This blog has posted about the amazing and ever-inventive animation of Fleischer Studios numerous times over the 1,328 posts thus far.
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.
The studio that created Ko-ko, The Inkwell Imps and Betty Boop and successfully brought Popeye and Superman from the comics to the silver screen unquestionably are the favorite cartoon producers of this blogmeister and the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival.
We're thrilled to hear that at NYC's MoMA, Fleischer Studios will at long last get their long overdue due.
The title of the retrospective, Max Fleischer Cartoons: The Art & Inventions Of Max Fleischer, is parallel to Ray Pointer's excellent tome covering the filmmaking career, art and technological innovations of Max Fleischer.
Have we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog done multiple binge-watches of Kokos, Inkwell Imps and Talkartoons? Yes.
The lineup for Max Fleischer Cartoons: The Art & Inventions Of Max Fleischer is as follows:
Thursday, March 7, 7:00 p.m.
Greatest Hits — with Q&A
Ko-Ko’s Earth Control (1928)
Bimbo's Initiation (1931)
Snow-White (1933)
Dinah (1933) – Screen Song (restored from UCLA and ASIFA-Hollywood’s preservation neg)
Betty Boop And Grampy (1935)
Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad The Sailor (1936)
Friday, March 8, 4:00 p.m.
Silent Program 1 — with piano accompaniment from Ben Model
The Clown's Little Brother (1920)
Boxing Kangaroo (1920)
The Runaway (1924)
The Cartoon Factory (1924)
Ko-Ko’s Kane (1927)
Fadeaway (1926)
Ko-Ko Plays Pool (1927)
Friday, March 8, 7:00 p.m.
The Pre-Codes
Ace Of Spades (1931)
Minding The Baby (1931)
In My Merry Oldsmobile (1931)
Chess-Nuts (1932)
Mask-A-Raid (1931)
Ko-Ko Lamps Aladdin (1928)
(repeats Monday March 11, 4:30 p.m.)
Saturday, March 9, 1:00 p.m.
Matinee Program 1
Can You Take It? (1934)
Educated Fish (1937)
Betty In Blunderland (1934)
Betty Boop’s Bizzy Bee (1932)
Poor Cinderella (1934)
Ko-Ko's Kink (1928)
Buzzy Boop At The Concert (1938) (courtesy of UCLA and ASIFA-Hollywood)
Saturday, March 9, 4:00 p.m.
Spooky! Surreal!
Swing You Sinners! (1930)
Betty Boop’s Hallowe'en Party (1933)
Red Hot Mama (1934)
Ko-Ko's Hot Dog (1928)
Bimbo's Initiation (1931)
Betty Boop, M.D. (1932)
The Cobweb Hotel (1936)
Goonland (1938)
(repeats Wednesday, March 13, 4:00 p.m.)
Saturday, March 9, 7:00 p.m.
Betty’s Beginnings
Barnacle Bill (1930)
Mysterious Mose (1930)
The Bum Bandit (1931)
Silly Scandals (1931)
Bimbo’s Express (1931)
Mask-A-Raid (1931)
(repeats Tuesday, March 12, 4:00 p.m.)
Sunday, March 10, 1:00 p.m.
Matinee Program 2
Somewhere In Dreamland (1936)
Play Safe (1936)
A Clean Shaven Man (1936)
Small Fry (1939)
The Mechanical Monsters (1941)
Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions (1933)
Mother Goose Land (1933)
Sunday, March 10, 1:00 p.m.
Silent Program 2 — with piano accompaniment from Ben Model
The Puzzle (1923)
Ko-Ko The Knight (1927)
Ko-Ko’s Kozy Korner (1928)
It’s The Cats (1926)
Ko-Ko Beats Time (1929)
Noise Annoys Ko-Ko (1929)
Monday, March 11, 7:30 p.m.
Color Classics
The Cobweb Hotel (1936)
Popeye The Sailor Meets Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves (1937)
The Arctic Giant (1942)
Poor Cinderella (1934)
Play Safe (1936)
The Kids In The Shoe (1935)
Small Fry (1939)
Tuesday, March 12, 7:00 p.m.
New York Stories
Stop That Noise (1935)
Any Rags? (1932)
Betty Boop’s Penthouse (1933)
Minnie The Moocher (1932)
Noise Annoys Ko-Ko (1929)
A Dream Walking (1934)
Ko-ko At The Circus (1926)
(repeats Thursday, March 14, 7:00 p.m.)
Wednesday, March 13, 7:00 p.m.
The Musicals
Popular Melodies (1933)
Brotherly Love (1936)
When Yuba Plays The Rhumba On The Tuba (1933)
The Old Man Of The Mountain (1933)
Time On My Hands (1932)
A Language All My Own (1935)
Honest Love And True (1938) (courtesy of Lobster Films)
Max Fleischer's granddaughter Jane Fleischer Reid has been working with historian, author and film restoration expert Thad Komorowoski and the best of the best cartoonologists and restoration experts - on making this tribute a reality.
Thad covered this epic animation retrospective in his February 28 post on Cartoon Research, Fleischer Cartoons at The Museum Of Modern Art. Thad writes:
It’s been a wonderful privilege and pleasure to be part of the Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored initiative for the past few years. Spearheaded by Jane Fleischer Reid (Max’s granddaughter) and in cooperation with Paramount and many international archives, this is the little restoration project that could.
It’s shown what’s possible with the right people in the right jobs, at the right time in history. Not just me, but Steve Stanchfield and his team at Thunderbean Animation, Fleischer licensee Mauricio Alvarado, Sam Davis, Ciara Waggoner, Devon Baxter, Jack Rizzo, Ray Faiola, Ben Model, Mark Kausler, Bruce Lawton, Paul Mular, Ray Pointer and Brandon Adams have all been pitching in and hard at work bringing these classics back to glory never thought possible.
The ingenious filmmaking of Max, Dave, and Lou Fleischer, Dick Huemer, Doc Crandall, Grim Natwick, Willard Bowsky, Dave Tendlar, Seymour Kneitel, Shamus Culhane, Myron Waldman, and so many others has been neglected for so long, and it’s so befitting their work is being shared and celebrated right where it was created.
This isn't the first time a Fleischer retrospective has hit New York City, where these cartoons were produced - Tommy Stathes of Cartoons On Film has done several NY animation programs featuring Ko-Ko, The Inkwell Imps, Bimbo and Betty Boop - but the first this writer can think of that is a multi-day extravaganza showcasing 35mm archival prints of these superlative animated cartoons.
The disturbingly detail-oriented here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog have added hyperlinks to each of the titles that will be shown in MoMA's week-long retrospective.
Strongly and emphatically suggest reading Thad's Cartoon Research piece first and then peruse the above lists - giving thanks to the many super-talented artists who brought these outstanding animated cartoons to life - the aforementioned Bowsky, Tendlar, Crandall, Huemer, Natwick, Culhane, Kneitel and Waldman plus Ted Sears, Berny Wolf, Al Eugster, Nick Tafuri, George Germanetti, Orestes Calpini, Jim Tyer, Rudy Zamora and many more.
If you reside close to NYC or travel there for business or to see family, by all means check these shows out. Advance tickets for Max Fleischer Cartoons: The Art & Inventions Of Max Fleischer can be purchased on the MoMA website.
If you don't and can't be there, buy this Blu-ray.
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 feature films, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and The Narrow Margin especially, and got a big kick out of this book.
The guy who writes this blog is a Talkartoon lovin' film collector/programmer/DIY curator slipped a few 35mm Fleischer cartoons into his three Pre-Code Follies shows at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum and spent much of his 4+ decades of schlepping 16mm projectors and reels around to various San Francisco Bay Area venues presenting the highly imaginative work of 1920's and 1930's New York animators.
Until Thursday, this animation aficionado shall spend some quality time with Out Of The Inkwell, starring the one, the only Koko the Clown.
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