Famous Studios

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Paramount Cartoon Studios
OwnerParamount Pictures
(Gulf+Western)
Number of employees
Approx. 50

Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized control of the aforementioned studio amid the departure of its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1942.[1] The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischers—Popeye the Sailor, Superman, and Screen Songs—as well as Little Audrey, Little Lulu, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Honey Halfwitch, Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey, and the anthology Noveltoons series.

The Famous name was previously used by

Famous Players–Lasky Corporation, the company which founded Paramount Pictures.[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
, and a movie theater chain in Canada owned by Paramount was called Famous Players.

The library of Famous Studios cartoons is currently divided between three separate film studios (via various subsidiaries):

King Features Entertainment under license for the original comics and characters) and DC Entertainment (which owns the Superman
cartoons).

History

Fleischer Studios dissolution

See also: Fleischer Studios

Popeye the Sailor. The studio moved its operations from New York City to Miami, Florida in 1938, following union problems and the start of production on its first feature film, Gulliver's Travels (1939).[2] While Gulliver was a success, the expense of the move and increased overhead costs 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, Mr. Bug Goes to Town.[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 were no longer speaking to each other due to personal and professional disputes.[4] On May 25, 1941, Paramount assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, and required the Fleischer brothers to submit signed letters of resignation, to be used at Paramount's discretion.[3] Following the unsuccessful release of Mr. Bug in December 1941,[3] Max Fleischer, no longer able to cooperate with Dave, sent Paramount a telegram expressing such.[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. Although they had ownership of the company, it remained a separate entity.[3] Three top Fleischer employees were promoted to run the animation studio: business manager Sam Buchwald, storyboard artist Isadore Sparber, and Max Fleischer's son-in-law, head animator Seymour Kneitel.[1] Buchwald assumed Max Fleischer's place as executive producer, while Sparber and Kneitel shared Dave Fleischer's former responsibilities as supervising producers and credited directors.[3] A third animation director, Dan Gordon, remained only briefly before being fired shortly after the move to New York.[4][5] Although the Fleischers left the studio at the end of 1941, Famous Studios was not officially incorporated until May 25, 1942, after Paramount's contract with Fleischer Studios had formally run its course.[3] The first Famous Studios cartoon was the Popeye short You're a Sap, Mr. Jap, released on August 7, 1942.[citation needed]

Early years

Shortly after the takeover, Paramount began plans to move a significantly downsized Famous Studios back to New York, a move completed early in 1943.

Van Beuren Studios
.

Continuing series from the Fleischer period included Popeye the Sailor and

Saturday Evening Post comic strip character Little Lulu. 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 (similar in respects to the Color Classics series from Fleischer Studios, and also the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series from Warner Bros.).[7]

The Noveltoons series introduced several popular characters such as Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Casper was created by writer Seymour Reit and Famous animator Joe Oriolo in the late 1930s as a children's book manuscript, and was sold to Famous during World War II. It became the studio's most successful wholly owned property.[6]

In 1947, Paramount decided to stop paying Little Lulu creator Marge licensing royalties, and created another "mischievous girl" character, Little Audrey, as a replacement.[7] That same year Famous resurrected an old Fleischer series, Screen Songs, introducing a new series of musical cartoons featuring a "bouncing ball" sing-along.[6] In 1951, the Screen Songs became "Kartune Musical Shorts," which ended in 1953 after Max Fleischer claimed ownership of the "bouncing ball" trademark. Only two more musical cartoons were released (as one-shot Noveltoons): 1954's Candy Cabaret and 1963's Hobo's Holiday.

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.[1] Many of them, including animation historian and film critic Leonard Maltin, derided the company style for being highly formulaic and largely oriented toward a children's audience, with none of the artistic ambition or sophistication that the management under the Fleischer brothers strove for.[1][6]

Later period and sales of cartoon libraries

Sam Buchwald died of a heart attack in 1951.[8] Seymour Kneitel and Isadore Sparber became the production heads of the studio shortly afterward, and Dave Tendlar was promoted to director in 1953.[8]

The mid and late-1950s brought a number of significant changes for Famous Studios. In 1955, Paramount sold most of its 1942–1950 shorts and cartoons, except for the Popeye and Superman shorts, to

Academy Award consideration, none received a nomination.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Paramount sold its remaining cartoon film library and the rights to its established characters to

Snuffy Smith, were released theatrically by Paramount in 1962 under the title Comic Kings.[8]

Seymour Kneitel died of a heart attack in 1964, and Paramount brought in comic book veteran Howard Post to run the cartoon studio.[17] Under Post's supervision, Paramount began new cartoon series and characters such as Swifty and Shorty and Honey Halfwitch (the latter having originated from the Modern Madcaps series in the 1965 short Poor Little Witch Girl), 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).[17]

However, Post left the studio due to internal conflicts with the Paramount staff. His replacement was

Gulf+Western, had begun the process of shutting down the animation studio, a task completed in December. The last cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios, Mouse Trek, the finale of the Fractured Fables series, premiered on December 31, 1967.[20]

Legacy

Despite the reputation of the studio in recent years, their shorts have since gained a cult following on both public domain home media and in animation circles.[21]

The 1961 short Abner the Baseball is displayed at the

Baseball Hall of Fame.[22]

Ownership and licensing

Throughout the 1950s, most of the major Hollywood studios sold off their film libraries to various television companies. In the case of Paramount, throughout the decade, they sold off the Famous Studios library to various different TV syndication companies resulting in multiple studios owning different cartoons.

U.M. & M. TV Corporation

In January 1956, Paramount sold the pre-October 1950 Fleischer and Famous Studios cartoons (excluding Popeye and Superman) to

Viacom
in 1996, placing the shorts back in Paramount's control (Republic Pictures was renamed Melange Pictures LLC. in 2006).

Due to poor attention to then-required copyright renewals over the decades, many of these cartoons are now in the public domain.

Popeye and Superman

In June 1956, Paramount sold the entirety of the Fleischer/Famous Studios Popeye cartoons from 1933 to 1957 to Associated Artists Productions (which had also recently purchased much of the Warner Bros. back catalog) for $1.25 million.[24] The assets of A.A.P were in turn purchased by United Artists in 1958. In 1981, United Artists merged with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to form MGM/UA. In 1986, Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System attempted to acquire MGM/UA, but due to debt concerns, Turner was forced to sell the company back to its previous owner Kirk Kerkorian. However, Turner kept most of the pre-May 1986 MGM library as well as a few portions of the United Artists library, including the former A.A.P. library, and formed his own holding company Turner Entertainment Co. to manage the rights. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery). Since then, Warner Bros. controls the rights to the theatrical Popeye cartoons via Turner Entertainment Co.

As per their original contract, the rights to the Superman cartoons reverted to National Comics after Paramount's deal expired in 1947. While the cartoons themselves are now in the public domain after their original copyrights were not renewed, the ancillary rights are still owned by DC Comics, and the cartoons are distributed by Warner Bros., which has owned DC since 1969.

Harvey Comics and Harvey Films

In July 1958, Paramount sold off the Famous Studios cartoons made between October 1950 and March 1962, as well as the rights to all original characters created by Famous Studios (Casper, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, etc.) to Harvey Comics for $1.7 million,[25] who in turn created Harvey Films to handle the rights and rebranded the cartoons as Harveytoons. The deal also gave ABC television distribution rights to the cartoons for the next 30 years (the rights reverted back to Harvey in 1989) while Paramount retained theatrical rights.[26]

In 2001, Harvey Comics was purchased by the holding company Classic Media. In 2012, Classic Media was purchased by DreamWorks Animation, which retains ownership of the cartoons. In 2016, DreamWorks Animation was purchased by Comcast's NBCUniversal, with Universal Pictures assuming the distribution of the cartoons on behalf of DreamWorks.

However, while NBCUniversal and DreamWorks Animation own the bulk of the rights to the Harveytoons catalog, as per their original 1958 contract, Paramount still retains theatrical rights to the cartoons and thus also controls the original camera negatives. However, the contract also stipulates that Harvey (and by extension, DreamWorks and NBCUniversal) are allowed to access the original film elements from Paramount whenever they feel like they need to update their prints.[27][28]

Post-March 1962

Paramount continues to own the rights to the cartoons made after March 1962.

Home media

As of 2021, there has been no official release of the Paramount-owned Famous Studios library. Many of the cartoons are in the public domain and widely available (albeit usually in poor quality) in several low budget DVDs and Blu-Rays sold in supermarkets and department stores. In 2012, Thunderbean Animation restored and released a collection of public domain Noveltoons on DVD entitled Noveltoons Original Classics.

In 2008,

Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 3
officially collecting all the Popeye cartoons from the 1940s. The remaining Famous Studios Popeye cartoons from the 1950s have yet to be released.

During the 1990s, Harvey Entertainment produced The Harveytoons Show, which collected most of the Harvey owned Famous cartoons, first aired in syndication with the series being consulted by animation historian

Shout! Factory under licence from Classic Media released 61 of 78 Casper cartoons from The Harveytoons Show on a three-disc DVD set titled Casper the Friendly Ghost: The Complete Collection. On November 2, 2021, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
(through Studio Distribution Services joint venture label) released all of the Harvey-owned Famous Studios cartoons on a 3-disc DVD boxset titled The Best of the Harveytoons Show.

Filmography

Theatrical short film series

Television series

Industrial shorts

  • Electronics At Work (1943)[35]
  • It's CSP for Me (1950) [36]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Of Mice and Magic. New York: Plume. Pg. 311
  2. ^ Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Pg. 116
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-19-516729-5
    .
  4. ^ a b c Beck, Jerry. "Fleischer Becomes Famous Studios". Cartoon Research. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2007.
  5. ^ Animation Profiles: DAN GORDON|Cartoon Research
  6. ^ a b c d Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Pg. 313 – 316
  7. ^ a b Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Pg. 312
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1988). Pg. 316–319
  9. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1948 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  10. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1953 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  11. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1956 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  12. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1954 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  13. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1958 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  14. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1959 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  15. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1961 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  16. ^ a b "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award 1967 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  17. ^ a b c Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1988). Pg. 319–321
  18. ^ Think or Sink: The Flebus of Famous Studios|Cartoon Brew
  19. ^ a b c Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1988). Pg. 321–322
  20. ^ Mouse Trek (1967) – Fractured Fables Theatrical Cartoon Series|BCDb[dead link]
  21. ^ The Cult of "Noveltoons"|Cartoon Research
  22. ^ #Shortstops: Baseball cartoons tell story of the game's popularity|Baseball Hall of Fame
  23. ^ Beck, Jerry (August 31, 2015). "Famous Studios 1955-56". Cartoon Research. cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  24. ^ Beck, Jerry (August 31, 2015). "Famous Studios 1955-56". Cartoon Research. cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  25. ^ Beck, Jerry (September 21, 2015). "Paramount Cartoons 1958-59". Cartoon Research. cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  26. ^ Beck, Jerry (September 21, 2015). "Paramount Cartoons 1958-59". Cartoon Research. cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  27. ^ Beck, Jerry (September 21, 2015). "Paramount Cartoons 1958-59". Cartoon Research. cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  28. ^ Beck, Jerry (January 23, 2023). "Baby Huey in "Swab The Duck" (1956)". Cartoon Research. cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  29. ^ Cooke, Jon (2007). "GAC Review: Harveytoons – The Complete Collection". Golden Age Cartoons. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  30. ^ Beck, Jerry (October 26, 2006). "The "Complete" Harveytoons". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  31. ^ Kartune Theatrical Series–Famous Studios|BCDB[dead link]
  32. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award–1961 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  33. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7
    . Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  34. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7
    . Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  35. ^ ""Electronics at Work" (1943) by Famous Studios". September 19, 2012.
  36. ^ "Business screen magazine". 1946.

External links

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