InkwellPart2

Part Two 1921 - 1923

In this installment we’ll be covering the years 1921-1923. Just two years, but two years of tremendous activity,
innovation and expansion at Out of the Inkwell, Inc.

Having established themselves and their fledgling studio in the basement of 129 East 45th Street, Max and Dave quickly jumped into full production. The brothers agreed that Max would serve and be credited as the Studio Head, and Dave would serve and be credited as the Director on their films.

Fellow Bray animator Roland “Doc” Crandall quickly joined the Out of the Inkwell team. In fact, his work as an animator and an actor is featured in the Studio’s first release Modeling. A young Doc Crandall plays a rather unfortunate sculptor whose efforts to satisfy a vain and demanding customer are thrown into chaos when the mischievous little clown his studio partner- played by Max- is drawing breaks loose from the drawing board.

For all its light-hearted, rambunctious fun this first Out of the Inkwell film also demonstrates the enthusiasm for innovation and invention that, in the coming years, would attract so many talented animators to Out of the Inkwell, Inc. and quickly became synonymous with the “Fleischer Style". Modeling featured the use of Max’s most recent invention, the Rotograph, which further refined the Fleischer’s novel blend of live action and animation. The film also featured extensive use of Claymation, at the time still a relatively new technique. Blending Claymation with live action and animation, Modeling creates a world in which the power of the artists’ imagination- at times awkward, at times hilarious- seems to know no bounds.

Dave Fleischer can be seen in the 1922 Film The Mechanical Doll (a.k.a. The Dresden Doll) in which he plays a projectionist whose screen and projector are highjacked by Max’s Little Clown who draws and then falls in love with a dancing girl only to have her melt when she is hit by a drop of oil from the projectionist’s oil can. It has been suggested that Max's daughter Ruth served as the model for the Little Clown's dancing doll. This is quite possible. Ruth was a dancer in real life and would later be featured in the Studio's live action Carrie of the Chorus series and- both animated and in live action- in the film Ko-ko's Queen.

The live action sequences, especially in these early films, tended to feature the people who happened to be around. Often sequences were shot in their own living rooms. Descendants of the brothers have recognized everything from family rugs to hand mirrors in these early films.

Above and right: Live action scenes were often shot in whatever found space was available. In these remarkable photos, Max himself climbs a ladder to help prepare for a scene. (photos courtesy of J.J. Sedelmaier Collection)

Above: Dave Fleischer, who also served as the model for the Little Clown, comes face-to-face with his alter ego in "The Mechanical Doll."

In 1922, Out of the Inkwell became one of the first studios to sign with Margaret “Peggy” Winkler, the first female film producer/distributor. Under the gender-shielding moniker of M.J. Winkler, Peggy Winkler would go on to play a critical role in the success of many of the greatest animators of the silent era, including Walt Disney.

Out of the Inkwell, Inc. released 27 films between 1921 and 1923. Most were shorts that featured their famous- and still unnamed- Little Clown. But in 1923, the studio released two longer, scientific films, Relativity and Evolution, that marked a dramatic departure from the studio's usual animated antics.

Relativity and Evolution reflected Max’s lifelong interest in science, as well as his deep belief in the power of film to convey new and complex ideas to audiences regardless of their access to education. While this may not seem like a particularly radical statement today, it was not a generally accepted point of view at the time.

Relativity and Evolution explained complex scientific theories that were still new to the general public.

For Relativity, Max enlisted the help of Garrett P. Serviss, a self-taught astronomer and journalist. Known for his ability to distill and explain complicated scientific principles to ordinary people, Serviss served as a consultant on the film and wrote a book entitled The Einstein Theory of Relativity that was released in conjunction with the film. It included images taken directly from the film, illustrations by Doc Crandall and a wonderful image of Max’s Little Clown intently studying Einstein’s Theory on the back cover.

The film was a critical and popular success, drawing praise from Albert Einstein himself and refuting a 1922 article in Scientific American claiming that silent film could not successfully explain the theory of relativity to the general public.

Evolution, on the other hand, drew audiences but also drew controversy. Released two years prior to the infamous Scopes Trial in which a Tennessee teacher was accused of illegally teaching Darwin’s theories, Evolution introduced audiences to ideas that, at the time, were still considered quite radical.

1923 was also the year that animator Dick Huemer joined the growing Out of the Inkwell team as Animation Director. Huemer's work had a remarkable style and energy that transformed the look and feel of Max’s Little Clown. He named the clown Ko-ko and gave him a sidekick; the mischievous little dog Fitz.

Max was so impressed with Huemer’s skill and distinctive style that he hired an assistant to create the “in between” images that carried the characters from one gesture or motion to the next. This practice of having a second animator create these in-between images sped up production and allowed Huemer to take the lead on a greater number of films. It also created a new job in the field of animation: the inbetweener.

Over the years, many great animators would start their careers with the studio as inbetweeners- including the very first inbetweener Art Davis. Dave Tendlar, Shamus Culhane and Benny Wolf all started as inbetweeners at Out of the Inkwell, as did Edith Vernick, the first female inbetweener who eventually became the "Inbetween Supervisor."

It wasn’t long before the brothers found that they’d outgrown their basement beginnings. In November of 1923 the studio- now with 19 employees- moved to the 6th floor of the iconic Studebaker Building at 1600 Broadway in the heart of New York City.

Bedtime (1923) is a great example of the ambition and creativity behind Out of the Inkwell's early films. The live action sequences were filmed in Max's own home. The brush on Max's dresser (far right of the frame at the 1:11 mark) is still in the Fleischer family!

While we are presenting this film with newly re-scored sound, it was originally a silent film. In 1923 it would have been presented with live musical accompaniment provided by the theater.

Roland "Doc" Crandall

Roland Crandall (1892-1972) an extraordinarily talented animator, was the first animator hired by Out of the Inkwell, Inc., and he would remain in the employ of the Fleischer brothers until the close of Fleischer Studios in 1941. Doc served, with Seymour Kneitel, as a Lead Animator on the first year of the Popeye the Sailor cartoon series, but is perhaps best remembered as the animator behind Fleischer Studios’ elegantly, surreal Snow White. Doc provided nearly all the drawings for this iconic, and still dazzling, 1933 classic that featured a ghostly rotoscoped version of Cab Calloway performing St. James Infirmary Blues. Deemed culturally significant by the U.S. Library of Congress, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Margaret J. Winkler

Margaret J. “Peggy” Winkler Mintz (1895–1990) The first female film distributor/producer and first female member of the Motion Picture Producer's Guild, Peggy Winkler started out at Warner Brothers as personal secretary to Harry Warner himself. In fact, it was Warner himself who, impressed with Winkler’s skill, encouraged her to start her own distribution company. He even started her off with two contacts for animated shorts: Out of the Inkwell, Inc. and Pat Sullivan/Felix the Cat. While her work with these two high profile clients established her reputation as a major player in the distribution of animated shorts, today she is most often remembered for her work with Walt Disney. Disney’s studio had already gone bankrupt when Winkler, who had viewed a pilot reel for Disney’s Alice Comedies came calling with the offer that brought Disney’s studio and career back to life.

Garrett P. Serviss

Garrett P. Serviss (1851-1929) was a journalist and self-taught astronomer and author. Serviss first gained national attention as the "Sun's Astronomer", writing a popular Astronomy column in the New York Sun in the late 1800s. Later, he would put his talent for explaining complicated scientific concepts to work touring the U.S. with science lectures featuring “magic lantern” slides, and other new technology, that enabled audiences to see an eclipse, or imagine the surface of the moon. In addition to The Einstein Theory of Relativity, Serviss wrote 15 non-fiction books (8 concerning astronomy) and 6 fictional works, all of which would be classified as Science Fiction today.

Richard "Dick" Huemer

Richard "Dick" Huemer (1898-1979) began his career in animation at Raoul Barré, where he worked on the Mutt and Jeff cartoons, before joining the Out of the Inkwell team in 1923. He made a number of important contributions to the development of Fleischer’s Little Clown including his name (Ko-ko), his sidekick (Fitz the dog) and the clean, slightly more stylized appearance that to this day is most associated with the character. He eventually moved to Hollywood and became an animator at Charles Mintz Studio, and finally landed at Disney Studios where he remained for the rest of his career. His work is featured in Dumbo and Fantasia among other well-known Disney classics. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Mousecar Award, the Winsor McCay Award and a Disney Legends Award.

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Part One

Part Three

Part Four