page!

To celebrate, we've added some exciting new video and images to the Rotoscope Page in our virtual museum, including some of the very first footage of jazz legend Cab Calloway and his animated alter-egos in the Fleischer classics "Minnie the Moocher" and "Snow White."

100 years later, the magical power of the Rotoscope still amazes us. Check out our updated Rotoscope Page here!

Happy Birthday, Betty!

8/8/2017

It was on August 9, 1930, that a doe-eyed, nameless nightclub singer made her big screen debut in "Dizzy Dishes." Though her role was brief, she quickly won over audiences, and it wasn't long before she became known to the world as Betty Boop.

We hope you enjoy this short video tribute to Betty, and don't forget to check out the 6-part Betty Boop exhibit in our Museum!

Part Two of our Interview with Ray Pointer now online!

7/11/2017

The second installment of our interview with animator, animation historian and author, Ray Pointer is now online in the Fleischer Studios Online Museum!

As our fascinating discussion continues, Mr. Pointer reflects on the marriage of art and technology that defined the old "studio system" of cel animation behind so many of Fleischer Studios' greatest films and most significant innovations.

You'll find the new installment, entitled Art & Technology, HERE.

You can find part one of our discussion HERE. Stay tuned for even more of our discussion with Mr. Pointer in the coming weeks!

Ray Pointer is the author of The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer.

Now on CBCRadio: How the 'independent, sexy, smart' Betty Boop continues to stay relevant after 87 years

6/24/2017

Hear it now! Mark Fleischer, CEO of Fleischer Studios and grandson of Max Fleischer, sat down with CBCRadio's Tom Power, host of q, for a fascinating discussion about Betty Boop. Touching on everything from her origins, to her incredible longevity, her status as an American icon and her enduring relevance, this is an interview you simply do not want to miss!

Now, thanks to CBCRadio online, you can hear the entire interview anytime you want! Just click here, sit back and enjoy!

TCM's evening of Fleischer Family films - November 13!

11/10/2016

When: November 13, 2016
Where: TCM
8pm EST - 7pm CST - 6pm MST- 5pm PST
Check your local listings
or the TMC website
for more information:

That's right! On Sunday, November 13, TCM is dedicating an entire evening of entertainment to the work of Max, Dave and Richard Fleischer and it's all co-hosted by Mark Fleischer, Max's grandson and the CEO of Fleischer Studios.

This amazing evening begins with two Fleischer Studios classics: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936) and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937). Together, these films represent two of only three "two-reeler" or long-form color films the Fleischers made featuring Popeye.

If you're interested in learning more about the creation of these very special films, take a look at Magic in Miami in our online museum. The exhibit features a 1938 episode of Popular Science that details the process of animation during this period, and even features the making of one of these amazing long format films.

The TMC evening continues with two films directed by Max's son, the acclaimed film director Richard Fleischer: the noir classic The Narrow Margin (1952) followed by the sci-fi thriller Soylent Green (1973) starring Charlton Heston. Thanks to animation historian Ray Pointer for helping to make this wonderful event into a reality. Ray's upcoming book The Art and Invention of Max Fleischer: An American Animation Pioneer is due to be released in December of this year.

From start to finish that's more than 4 hours of Fleischer films, covering 35 years of film making, and featuring 3 generations of the Fleischer family. You don't want to miss this!

Welcome to our first guest contributor, Bob Jaques!

5/26/2016

Drawing by animator Abner Kneitel. While working as an animator, Ozark did sports cartoons on the side. This gag cartoon is in reference to the horse races at the Hialeah Park Racetrack that he frequented.

We are thrilled to celebrate Memorial Day, and all our men and women in uniform, with the help of our very first guest contributor Bob Jaques. An acclaimed animation producer and director - currently an Animation Director working on SpongeBob Squarepants, Jaques is a self proclaimed Fleischer Studios fanatic. His blog Popeye Cartoons celebrates, as he states, "the most amazing cartoon character ever created."

An avid amateur animation historian, Jaques comes to us with the fascinating story of Jack Ozark, Fleischer animator turned World War II code-breaker (one of many animators to use his very special set of skills while serving in the armed forces during the War).

This fascinating exhibit includes a number of wonderful drawings that his fellow animators created for Ozark during his time in the service. It's a wonderful tribute to an amazing animator and serviceman, and an important reminder of the power of humor and friendship - even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Mr. Bug, Part 3: The rest of the story

2/23/2016

Throughout the month of February, we've explored the development and creation of Mr. Bug Goes to Town, Fleischer Studio's second - and last - feature length animated film.

Now, in the final installment of the series - just posted in our virtual museum - we follow Mr. Bug's fascinating, and at times complicated, journey to the silver screen against the backdrop of America's entry into World War II.

Find out "the rest of the story" HERE.

Or, start at the beginning with Part One and Part Two.

Mr. Bug Goes to Town, Part 2 - Making of the Movie!

2/17/2016

Max Fleischer (right) next to the stand that holds the cels, located in front of the 3D set.

Part One of our three-part series on the making of Mr. Bug Goes to Town, looked at the creation of the Mr. Bug story-line. After months of developing and discarding a variety of concepts, the studio finally had a wholly original story-line. Set in the modern era, Mr. Bug Goes to Town involved an entire colony of anthropo-morphic insects, a city full of humans, and the towering landscape of New York City.

In other words, the task of bringing Mr. Bug to the big screen had only just begun...

In Part Two, we look at the actual making of Mr. Bug Goes to Town, and how the staffers of Fleischer Studios made use of innovative techniques and ground-breaking inventions (many of which they themselves had developed) to bring this beautiful film to life.

Part two of this fascinating exhibit includes rare and wonderful home movie footage of the Mr. Bug animators at play, the story behind the Studio's hangnail insurance policy and so much more!

Mr. Bugs Goes to Town now in the Museum!

2/10/2016

With the commercial success of Gulliver's Travels in December 1939 and Fleischer Studios with its 700-plus staff members now happily settled in Florida, the Fleischers were eager to get started on their second full-length feature film. And Paramount, with optimism riding high even before Gulliver’s opening, had already given them the green light. By March 1939, Fleischer Studios was already hard at work developing ideas for their next feature-length film!

This month we're sharing the amazing, often surprising, journey of this remarkable film from its initial conception all the way through to opening night.

Today we're launching the first in this 3-part series, The Story About the Story. Look for parts 2 and 3 later this month:
Part Two - coming February 17
Part Three - coming February 24

Max Fleischer's Fan-tastic Fan Cards

11/23/2015

Just in time for Thanksgiving, this exhibit features one of the clever, and delightfully captivating, ways in which Max connected personally with his fans: beautifully designed and personally inscribed "fan cards" like the one pictured here.

These whimsical cards were Max's way of thanking his fans and letting them know how much he appreciated them. What could be a more fitting way for us to celebrate the joy of Thanksgiving with all of you?

If you're lucky enough to have a Fan Card in your possession and you're interested in making it into a part of this wonderful exhibit, we've created a portal in the exhibit where you can upload an image of it.

Happy Thanksgiving Week from all of us at Fleischer Studios!

Betty Boop's Veterans Day Salute!

11/11/2015

Betty Boop in "There's Something About a Soldier" (1934)

Today we're marking Veterans Day by honoring some of the talented and brave members of the Fleischer Studios family who served in a wide range of capacities during World War II.

Although it's not widely known, a considerable number of animators served in World War II.

While some saw combat, many were called on to use their special blend of artistic talent and technical know-how to create training and educational films for our troops. Still others worked with the signal corp developing and managing communications, and others were enlisted by the government to create films that would help to build morale at home, and encourage Americans to do their part, whether it be by donating scrap metal or buying war bonds.

This historic photo, taken in front of the Fleischer Studio's Miami home, serves to commemorate some of the brave members of the Fleischer Studio family who served their country during World War II.

Myron Waldman (in the photo above, front row and third from the left) enlisted in the Signal Corp and worked with Frank Capra on the Why We Fight series which was created to show American soldiers the reason for U.S. involvement in the war, and later to the public to encourage American support for involvement in the war.

One Fleischer animator who saw combat was Willard Bowsky. Having started with the Studio in the 1920's in New York, Bowsky - whose work can be seen in Talkartoon, Color Classics and Screen Song (Bouncing Ball) films, as well as dozens of classic Betty Boop and Popeye cartoon shorts - moved with the Studio to Florida in 1938, and enlisted in the Army in 1942.

Insignia designed by Willard Bowsky

Eventually assigned to the 14th Armored Division, Bowsky served as platoon leader with fifty men under his command in the 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron. Utilizing his artistic skills, he also designed the unit’s insignia.

Willard Bowsky

On November 27, 1944, Second Lieutenant Willard Bowsky was killed in action in the midst of a night time fire-fight near Metz, France.

Willard Bowsky was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, and is interred at the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France.

On this Veterans Day, as we revisit and honor these great heroes of yesteryear, all of us at Fleischer Studios want to offer up our heart felt gratitude and admiration to to the courageous men and women - heroes all - who continue to fight for us today.

References:
Animation: Who and Where
Mayerson on Animation
Willard Bowsky on Wikipedia
World War II and Animation

Thanks for all you do!

Join Betty Boop for National Love Your Red Hair Day!

11/5/2015

Sometimes it seems like there is a national holiday for everything, so it might surprise you to discover that November 5, 2015 is the very first ever National Love Your Red Hair Day!!!

What does a day for redheads have to do with Betty Boop?

While we tend to remember Betty as having black hair, she did - for one film - sport a vibrant red do: the 1934 Color Classic Poor Cinderella.

Why was Betty's hair red? Check out Poor Cinderella in our Theater now and find out the answer to this intriguing question and watch this glorious, and very special, film.

Betty Boop celebrates International Animation Day!

10/28/2015

In recognition of International Animation Day, we're taking a look back at a pioneer of animation who actually never set foot in Fleischer Studios and whose work predates Max Fleischer's invention of the Rotoscope by more than twenty years: Charles-Émile Reynaud.

Established in 2002 and celebrated in over 40 countries, International Animation Day - celebrated on October 28th - commemorates the first public performance of Reynaud's Théâtre Optique, the very first projected, animated film, at the Grevin Museum in Paris in 1892.

Reynaud developed Théâtre Optique as an improvement to his earlier, 1877 invention of the Praxinoscope, which was itself a successor to the Z oetrope. Not only did the Théâtre Optique allow Reynaud to project larger images that could be enjoyed by an entire audience, it also enabled him to create longer sequences.

Reynaud's technique involved creating numerous tiny paintings that he would then string together to create a sense of movement. As the drawing (below) demonstrates, Reynaud used two projectors to project his animated work: one to project the stationary background and another to project moving objects.

Although it was eclipsed by the Lumière
Brothers' invention of the Cinematograph in 1895, Reynaud's Théâtre Optique played at the Musée Grévin until 1900. By 1910, Reynaud had been driven into bankruptcy. While his fame was short-lived, the impact of his work lives on to this day and is all the more impressive when one considers the fact that his efforts predate the invention of camera-made movies.

Looking at the excerpt below from Reynaud's charming early work, Pauvre Pierrot, one can see how, even in its early and somewhat crudely executed state, animated pictures captured the public’s imagination.

While Reynaud’s Théâtre Optique was all-too-quickly eclipsed by the advent of live-action of motion pictures, it served to inspire many early animators – like Cohl, Blackton, Bray and of course Max Fleischer – who combined innovation, invention and artistry to bring worlds created almost entirely of pen and ink to wonderful, animated life.

Max Fleischer, like Reynaud, would go on to hold numerous of patents for his innovative animation techniques and mechanisms, including the Rotoscope (1915) which he used in making the 1919 The Tantalizing Fly featured below. It offers a wonderful contrast to Reynaud's earlier work, and it's interesting to note that both films feature the antics of classic clown characters.

For more information on International Animation Day, visit Association Internationale du Film d'Animation on their website or check them out on Facebook.

Pauvre Pierrot (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Celebrating Superman's Leap to the Silver Screen!

9/26/2015

On this day in 1941, Fleischer Studios released what would be the first of nine Superman cartoons (another eight were made by the Studio's successor, Famous Studios). Considered by many to be some of the finest animated short films from the Golden Age of Animation, the first film in this series, "Superman" (a.k.a "The Mad Scientist") took the 33rd spot in Jerry Beck's 1994 book "The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals."

In celebration of this very special day we're sharing a few fascinating facts about these captivating and lavishly animated cartoons, and the impact they - and the Fleischers themselves - had on the American myth that is Superman.

Like Popeye before him, Superman was one of the few characters that the Fleischers did not create, but rather brought to animated life from comics. And just like Popeye before him (to whom the Fleischers gave a predilection for - and super strength from - spinach), Superman found some of most of his identifiable traits at the hands of Fleischer animators.

In the original comic books Superman could leap, but did you know that he couldn't fly? It was his ability to jump about 1/8 of a mile, that enabled him "to leap tall buildings in a single bound." But the Fleischers found all that, when animated, all that leaping was kind of... silly looking. So it was the Fleischers that granted Superman with the super power of flight. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Another one of the Fleischer's contributions to Superman: the phone booth.

In the comic books, Clark Kent had to make his quick changes in a variety of places (including dark alleys, store rooms and perhaps the occasional phone booth), but it was the Fleischers who ensured that there was always a phone booth handy and it wasn't long before the image of Clark Kent dashing into a phone booth and emerging heroically and dramatically transformed into a superhero became an iconic and lasting part of the Superman myth.

We hope you'll join us in celebrating this landmark day in the history of a Great American Superhero by watching that first "Superman" film on our YouTube Channel, where you can now find all the Fleischer's Superman films.

When Betty Was a Redhead...

8/25/2015

Part Five of our month-long celebration of Betty Boop focuses on Poor Cinderella. Not only was it Fleischer Studios first color film, it was also the only color film Betty appeared in during the 1930s, and the only one in which she appears with red hair!

Learn the story behind this gorgeous, and amazingly three- dimensional color classic, and then enjoy Poor Cinderella in its entirety!

And stay-tuned, the month is nearly over... but we've still got one more installment to come in our Celebrating Betty series. Look for it on August 31st!

Which leg did Betty Boop wear her famous garter on???

8/18/2015

Check out Part Four of our month-long celebration of all things Betty for the answer to this and other pressing questions about Betty's most famous accessory, and its important cultural significance.

Also included in this week's installment, fun facts and photos from Betty's 1995 stint as host of Macy's Tap-o-Mania, where Betty and more than 6,500 fellow hoofers, tapped their way into the Guinness Book of World Records.

What does Boop-Oop-a-Doop mean?

8/11/2015

Betty Boop is forever connected with the phrase Boop-Oop-a-Doop. The phrase, or some version of it, has been a part of Betty since her very first appearance in Dizzy Dishes.

But what does the phrase Boop-Oop-a-Doop mean?

This question is at the heart of Part 3 in our month-long series "Celebrating Betty," and it's available online now!

Click here now to read Part 3.
OR check out Part 1 and Part 2 first.

Celebrating Betty Boop's debut 85 Years Ago Today!

8/9/2015

85 years ago today, on August 9, 1930, the world heard Betty Boop’s iconic voice for the very first time!

The film, Dizzy Dishes, was part of Fleischer Studios’ Talkartoon series and centered on the antics of a hapless and easily distracted nightclub waiter-turned-cook-turned- entertainer, played by Bimbo, who was the studio’s big star character at the time.

Although Betty played only a bit role, she quickly stole Bimbo's heart - and the nation's heart as well. It wasn't long before Betty was headlining her own series. Read more about Betty's meteoric rise to fame in Part Two of our August is Betty Boop Month series here.

It's Max Fleischer's birthday... and you're invited to the party!

7/19/2015

Left to right: Max’s son Richard, Irene Fleischer, Max Fleischer and his wife, Essie at their home in Florida, circa 1938.

In celebration of Max’s big day – and as you will see in our new Museum exhibit, it was a big day because Max loved parties! - we want to share a bit more of Max Fleischer the man.

We know Max the animator, and Max the inventor, but in this very special exhibit you’ll get to know a bit more about Max the friend, Max the father and even Max the player of mandolins.

As an added bonus, this exciting exhibit includes private, never-before-released, home audio recordings from the Fleischer Family Collection. What was it like to be a member of Fleischer Studios' inner circle of family and friends? Now you can hear for yourself! Don't miss this very special new exhibit: We're celebrating Max's birthday... and you're invited!