Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Max Fleischer (July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an important Austrian-American pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon who served as the head of Fleischer Studios. Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 9 - The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends 506 - The Bishops of Visigothic Gaul Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich The United States of America —commonly referred to as the An animated cartoon is a short hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn Film for the cinema, Television or computer Fleischer Studios Inc is an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City New York. He brought such characters as Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Popeye, and Superman to the movie screen and was responsible for a number of technological innovations. Betty Boop is an animated Cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Koko the Clown is an animated character created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer. Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional hero famous for appearing in comic strips and animated films as well as numerous TV shows The Superman Animated cartoons, commonly but somewhat erroneously known as the " Fleischer Superman cartoons " were a series of seventeen animated

Contents

Early life

Born to a Jewish family in Kraków, Poland then part of the Austrian-Hungarian province of Galicia, Fleischer was the second oldest of six children. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Kraków, in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow (ˈkrækaʊ M-W: krăk'ou krāk'ō is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Galicia (Галичина ( Halychyna) Galicja is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, His family immigrated to the USA in 1887 and settled in New York City. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The City of New York He attended public school in New York City, having spent his formative years in Brownsville and Brooklyn. He attended Evening High School, received commercial art training at Cooper Union, and also attended The Mechanics and Tradesman's School. While still in his teens, he worked for "The Brooklyn Daily Eagle" as an errand boy, and eventually became a cartoonist. It was during this period he met a newspaper cartoonist from Detroit, John Randolph Bray. He married his childhood sweetheart, Ethel (Essie) Gold on December 25, 1905. Shortly afterward he accepted an illustrator's job for a catalog company in Boston. He returned to New York as Art Editor for "Popular Science" magazine around 1912.

The rotoscope

Fleischer came up with a concept to simplify the process of animating movement by tracing frames of live action film. His patent for the Rotoscope was granted in 1915, although Max and his brother Dave Fleischer made their first cartoon using the device in 1914. Rotoscoping is an Animation technique in which Animators trace over live-action film movement frame by frame for use in Animated films Originally David Fleischer ( July 14 1894 – June 25 1979) was an Austrian-American Animator of Jewish ancestry Film director Extensive use of this technique was made in Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell series for the first five years of the series, which started in 1919 and starred Koko the Clown and Fitz the dog. Out of the Inkwell was a major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1919 to 1929 Koko the Clown is an animated character created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer.

Fleischer Studios

Fleischer produced his Inkwell films for The Bray Studios until, in 1921, he established with his brother Dave Fleischer Studios (initially named "Out of the Inkwell Films") to produce animated cartoons and short subjects; Max was credited as the producer at the beginning of every cartoon as well. Fleischer Studios Inc is an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City New York. Koko and Fitz remained the stars of the Out of the Inkwell series, which was renamed Inkwell Imps in 1927.

Fleischer invented the "Bouncing Ball" technique for his " Ko-Ko Song Car-Tune" series of animated sing-along shorts. In 1925, Fleischer added synchronized sound to this series, using the Phonofilm sound-on-film process developed by Lee de Forest; these Song Car-tunes would last until 1927, just a few months before the actual start of the sound era. In 1919 Lee De Forest, inventor of the Audion tube, filed his first patent on a Sound-on-film process DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly Sound-on-film refers to a class of Sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film usually but not always the same Lee De Forest, ( August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American Inventor with over 300 patents to his credit This was before Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie (1928), which is often mistakenly cited as the first cartoon to synchronize sound with animation. Walter Elias Disney (December 5 1901 – December 15 1966 was a multiple Academy Award -winning American Film producer, director, Screenwriter Steamboat Willie ( 1928) is an Animated cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse released on November 18, 1928.

In 1923, Fleischer made two a 20-minute educational features explaining Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, and Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical This page is about the scientific concept of relativity for philosophical or sociological theories about relativity see Relativism. Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Both features used a combination of animated special effects and live action.

Into the early sound era, Fleischer produced many technically advanced and sophisticated animated films. Several of his cartoons had soundtracks featuring live or rotoscoped images the leading jazz performers of the time, most notably Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Don Redman. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Cabell "Cab" Calloway III ( December 25, 1907 &ndash November 18, 1994) was a famous American Jazz Singer Louis Armstrong (August 4 1901 &ndash July 6 1971 nicknamed Satchmo or Sachimo and Pops, was an American Jazz Trumpeter Donald Matthew Redman ( July 29, 1900, Piedmont, West Virginia - November 30, 1964, New York) was an American Fleischer's use of black performers was bold at a time when depictions of blacks were often denigrating and stereotypical.

Finding success

In 1928, as film studios made the transition to sound, Fleischer revived the Song Car-Tunes, as Screen Songs, with releases starring in February, 1929 for Paramount. Screen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. was reorganized as Fleischer Studios in January, 1929 following bankruptcy. During this time, Walt Disney was also gaining success with Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies. Mickey Mouse is a comic animal Cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. Silly Symphonies is a series of Animated Short subjects 75 in total produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939 The silent "Inkwell Imps" series was replaced with Talkartoon-in August of 1929 beginning with "Noah's Lark. Talkartoons is the name of a series of 42 animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 " A year into the series, Fitz was renamed "Bimbo" and became the star of the Talkartoon series, starting with the cartoon Hot Dog. Bimbo is a Fictional character, a Cartoon Dog created by Fleischer Studios. But in August, 1930, a Rubenesque poodle-human hybrid made her screen debut in "Dizzy Dishes," and quickly became Fleischer's biggest star, and would later be named Betty Boop. Betty Boop is an animated Cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by By 1931, Betty's floppy ears became hoop ear rings, and she was transformed as a fully human girl. By the time of Minnie the Moocher (1932), Betty Boop was in a class of her own, and by August of 1932, starting with Stopping the Show, the Talkartoon series was renamed as Betty Boop cartoons; by now, as noted from even the opening song from Stopping the Show, Betty clearly became the self-proclaimed "Queen of the Animated Screen. " Minnie the Moocher " is a Jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra selling over 1 million copies " Fleischer, who had been established for a decade was the the premier animation producer along with the up and coming Disney by this time. Fleischer cartoons were also very different from Disney cartoons since the content and realization of both producer's cartoons was so vastly different; though both Disney and Fleischer did use a lot of jazz in their cartoons as well. The Fleischer approach was sophisticated, focused on surrealism, dark humor, adult psychological elements and sexuality. Disney was clearly still on top. In addition to the success of Mickey Mouse, Disney was also able to raise the stakes against Fleischer higher by significantly boosting the success of Silly Symphonies through the popular cartoon The Three Little Pigs.

Fleischer's most significant business deal came in securing the rights to the comic strip character Popeye the Sailor from King Features Syndicate. A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional hero famous for appearing in comic strips and animated films as well as numerous TV shows King Features Syndicate, a Print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 Comic strips newspaper columns, The "Popeye" made his film debut in July, 1933, introduced in the Betty Boop short Popeye the Sailor. Popeye was an immediate hit for Fleischer, and his popularity would grow to outdistance Mickey Mouse by 1935. Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Fleischer's studio was a major operation in New York under the support of Paramount. But Fleischer was also at the mercy of Paramount's management. During the depression, Paramount went through four name changes and reorganizations due to bankruptcies. These reorganizations affected the production budgets and created barriers for Fleischer's development. When the three-color Technicolor process was available, Paramount vetoed it based on their concerns with economic balance, giving Disney the opportunity to acquire an exclusivity to the process for four years, giving him the market edge on color cartoons. Two years later, Paramount approved color production for Fleischer, but he was left with the two color processes of Cinecolor (Red and Blue) and two-color Technicolor (red and green). The Color Classics series was introduced in 1934 as Fleischer's answer to Disney's Silly Symphonies. Color Classics was an Animated Short subjects series produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor These color cartoons were augmented with a third-dimensional background affect called "The Stereoptical Process," a precursor to Disney's Multiplane. This technique was used to even great effect in the longer format "Popeye" cartoons "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" (1936) and "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves" (1937). These series of double length cartoons were a gradual progression expressing Fleischer's desire to produce feature length animated features. And while he had concepts for full length features, it was not until the success of Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that the Paramount executives realized the value of an animated feature as Fleischer had been proposing for the previous three years.

Animated features and decline

The popularity of Betty Boop was irreparably damaged as a result of the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934. For the television broadcasting term please see Production code number. Her overt sexuality was downplayed, and her racy flapper attire was replaced with longer skirts and a less revealing neckline. The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a "new breed" of young Women who wore short skirts bobbed their hair listened to the new Jazz music While the production of the cartoons had become more refined with more structured stories, the level of the content was more juvenile, largely influenced by Paramount's front office, which was changing the tone of their films to reflect a more family-oriented audience by producing films more of the nature of MGM. Betty became a spinster career girl and maiden aunt character becoming more of a judgmental "good citizine" instead of the carefree Jazz Baby she once was. As a result, "Betty Boop" lost much of her audience appeal, and the era and musical style that she represented had already faded away with the coming of the Swing Era.

In 1937, film production at Fleischer's studio was affected by a five month strike, which kept his cartoons off theater screens through the rest of the year. The strikers represented by the Commercial Artists and Designers Union were not recognized by the IATSE, which represented the majority of the motion picture crafts. But after five months, Paramount Pictures urged Fleischer into settling. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Then in March, 1938, Fleischer Studios moved from New York City to Miami, Florida. The reasons were many. While it was reasoned that the relocation removed the studio from further union agitation, they were in need of additional space for the production of features.

In the wake of Disney's triumph with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Paramount acquiesced to Fleischer's request to produce feature-length animated films, and now they wanted one for a Christmas, 1939 release. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American film based on the eponymous German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. In order to finance the new operation, Fleischer negotiated a loan with Paramount that in essence surrendered the studios assets for the term of the loan, 10 years. While Gulliver's Travels (1939) was a modest domestic success, it did not make back all of its costs since the production ran nearly $500,000 overbudget due to the relocation, transportation of film for processing, and costs for training of new workers. Gulliver's Travels is a 1939 Academy Award nominated cel-animated Technicolor Feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer The year 1939 in film involved some significant events Events Movie historians and film buffs often look back on the year 1939 as "the At the same time, it was reported that the escalated war in Europe just three months before cut off Paramount's foreign release potential. But recent information indicates that "GULLIVER" was released in Europe but the returns were not reported to the accounting department at Fleischer Studios. At the same time, returns on "Popeye" cartoons were also not properly accounted. These factors contributed to the continued financial losses for Fleischer's studio with the final blow coming with the ill-fated release of his second feature, Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941) two days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Mr Bug Goes to Town, also known as Hoppity Goes to Town and Bugville, is an Animated feature produced by Fleischer

On May 24, 1941, Paramount started the takeover of Fleischer's studio. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Max remained nominally in charge, but a long-simmering personal feud with his brother Dave complicated the situation further. Shortly after the release of Mr. Bug, Dave, left for California to take over as head of Columbia's Screen Gems animation studio in April 1942. }} 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 This action taken one month prior to the renewal of Fleischer's contract caused a breach, as Dave was in violation for taking a position with a competitor while still contracted to Paramount. This breach along with the debt to Paramount gave them the right to take control. Max was then forced out as Paramount installed new management, among them Max's son-in-law, Seymour Kneitel. Seymour Kneitel ( March 16 1908 – July 30, 1964) was an American Animator. On May 25, 1942, the studio was renamed Famous Studios and, it moved back to New York within eight months. Famous Studios, renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956 was the Animation division of the Hollywood film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942

Despite the disappointing performance of the feature films, one of Fleischer's most successful productions, the Superman cartoon series, was launched during this late period. The Superman Animated cartoons, commonly but somewhat erroneously known as the " Fleischer Superman cartoons " were a series of seventeen animated Nine episodes were completed by Fleischer Studios, with the final eight made by Famous Studios after the reorganization. Today, the Max Fleischer "Superman" cartoons are considered the final triumph of this great pioneer and his innovative studio.

Later career

After leaving his studio, Fleischer was brought in as head of the Animation Department for the industrial film company, The Handy Organization. While there he superivised the technical and cartoon animation departments, producing training films for the Army and Navy and was also involved with research and development for the war effort. Following the war, he supervised the production of the animated adaptation of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1948), sponsored by Montgomery Ward. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a song and popular Christmas story about Santa Claus 's ninth and lead reindeer who possesses an unusually red-colored The year 1948 in film involved some significant events Events Laurence Olivier 's Hamlet becomes the Fleischer left Handy in 1954 and went returned as Production Manager for The Bray Studios in New York.

Fleischer won a suit against Paramount in 1955 over the removal of his name from the credits. While Fleischer had issues over the breach of contract, he avoided suing to protect his son-in-law, Seymour Kneitel because of position with Famous Studios under the control of Paramount. In 1958, Fleischer revised Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. and partnered with his former animator, Hal Seeger to produce 100 color "Out of the Inkwell" (1960-1961) cartoons for television. Hal Seeger ( 1917 - March 13, 2005) was an Animated cartoon producer and director who owned his own studio the Hal Seeger Studio (Hal Seeger Productions Actor Larry Storch performed the voices for Koko, and supporting characters Kokonut, and Mean Moe. Lawrence Samuel "Larry" Storch (born January 8, 1923) is an American actor best known for his comedic television roles including voiceover

Fleischer, along with his wife Essie, moved to the Motion Picture Country House in 1967. The Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital is a Retirement community, with individual cottages and a fully licensed acute-care hospital located at 23388 Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. He died from heart failure on September 11, 1972, at the age of eighty-nine, after a period of poor health. Heart failure is a Cardiac condition that occurs when a problem with the structure or function of the Heart impairs its ability to supply Max Fleischer was an an artist, a writer, and an inventor of some 20 patents for motion picture production processes. On the day of his death Max Fleischer was cited as a great pioneer who invented an industry, and was named by Time magazine as the "Dean of Animated Cartoons. "

References

External links

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic