Cartoon Roots Kickstarter ends Sunday!

Fans of vintage animation by the Fleischer Studio will be thrilled to hear good news regarding the next Cartoons On Film crowdfunding project, devoted to the 1919-1923 entries in the innovative Out Of The Inkwell series. The producer of the Cartoon Roots series, Tommy Jose Stathes of Cartoons on Film, wrote a detailed post on the Cartoon Research website about it, Out of the Inkwell Restorations? Yes, With Your Help! on February 1.

Here's the promo video (kudos, bravos and huzzahs to David Gerstein, Devon Baxter and Steve Stanchfield) for the new stretch goal and Out Of The Inkwell restoration.



The Cartoons On Film YouTube portal elaborates: "It's official! The next Cartoons On Film crowdfunding project will now also cover a group of rare 1919-1923 Out of the Inkwell films from Max Fleischer. Max's famous Inkwell Clown, in his earliest rotoscoped form, will come to you in brand new 2K scans and restorations from rare archival prints in the Stathes Collection—and only if YOU help make this a reality by pledging on Kickstarter by Sunday, Feb. 7th."

Tommy Stathes adds, “This will be a really good opportunity to go back to a variety of prints and to rehabilitate the films in a way that hasn’t really been done before, especially not in our modern era of 2K scanning and HD film viewing. In doing so, I’ll be able to present some films that a few of you have seen before in far better looking versions, as well as some true rarities that have not been in distribution for decades.”

This is the second Kickstarter by Cartoons On Film in 2021; the first one for the restorations of 15 early silent Walter Lantz cartoons quickly met and exceeded its goal.



Stretch goals have been added to the original Kickstarter to fund the Out Of The Inkwell set. The earliest Koko The Clowns were among "Goldwyn Bray Comics" as Max & Dave Fleischer's studio were among the production crews making cartoons for J.R. Bray.



While the mid and late 1920's Koko The Clown, especially such "Inkwell Imps" vehicles as Ko-Ko's Earth Control, have been frequently screened (and even featured prominently in classic film programs curated by the writer of this blog) and seen as often as any silent era cartoons, including those produced by Walt Disney and Otto Messmer, the earlier Out Of The Inkwells are much more rare and in many cases seldom seen. When it comes to the films of Max and Dave Fleischer - and for that matter Max' son Richard (the director of such unbeatable classic movies as Narrow Margin and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea) - we're ALL IN!