Large Association of Movie Blogs
Large Association of Movie Blogs

Saturday, June 25, 2022

And This Blog Loves Animation by Fleischer Studios


Today, the would-be masterminds of this blog, yearning to live in less "interesting" times and (yet again) needing levity, have been taking a deep dive into the incredible cartoons of the animation studio led by Max & Dave Fleischer.



Shall spend some quality time with Out Of The Inkwell, starring the one, the only Koko the Clown.












The inspired work of Fleischer Studios remains, over a century after its first films for J.R. Bray were distributed to movie theaters, revered among animators, filmmakers and classic movie aficionados. As it's feeling more like 1933 than 2022 these days, MUST watch the splendid Screen Song cartoon BOILESK, released theatrically on June 9, 1933.



In between Broadway triumphs, Ethel Merman appeared in a slew of Fleischer Screen Songs.



The 16mm negatives on many of the Screen Songs were cut - you can see this on the existing NTA 16mm prints - so I hope that 35mm materials on all the Fleischer Screen Songs exist.



Fortunately, many Screen Songs currently on YouTube are uncut. The following, Ain't She Sweet (1933), is complete - and the great Lillian Roth is an added plus!



There are excellent books about the studio that created Koko and Betty Boop, beginning with one by Max Fleischer's son Richard. We are big fans of Richard Fleischer's top-notch feature films, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and The Narrow Margin especially, and got a big kick out of this book.

Also highly recommend Ray Pointer's tome covering the filmmaking career, art and technological innovations of Max Fleischer.

The first documentary I recall seeing about the Fleischer Brothers was the following 1992 film, Cartoon Madness: The Fantastic Animation of Fleischer Studios, hosted by Leonard Maltin.



Another terrific documentary about the Fleischer brothers and their studio is the following, found on the outstanding Daily Motion channel of animation historian Devon Baxter.



As preparation for last weekend's post, the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog watched a slew of Ub Iwerks cartoons - and, as a fair number of Iwerks Studio animators (Grim Natwick, Berny Wolf, James "Shamus" Culhane, Al Eugster) previously worked for the Fleischer brothers, this led directly to a binge-watch of Kokos and Talkartoons.



In particular, we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog love the Talkartoons, some featuring the imaginative work of ace animators Grim Natwick and Shamus Culhane.





From the Talkartoons, the nonsense song in Mask-A-Raid (1931), starting at 1:43, is among my all-time favorite scenes from over a century of cinema history.




One of the Fleischer Studio's numerous attempts to transition from the rough and tumble world of Betty Boop, Bimbo, Koko and Popeye to a more Disney-esque approach in the Silly Symphony department is the first Max Fleischer Color Classic, POOR CINDERELLA (1934).


While the near-irrepressible Betty swaps her pre-Code cocktail dress for a decidedly more modest post-Production Code outfit in Poor Cinderella, those distinctively bizarre Fleischer moments - such as the following singing pumpkin - still turn up. The Fleischer Studio animators could never quite eliminate the unabashedly cartoony approach.



The following bit from DANCING ON THE MOON (1935) incorporates the Fleischer Studio's 3-D tabletop sets and sci-fi elements - two elements we love - into the Color Classics format.



James Parten’s Needle Drop Notes feature on the terrific Cartoon Research website has been giving the Fleischers lots of love for quite awhile and most recently delved into the Color Classics series. The following, from the Max Fleischer Cartoons YouTube channel is definitely the best quality transfer I've seen of any entry from the Color Classics series.



In closing, we note that the YouTube channels of Not An Animation Historian, along with bumbumdbear, Xavier Bunkley, Cartoons On Film, Craig's Cartoon Capers, Ling Bing Productions, Lyric J, Old Classic Cartoons and Matt Skwarek have been posting a mind-blowing motherlode of cool animation rarities, many produced by the Fleischer Studio.



Many thanks to all of you, and, from the Cartoon Research website, Jerry Beck and Steve Stanchfield.

2 comments:

Yowp said...

Paul, I think more than anything else, the Talkartoons are the theatrical series I would most like to see restored and available. The few beat-up prints I've watched are full of wonderful, crazy things.

Paul F. Etcheverry said...

Couldn't agree more, Yowp! I've had the opportunity to see a few Talkartoons in 35mm over five decades attending animation screenings.