Koko the Clown - Citizendia

Koko the Clown and Fitz

Koko the Clown is an animated character created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Max Fleischer ( July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an important Austrian American pioneer in the development of the The character originated when Max Fleischer invented the rotoscope, a device that allowed for animation to be more lifelike by tracing motion picture footage of human movement. Rotoscoping is an Animation technique in which Animators trace over live-action film movement frame by frame for use in Animated films Originally To test out his new invention Fleischer photographed his brother, Dave in a clown costume. David Fleischer ( July 14 1894 – June 25 1979) was an Austrian-American Animator of Jewish ancestry Film director After tracing the film footage amounting to some 2,500 drawings and a year's work, Koko the Clown was born. Using this device, Max Fleischer was able to secure a contract with the John R. Bray Studios, and in 1919 they Out of the Inkwell began as an entry in each monthly in the Bray Pictograph Screen Magazine released through Pararamount (1919-1920), and later Goldwyn (1921). This is an article about the US animation studio See Bray Studios (UK for the studio where many Hammer Horror films were created Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Out of the Inkwell was a major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1919 to 1929 Aside from the novlety of the rotoscope, this series offered a combination of live-action and animation centered on Max Fleischer as the creative cartoonist and lord over the clown. The clown would often slip from Max's eye and go on an adventure, or sort or pull a prank on his creator.

At first the character had no name and was known simply as "The Clown," or "Fleischer's Clown. " The series was very popular and in 1921, Max and Dave Fleischer formed their own studio, Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. Their films were distributed through the States Rights method through Warner Brothers, Winkler Pictures, Standard, and finally The Red Seal Pictures, Corporation. The "Clown" was named Ko-Ko in 1923 when Dick Huemer came to the studio as their Animation Supervisor, and it was at this time that the canine companion, Fitz was created to share the mischief. Dick Huemer ( January 2 1898 New York New York &mdash November 30 1979 Burbank California) was an Animator Fitz forms a prefix to Patronymic Surnames of Anglo-Norman origin Heumer also redesigned the "Clown," and set the drawing style that made the series famous. The illustration at the heading is an example by Huemer.

In the films produced from 1924 to 1927, the clown's name was hyphenated, "Ko-Ko. " The hyphen was dropped due to legal issues associated with the new association with Paramount beginning in mid 1927 following the bankruptcy of the The Red Seal Pictures Corporation. "Out of the Inkwell" was also retitled for Paramount as "The Inkwell Imps" and continued until July, 1929, ending with "Chemical Koko,". "The Inkwell Imps" series was replaced by Flesicher's new sound series, "Talkartoons".

Throughout the 1920s, the Fleischer studio proved to be one of the top producers of animation with clever humor and numerous innovations. In 1924, Fleischer decided to go a step further and introduce a new series called Ko-Ko Song Car-tunes, sing-along shorts (featuring "The Famous Bouncing Ball"). Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. For the Mac OS program see Bouncing Ball Simulation System. For the extinct computer virus see Bouncing Ball (computer virus. These early cartoons were actually the first films ever to use soundtracks (two years before The Jazz Singer and three years before Steamboat Willie). The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American Musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized Dialogue Steamboat Willie ( 1928) is an Animated cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse released on November 18, 1928. These sound shorts received limited distribution through the 36 theaters owned by The Red Seal company, which became defunct shortly before the sound era officially began. While the last KOKO films were being produced, the Fleischers returned to producing sound cartoons with a revival of the song films named ["SCREEEN SONGS"], which were released to theaters starting in February, 1929. Throughout this transitional period, the Fleischer Studio continued to produce a number of innovative and advanced films between 1929 and 1933.

In 1931, Koko was taken out of retirement and became a regular in the new Fleischer Talkartoons series with costars, Betty Boop and Bimbo. Year 1931 ( MCMXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Talkartoons is the name of a series of 42 animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 Betty Boop is an animated Cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Bimbo is a Fictional character, a Cartoon Dog created by Fleischer Studios. Koko's last theatrical appearance was in the "Betty Boop" cartoon, "Ha-Ha-Ha" (1934), a remake of an "Out of the Inkwell silent, "The Cure" (1924). Koko's first color appearance was a cameo in "Toys Will Be Toys,"(1949),one of the revived "Screen Songs" series produced by Famous Studios. Famous Studios, renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956 was the Animation division of the Hollywood film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 In 1958, Max Fleischer set out to revive Out of the Inkwell for television, and a series of 100 color episodes were produced in 1960-1961 by Hal Seeger using the voice talents of Larry Storch.

References

Cabarga, Leslie (1988): The Fleischer Story. DaCapo Press.
Crafton, Donald (1993): Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898-1928. University of Chicago Press.
Maltin, Leonard (1987): Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Penguin Books.
Pointer, Ray (2000/2002): "Max Fleischer's Famous Out of the Inkwell" DVD. Inkwell Images. www. inkwellimagesink. com

References

See also