Watch this wonderful film, and learn more about it's intriguing history, here.
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In this, the second installment of our Max and Me series, Ginny Mahoney - Max Fleischer's grand-daughter - shares one of her favorite memories of voice artist Mae Questel, perhaps best remembered as the voice of Betty Boop.
One of my favorite memories of Mae is actually a phone call she made to me while visiting my mother, Ruth, in New York sometime around 1970. I was a young mother at the time, living in Washington, D.C. and at home with three young kids, including my eldest, Jeni, who was six at the time and absolutely loved Casper the Ghost.
“Put Jeni on the phone,” Mae said when she heard Jeni was a fan. “Hi Jeni…this is Casper,” Mae intoned in Casper’s iconic friendly voice. Mae, as Casper, then proceeded to have an entire conversation with Jeni. “Wait,” Casper finally said, “let me get Betty Boop!” After talking to Betty, Jeni when on to have conversations with Popeye, Olive Oyl and about a half dozen other characters. Mae’s lovely and very generous gesture made for a very special day in the Mahoney household, and wonderfully exemplifies the spirit of this vibrant and talented artist. For more, check out Finding Her Voice in our virtual museum, featuring Mae Questel and the five other women who voiced Betty in the 1930s.
BETTY BOOP © 2014 King Features Syndicate, Inc./Fleischer Studios, Inc.
TM Hearst Holdings, Inc./Fleischer Studios, Inc.
Hey, fans in Los Angeles, don't miss FleischerFest this weekend at The Steve Allen Theater!
The festivities will also feature Fleischer Studios Chairman and CEO Mark Fleischer who will join Jerry Beck on stage for an interview and share his memories of his grandfather, Max Fleischer.
For more - including a full schedule of events and directions - check out Jerry Beck's post on Animation Scoop!
Max and me by Ginny Mahoney
Though the rest of us grew older, Betty Boop seemed to remain as young and vital as ever. Even today, the world is watching the films Fleischer Studios made in the 1930’s. In an effort to understand why Betty and so many of PopMax’s other creations remain such beloved and iconic characters, I began researching and reflecting on my own family’s history: Max’s story, the birth of Fleischer Studios, the characters they created and the times in which they lived. That’s what I want to share with all of you -- Every once in a while I’ll post some of the fascinating things I’ve discovered along the way. For starters – Do you know how many films Betty appeared in during the 1930s?
Visit A Very Fleischer Christmas Exhibit and download your FREE Betty Boop Holiday Cards!12/10/2014
It is with sadness that we share this story from the Miami Herald reporting the passing of Jean Karaty, who worked as an artist for Fleischer Studios during its Miami-based years. She passed away on Thanksgiving morning. Mrs. Karaty was discovered at her mother’s dress shop in Miami Beach "by an employee who noticed her drawings of flowers, animals and cartoon characters and encouraged her to visit the studio." In a 2003 piece in the Miami Herald she recalled going to the theater to watch the cartoons before the movie: “You’d say, ‘I did that! I worked on that!’ and the people around us would say ‘Shh!’ They thought we were just a bunch of rowdies.” We send our sympathies to her family and encourage you to check out the Herald's lovely tribute HERE. In celebration of Thanksgiving, we've posted a new film in our Theater: Fleischer Studios' 1936 Color Classic Somewhere in Dreamland!
Here’s an odd bit of film history! When sound first came to film, it was such a novelty that some companies believed the audience needed an explanation about how the magic happened. Western Electric was one of those companies. For about a year in 1928-29, Max Fleischer's animation studio was housed in the Carpenter-Goldman Film Laboratories in Long Island City, NY. Max and Frank Goldman teamed up to create Finding His Voice, an educational film for Western Electric, that explained how a film could ‘talk.’ In an interview fifty years later for Cinegram Magazine, Frank Goldman looked back at the making of Finding His Voice: “Western Electric developed a new sound system that was sound on a record. They had a deal with Warner Brothers for The Jazz Singer (1927). Shortly after that Western Electric produced sound on film and all the theaters were desperate to obtain sound equipment. To get it they had to agree to run a film explaining the process the week before they started the regular run. This was a single reel Max Fleischer and I made. I got the contract and Max and I worked together on it. The film was to explain to the public how film got its voice. We showed a little roll of film- a character with sprocket holes, legs and what not. He’s sent into a Dr. Western who examines him and looks in his mouth. No cords, he can’t talk. The doctor takes his pulse. I’ll never forget. Fleischer put in a little jumping pulse as a sight gag. The doctor puts his finger on it and it moves away. He puts his finger on it again and it jumps back. Then he takes the character into a sound studio where he sings “Just a Song at Twilight” into a microphone. We showed how the sound waves went into the mike and were carried along the wires to the sound track stripe. It was simplified and the audience caught on right away.” Kirkpatrick, Diane. "Animation Gold." Cinegram Magazine 1978: 30. Print. Reprinted by permission of Diane Kirkpatrick. Luckily, the film has survived the ages. Check it out in our Theater!
For more on the Carpenter-Goldman Film Laboratories - and how the Fleischers came to be in the same space - see the previous blog post. It's a story you won't want to miss!
In the Small World Department, Fleischer Studios’ historian Ginny Mahoney was recently contacted by high school sophomore Louisa Goldman. A budding young journalist, Louisa was working on an article about Lucas Gray, an animator living in Santa Monica, who was heavily influenced by the work of early pioneering animators, including Max Fleischer and Fleischer Studios.
Ginny and Louisa had a lovely long conversation about Max and the history of Fleischer Studios, and Louisa wrote up her article. It wasn’t until her family read the article that Louisa found out she was not only writing about Fleischer Studios, she was related to it! And in some very important and foundational ways. As it turns out, Louisa is related to Roger Goldman, who’s related to Frank Goldman. Frank Goldman is credited with making a huge difference in the survival of Max and Dave's fledgling animation business back in the 1920s. Here’s an excerpt from Out of the Inkwell, Richard Fleischer’s biography about his father, Max Fleischer: "To cut a long and depressing story short, Max and Dave found it impossible to work for Weiss and quit the company. Shortly after they resigned, Weiss declared bankruptcy and disappeared.
And if that’s not enough, it appears Louisa is also related to J.F. Leventhal. Mr. Leventhal was a very early partner of Max’s and together they created the very first military training films – for WWI.
So, relatively speaking, this was a fabulous connection for both Louisa – and Fleischer Studios! You can read Louisa’s article, Behind the scenes of Jewish Animation, here. Richard Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell is available here.
Photo of Fleischer Studios staff, taken outside Goldman-Carpenter Labs, Long Island City, where the studio was located for about a year in 1929. Front row l. to r.: possibly Sid Wallick, Edith Vernick, George Cannata, Seymour Kneitel, Max Fleischer, Charles Shettler, Sid Marcus. Al Eugster behind Vernick (with hat and cigar). Behind Cannata and S. Kneitel is Abner Kneitel. Wearing a white hat (on left) is Rudy Zamora. In distance behind Seymour is Joe Fleischer (wearing suspenders), William Henning is man with his hand on the window. 1929.
PLUS check out pages from the original script, some of the animator's own artistic commentary on their experience with this massive under-taking and find out why, even if you think you've seen Gulliver's Travels... you may not have seen it in it's entirety. Click here now for more!
So set your DVR or your VCR or just start popping your popcorn. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy ground-breaking, rarely seen gems that continue to influence animation to this day.
For a complete schedule of films go to TCM's Schedule. For more information on this special event, and some great historical context check out these links: TMC's Back to the Drawing Board Page Movie Morelocks Back to the Drawing Board Page Animation Scoop by Jerry Beck
We’re posting great photos of all your favorite Fleischer characters, including Betty Boop, along with fantastic photos from history, current happenings, and fantastic collectibles too.
Join us! And, if you’ve got images of your favorite products featuring Betty or other Fleischer character, post images with the hash tag #fleischerstudios and we’ll be sure to like them.
We look forward to seeing you on Instagram! Follow us here. Be sure to also join us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all the fun Fleischer Studios news!
In addition to an incredible animated sequence featuring Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto and Eugene the Jeep (remember him?), the video includes a short intro by Genndy Tartakovsky. Mr. Tartakovsky credits his first teacher, long-time Fleischer Studios animator Gordon Sheehan (who was actually an animator on the very first Fleischer Studios "Popeye the Sailor" film) with inspiring his life-long affinity for Popeye.
For more, check out King Features and Sony Pictures Animation.
Initially the designs will be licensed for products in Japan... but there are subsequent plans to license Katoh's designs throughout the world. (We can't wait!)
Katoh says, “When I was a child, I saw Betty Boop for the first time on an old black-and-white TV and I thought that she was a spectacular leading star from a distant land. This collaboration is very meaningful for me. I am pleased that I can convey to people across the world that same excited feeling I felt when seeing Betty Boop for the first time.” Read more about this story at BettyBoop.com or at KingFeatures.com Learn more about Shinzi Katoh and his work at ShinziKatoh.com
Oh, and let us know what you think; we love hearing from you!
Check out this great interview with acclaimed “Waltz With Bashir” writer/director Ari Folman in The Hollywood Reporter. In it, Folman cites the realistic style of the Fleischers’ cartoons as an inspiration for his latest film “The Congress” which features the latest in digital technology to seamlessly blend live-action and animation. In fact, Folman refers to "The Congress" as a tribute to the Fleischer Brothers! "The Congress" opened in Los Angeles and other select markets on August 29 and will open in New York on September 5, 2014. Check it out and see what you think! http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robin-wright-digitally-preserved-trippy-718682 |
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