Famous Studios logo, as seen during the opening credits of a 1950s Popeye the Sailor cartoon. Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional hero famous for appearing in comic strips and animated films as well as numerous TV shows

Famous Studios, renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956, was the animation division of the Hollywood film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941. Fleischer Studios Inc is an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City New York. Max Fleischer ( July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an important Austrian American pioneer in the development of the David Fleischer ( July 14 1894 – June 25 1979) was an Austrian-American Animator of Jewish ancestry Film director ^[1]

The Famous name was previously used as Famous Players Film Company, one of several companies which in 1912 became Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the company which founded Paramount Pictures. The Famous Players Film Company was founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, the powerful New York City Theatre Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American Motion picture company formed in 1916 from the merger of Famous Players Film Company and the Jesse ^[1] Paramount's music publishing branch, which held the rights to all of the original music in the Fleischer/Famous cartoons, was named Famous Music. Famous Music was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom.

History

Fleischer Studios dissolution

See also: Fleischer Studios

Fleischer Studios was a successful animation studio responsible for producing successful cartoon shorts starring characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor. Fleischer Studios Inc is an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City New York. Fleischer Studios Inc is an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City New York. Betty Boop is an animated Cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional hero famous for appearing in comic strips and animated films as well as numerous TV shows The studio moved its operations from New York City to Miami Beach in 1938, following union problems and the start of production on its first feature film, Gulliver's Travels (1939). The City of New York Gulliver's Travels is a 1939 Academy Award nominated cel-animated Technicolor Feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer ^[2] While Gulliver was a success, the expense of the move and the expanded staff required to produce the feature created finance problems for the Fleischer Studios. The studio depended upon advances and loans from its distributor, Paramount Pictures, in order to continue production on its short subjects and to begin work on a second feature, Mister Bug Goes to Town. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Mr Bug Goes to Town, also known as Hoppity Goes to Town and Bugville, is an Animated feature produced by Fleischer ^[3]

Compounding the problems the studio was facing was the fact that the studio's co-founders, brothers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer, were becoming increasingly estranged, and by this time, they were no longer speaking to each other due to personal and professional disputes. Max Fleischer ( July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an important Austrian American pioneer in the development of the David Fleischer ( July 14 1894 – June 25 1979) was an Austrian-American Animator of Jewish ancestry Film director ^[4] On May 21, 1941, Paramount assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, and had the Fleischer brothers submit signed letters of resignation, to be used at Paramount's discretion. Events 878 - Syracuse Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily. Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[3] Following the unsuccessful release of Mister Bug in December 1941, Dave Fleischer, no longer able to cooperate with Max, left Miami for California, where he was hired to run Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems animation studio. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. }} Columbia Pictures Industries Inc is an American Film production and distribution company Screen Gems is an American subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment 's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different ^[4] Paramount responded by producing the letters of resignation, severing the Fleischer brothers from control of their studio. ^[3]

Paramount renamed the studio Famous Studios, and although they had ownership of the company, it remained a separate entity. ^[3] Four top Fleischer employees were promoted to run the animation studio: business manager Sam Buchwald, storyboard artist Isadore Sparber, animator Dan Gordon, and Max Fleischer's son-in-law, head animator Seymour Kneitel. Isadore Sparber was an American Storyboard artist, writer director and producer of animated films Dan Gordon was an American Storyboard artist and Film director, best known for his work at both Famous Studios and Hanna-Barbera Productions Seymour Kneitel ( March 16 1908 – July 30, 1964) was an American Animator. ^[1] Buchwald assumed Max Fleischer's place as executive producer, while Sparber, Kneitel, and Gordon shared Dave Fleischer's former responsibilities as supervising producers and credited directors. Motion Pictures An executive producer of a Motion picture is typically a producer who is sometimes involved in creative or technical aspects of production ^[3] Gordon remained only briefly before departing after 1943. ^[4] Although the Fleischers left the studio at the end of 1941, Famous Studios was not officially incorporated until May 1942, after Paramount's contract with Fleischer Studios had formally run its course. ^[3]

Early years

Shortly after the takeover, Paramount began plans to move a significantly downsized Famous Studios back to New York, a move completed during the winter of 1943. ^[1] Virtually all of the Famous staff, from voice artist/storyman Jack Mercer and storyman Carl Meyer to animators such as Myron Waldman, David Tendlar, Tom Johnson, Nicholas Tafuri, and Al Eugster, were holdovers from the Fleischer era. Jack Mercer ( January 13, 1909 &ndash December 4, 1984) was an American Animator, Storyman and Voice actor Sir Carl Ferdinand Meyer 1st Baronet ( December 23, 1851 - December 18, 1922) was a British Banker and mining magnate Myron Waldman ( April 23 1908 &ndash February 4 2006) was an American Animator, best known for his work at Fleischer David Benjamin Tendlar ( August 8 1909 - September 9 1993) was an American Animator. For the pilot see American Airlines Flight 965 Nicholas Tafuri ( February 25, 1913 - November 19, 1990) was Alfred Eugster ( February 11 1909 &ndash January 1 1997) was an American Animator and Film director, regarded ^[5] These artists remained with Famous/Paramount for much of the studio's existence. ^[5] As at Fleischer's, the head animators carried out the tasks that were assigned to animation directors at other studios, while the credited directors—Kneitel, Sparber, Gordon, and Disney/Terrytoons veteran Bill Tytla—acted more as supervisors. An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film Vladimir Peter Tytla ( October 25 1904 &ndash December 30 1968) was one of the original Disney Animators and is considered ^[5] Winston Sharples, formerly of the Van Beuren Studios, served as musical director. Van Beuren Studios was an Animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons from 1928 to 1936

Continuing series from the Fleischer period included Popeye the Sailor and Superman, both licensed from popular comics characters. The Superman Animated cartoons, commonly but somewhat erroneously known as the " Fleischer Superman cartoons " were a series of seventeen animated Comics (via Latin from the Greek "" kōmikos, of or pertaining to "comedy" from kōmos "revel" The expensive Superman cartoons, having lost their novelty value with exhibitors,^[6] ended production in 1943, a year after Famous' inception. They were replaced by a series starring Saturday Evening Post comic strip character Little Lulu. The Saturday Evening Post was a weekly Magazine published in the United States from August 4, 1821 to February 8, Little Lulu is a Comic strip character created by Marjorie Henderson Buell. ^[6] Also in 1943, Famous began producing the formerly black-and-white Popeye cartoons in Technicolor, and began a new series of one-shot cartoons under the umbrella title Noveltoons. Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation Noveltoons was an Anthology series of animated Cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures ' Famous Studios from 1943 ^[6]

The Noveltoons series introduced several popular characters such as Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey, and Casper the Friendly Ghost, some of whom were subsequently given series of their own. Herman and Katnip are a duo of Cartoon characters (Herman the Mouse and Katnip the Cat) who have appeared both separately and together in Famous Baby Huey, a gigantic and naïve infant Duckling cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost is the Protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name ^[5] Casper, created by writer Seymour Reit and Famous animator Joe Oriolo during World War II as a children's book manuscript, was sold to Famous in 1945 and became the studio's most successful wholly owned property. Joseph "Joe" Oriolo (b 21 February 1913, Union City New Jersey &ndash d World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including ^[5] In 1947, Paramount decided to stop paying Little Lulu creator Marge licensing royalties, and created a Lulu clone, Little Audrey, as a replacement. Marjorie Henderson Buell ( December 11, 1904 &ndash May 30, 1993) was an American Cartoonist and the creator of Little Little Audrey is a Fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures ' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. ^[6] That same year Famous resurrected an old Fleischer series, Screen Songs, introducing a new series of musical cartoons featuring a "bouncing ball" sing-along. Screen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 ^[5]

Although the studio still carried much of the staff from the previous regime, animation fans and historians note that its films soon diverged from the previous style. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames ^[1] Many of them deride the company style for being highly formulaic and largely oriented towards a children's audience, with none of the artistic ambition or sophistication that the previous management strove for. ^[1][5]

Later period and sales of cartoon libraries

Olive Oyl, Popeye, and Bluto in the Famous Studios Popeye the Sailor cartoon Floor Flushers (1953). Olive Oyl is a Cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his Comic strip Thimble Theater. Bluto (sometimes known as Brutus) is a cartoon character created in 1932 by Elzie Crisler Segar as a one-time character named "Bluto the Terrible" in his

Sam Buchwald died in 1951. ^[7] Seymour Kneitel and Isadore Sparber became the production heads of the studio, and Dave Tendlar was promoted to director. ^[7]

The mid and late-1950s brought a number of significant changes for Famous Studios. In 1955, Paramount sold most of their pre-1950 shorts and cartoons, except for the Popeye and Superman shorts, to U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. for television distribution. UM&M TV Corp is best known as the original purchaser of Paramount Pictures ' pre-1951 shorts and cartoons (excluding Popeye and Superman) Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic The Popeye cartoons were acquired by Associated Artists Productions (A. Associated Artists Productions ( aap A. P. ), and the Superman library went to Motion Pictures for Television, producers of the Adventures of Superman television series. Adventures of Superman is an American Television series based on Comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel In October 1956, Famous Studios was downsized and reorganized. Paramount assumed full control of the studio, integrating it into the Paramount Pictures Corporation as a division named Paramount Cartoon Studios. ^[7] Two years after the company's reorganization, Isadore Sparber died, leaving Seymour Kneitel alone in charge of the studio.

Paramount sold their remaining cartoon film library and the rights to their established characters to Harvey Comics in 1959. Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey Publications) was an American Comic book Publisher, founded by Alfred Harvey in 1941 after buying ^[7] Paramount's attempts at creating replacement characters, among them Jeepers and Creepers and The Cat, proved unsuccessful. Television production outsourced from King Features and Harvey Films brought the company additional income. King Features Syndicate, a Print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 Comic strips newspaper columns, Harvey Films was an Animation production arm of Comic book publisher Harvey Comics. Ironically, these arrangements had Paramount working on new TV cartoons starring Casper, who they had created, and Popeye and Little Lulu, characters they had previously licensed for theatrical cartoons. ^[7] In the case of King Features' Popeye and King Features Trilogy TV cartoons, Paramount was one of several animation studios, among them Jack Kinney Productions and Rembrandt Films, to which King Features outsourced production. Jack Kinney ( March 29, 1909 - February 9, 1992) was an American Animator, director and producer of Animated shorts William Lawrence Snyder (February 14 1918–June 3 1998 was an American Film producer. ^[7] Twelve of the King Features Trilogy cartoons, starring characters such as Little Lulu, Beetle Bailey, and Snuffy Smith, were released theatrically by Paramount in 1962 under the title Comic Kings. Beetle Bailey (begun on September 4, 1950) is a Comic strip set in a United States Army military post created by Mort For the World War II Medal of Honor Recipient please go to Maynard "Snuffy" Smith Snuffy Smith has been for many years the predominant ^[7]

Seymour Kneitel died of a heart attack in 1964, and Paramount brought in comic book veteran Howard Post to run the cartoon studio. Howard Post (born November 2, 1926 in New York City) is an American comic book writer and artist. ^[8] Under Post's supervision, Paramount began new cartoon series such as Swifty and Shorty and Honey Halfwitch, and allowed comic strip artist Jack Mendelsohn to direct two well-received cartoons based upon children's imaginations and drawing styles: The Story of George Washington and A Leak in the Dike (both 1965). Jack Mendelsohn (born 1926 is a writer-artist who has worked in animation comic strips and comic books ^[8]

Post left the studio amidst internal conflicts in 1965, replaced by Shamus Culhane, a veteran of the Fleischer studio. James "Shamus" Culhane ( November 12, 1908 — February 2, 1996) was an American Animator, Film director, and ^[8] In 1967, Culhane directed another short based upon children's art, My Daddy, the Astronaut, which became Paramount's first film to be shown at the International Animation Festival. ^[9] In 1966, the studio subcontracted The Mighty Thor cartoons from Grantray-Lawrence Animation, producers of The Marvel Superheroes animated TV series. Thor is a Fictional character that appears in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. Grantray-Lawrence Animation was an animated cartoon studio active from 1954 to 1967 and founded by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson (hence "Grant-Ray" ^[9] However, when Paramount's board of directors rejected a proposal to produce episodes for a second Grantray-Lawrence series, Spider-Man, Culhane quit the studio, and was replaced by former Terrytoons animator Ralph Bakshi in mid-1967. Spider-Man is an Animated television series that ran from September 9, 1967 to June 14, 1970. Ralph Bakshi (born October 29 1938 is an American director of animated and occasionally live-action films ^[9] Although Bakshi quickly put several experimental shorts into production, by the fall of 1967, Paramount's new owners, Gulf and Western, had begun the process of shutting down the animation studio, a task completed in December. Gulf and Western Industries Inc, for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.

Current ownership of Paramount cartoons

Today, several companies own different components of the Paramount animated library. Time Warner owns all of the Paramount Popeye cartoons via their Turner Entertainment division, following several company mergers and purchases involving the A. Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City. Turner Entertainment Company Inc is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. A. P. film library. In addition, Time Warner (via its DC Comics unit) owns the masters to the Superman cartoons, although all seventeen of the series' entries are in the public domain. DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Classic Media now owns the Harvey comics properties, which include the 1950-1962 Paramount cartoons and the original characters created by Famous before 1959. Classic Media Inc is an American Production company /distributor of family programming acquired in 2007 by UK-based rival Entertainment Rights.

Viacom, Paramount's current parent company, owns what was once the U. Viacom ( ( short for " Vi deo & A udio Com munications" is an American Media conglomerate with various worldwide interests M. &M. library via their Republic Pictures arm. Republic Pictures (also known as Republic Entertainment Inc) is an independent film television and video distribution company that was originally a movie production-distribution This library includes the rights to all of the Paramount cartoons - Fleischer and Famous - produced before 1950 which do not feature Popeye, Superman and 1950-1962 Harvey Comic properties (currently owned by Classic Media). However, a significant number of these cartoons did not have their copyrights renewed, and have fallen into the public domain. Numerous public domain sourced home video collections feature Paramount cartoons which were sold to U. Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment M. &M. Paramount itself continues to hold the theatrical rights to the post-1962 cartoon shorts.

CBS Television Distribution (a unit of the current incarnation of CBS Corporation) holds the television rights to the cartoons under Republic Pictures' ownership. CBS Television Distribution (CTD is a United States and Global Television Distribution company, a merger of CBS Corporation 's three CBS Corporation () is an American Media conglomerate focused on Broadcasting, Publishing, Billboards, and Television Republic has licensed the home video/DVD rights to the former U. M. &M. package to Lionsgate Home Entertainment, although official re-releases have yet to be announced. Lionsgate redirects here For other meanings see Lions' Gate (disambiguation‎.

Filmography

Theatrical short subjects series

• Popeye the Sailor (inherited from Fleischer Studios, 1942 – 1957)
• Superman (inherited from Fleischer Studios, 1942 – 1943)
• Noveltoons (1943 – 1967)
  • Little Audrey (1948 – 1959)
• Little Lulu (1943 – 1948)
• Screen Songs (1947 – 1951; originally produced by Fleischer Studios 1929 – 1938)
• Casper the Friendly Ghost (1950 – 1959)
• Kartunes (1951 – 1953)
• Herman and Katnip (1952 – 1959)
• Modern Madcaps (1958 – 1967)
• Jeepers and Creepers (1960)
• The Cat (1961)
• Swifty and Shorty (1964 – 1965)
• Honey Halfwitch (1965 – 1967)
• Merry Makers (1967)
• GoGo Toons (1967)
• Fractured Fables (1967)

Television series

• Segments of Popeye (1960 – 1962; outsourced from King Features)
• The New Casper Cartoon Show (1962 – 1963, produced for Harvey Films)
• Segments of King Features Trilogy (1963 – 1965; outsourced from King Features)
  • Twelve of the Paramount-produced shorts in this series were released theatrically in 1962 under the title Comic Kings
• The Mighty Thor segments of The Marvel Superheroes (1966; outsourced from Grantray-Lawrence Animation)

References

See also

• Fleischer Studios

External links

• Famous Studios at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Paramount and Famous Studios at cartoonresearch.com