Fleischer Studios

Fleischer Studios, Inc.

Fleischer Studios

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Fleischer Studios
Name	Fleischer Studios

Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City.

It was founded in 1921 as Inkwell Studios (or Out of the Inkwell Films) by brothers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer who ran the company from its inception until Paramount Pictures, the studio's parent company and the distributor of its films, forced them to resign in April 1942.

In its prime, it was the most significant competitor to Walt Disney Productions, and is notable for bringing to the screen cartoons featuring Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, Popeye, and Superman (1940s) cartoons.

Unlike other studios, whose most famous characters were anthropomorphic animals, the Fleischers most popular characters were humans. After the death of the Fleischer brothers, for many years there has been a third-party feud to who actually owned the copyright to the Betty Boop character.

At one point, Betty Boop was in the public domain. According to research, for many years the had to fight "copyright claims" and "ownership" via various lawsuits to obtain their rights to the Betty Boop character. At one point they lost the rights to Harvey Films. During the 1970s, a King Features lawyer told Leslie Cabarga that the Fleischer Studios tried to take away the ownership of Betty away from them, so King Features told the Fleischer Studios to go to hell.

King Features showed proof that Koko the Clown was in the public domain, and showed at that point that the Fleischer Studios had no power. Today Betty Boop is fully branded by King Features, but the Fleischer Studios were able to regain copyright of the Betty Boop franchise. Even though proven to be in the public domain, there's a slight problem with copyright.

Paramount Pictures (ViacomCBS) who has recently officially rebranded itself as Paramount Global have recently taken ownership of some of the Betty Boop cartoons. The duration of copyright protection is the author's lifetime plus an additional 70 years. The maximum copyright duration for works published or registered prior to 1978 is 95 years from the date of publication.

Owners have the right to reclaim or dispute the domestic rights and or ownership to their creations. Apparently, Max Fleischer expressly guaranteed Grim Natwick the rights to the "Betty Boop" character. Natwick would subsequently file a lawsuit over this when Max passed away, but he lacked any written evidence of ownership.

The reason behind this is that Max Fleischer broke his word and did not give Grim Natwick, who originally created Betty Boop, his promise. Since that time, Natwick has been credited with "drawing Betty Boop first" rather than being the character's inventor. The rights of Betty Boop was actually passed down to the descendants of the Fleischer brothers.

However for many years, it has been King Features Syndicate, that have been actively marketing the "Betty Boop" character.

It was actually marketing genius Ted Hannah who relaunched Betty Boop during the 1980s. Hannah conceived and oversaw the public relations effort that reintroduced Betty Boop to the globe, and the licenced character now represents a billion-dollar corporation.

In December of 2023, the Fleischers put out a statement that "no one" was the model for Betty Boop. However Sandy Fox "The Official Voice of Betty Boop" has contradicted their statement, by saying that Helen Kane was the voice and model for Betty Boop.

The Fleischers also overlooked Paramount Pictures' admission that redhead Clara Bow was one of their numerous sources of inspiration. Desirée Goyette the former voice of Betty Boop stated, "Now Clara Bow was the original 'It' girl who represented the ultimate flapper girl of the 20s, and that she is truly who Betty Boop was modeled after."

Goyette finished up with, "If you want to know more about who Betty Boop was you need to know a lot more about who Clara Bow was. And so I would do my best Clara Bow imitation as a little girl, and never imagined that I would be doing the voice of Betty Boop in a TV show."

Fleischer Studios Staff

Founders:

• Max Fleischer
• Dave Fleischer

Chairman/CEO:

• Dave Fleischer
• Mark Fleischer

Corporate VP:

• Ginny Mahoney

Board of Directors:

• Stanley Handman
• Jeni Mahoney
• Jane Reid

Producers:

• Adolph Zukor
• Max Fleischer
• Dave Fleischer

Assistants:

• Lou Diamond

Directors:

• Max Fleischer
• Dave Fleischer
• Shamus Culhane

Musical Supervisor:

• Lou Fleischer

Writers:

• Max Fleischer
• Dave Fleischer
• Jack Mercer
• Seymour Kneitel
• Hal Seeger
• Edmond Seward
• Isadore Sparber
• David Tendlar
• Warren Foster
• Dan Gordon
• Cal Howard
• Tedd Pierce

Animators:

• Grim Natwick
• Lillian Friedman
• Myron Waldman
• Willard Bowsky
• Max Fleischer
• Seymour Kneitel
• Shamus Culhane
• Dave Fleischer
• Joel Clive
• Edith Vernick

Animation Directors:

• Tom Palmer

Layouts:

• Gustaf Tenggren

Actors/Actresses:

• Billy Murray
• Margie Hines
• William Pennell
• Cookie Bowers
• Mae Questel
• Pinto Colvig
• Jack Mercer
• Bradley Barker
• William Billy Costello
• Little Ann Little
• Claude Reese
• Harriet Lee
• Kate Wright (Radio)
• Bonnie Poe
• Gus Wickie
• Joan Alexander
• Jackson Beck
• Bud Collyer
• Julian Noa

Characters

• Koko the Clown
• Bimbo the Dog
• Betty Boop the Boop-Oop-a-Doop Girl
• Pudgy the Pup
• Popeye the Sailor Man
• Bluto
• Olive Oyl
• Wiffle Piffle
• Billy Boop
• Sally Swing
• Superman
• Gabby

Trivia

• There were approximately 800 Fleischer Studios employees by 1939.

• In 1938 the Fleischer Studios created a secret Betty Boop 18+ animated feature. Max Fleischer reputedly had the sole copy of this cartoon locked away in the safe at the Fleischer Studios. On occasion, Max would show the animation to distinguished male visitors touring the Florida site.

• Today Popeye is not associated with the Fleischers. Reason is the character was not a Fleischer creation and was originally created by E. C. Segar. Segar allowed the Fleischers to adapt his creation into an animated series. Today the rights to "Popeye the Sailor Man" are currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Popeye is sometimes licensed by King Features Syndicate for global branding.

• Actors and actresses hired by the casting directors to voice the characters were required to act and sing for the animated Fleischer cartoons.

• Because the Fleischers entertained Black entertainers such as Cab Calloway, they were also victims of Ku Klux Klan’s intimidation.

• The Fleischer Studios often experienced anti-semitism.

• The Fleischers battled Harvey Entertainment Co. over the copyright to Betty Boop in 1995.

• Fleischman's Cartoon Studio in The Girl with the Googily Goop is a parody of the Fleischer Studios.

• Were said to have sent a "cease and desist" letter for the character "Toot Braunstein" on the television program Drawn Together. The letters were thrown into the trash by the Comedy Central program creators.

• As of October 2022, the Fleischer Studios refused to negotiate and allow a popular HBO show Los Espookys to incorporate a scene of Betty Boop on their show. Seth Meyers responded by saying on the Late Night With Seth Meyers show that "nobody" wants to use Betty Boop today indicating that the character is outdated, and HBO responded by saying they would rather use Nicole Kidman instead.

• In 2023, negotiations for a "Black Betty Boop" spin-off were made, after four years of development. The Fleischers contacted a Black female businesswoman to collaborate with them. As of 2024, she felt she had been duped into signing the contract and she said that the Fleischers "refused" to help her promote the character. She said that the Fleischer Studios "mistreated her" and only approached her to "improve Betty Boop's" reputation, following a PBS story that depicted Betty Boop as a Black woman.

Links

• Official Website

See Also

• Famous Studios

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