Customer Reviews

The Fleischer Story

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Leslie Carbaga is a big fan of Fliescher cartoons and this book shows it.I loved so many of them when i had the chance to see them on TV in my younger days.(Color Classics,Popeye,Sing-Alongs, and the movies Gulliver and Hoppity.)This tells the story of Max Fliescher,who made many worthy but largely unknown contributions to the art of animation.I recommend this to any fan of the vintage cartoons of the 20s/30s/40s

Rarely I have seen a biography with so much interesting details.Not a single page is wasted.As a Fleischer cartoon fan,it's la creme de la creme for me.Congratulations Cabarga.You wrote a book with love and admiration.

I'm privileged to own both the 1970's first edition and this more recent (late 1980s) updated edition.

If you are a fan of Betty Boop and/or Popeye and would like to educate yourself with behind the scenes info then this is the book you want. It is LOADED with illustrations - if the book has one flaw it is that the illustrations distract the reader from the copy on every page!

There are family photos of the Fleischers, character model sheets, cel pics, assorted Fleischer-ana and a checklist of every film the brothers and studio produced.

And as fascinating as the books subject is, the story of how it came together is just as interesting and is related here by the author Mr. Leslie Cabarga who now produces many fine volumes on type fonts and graphics. He also provided the large cut-outs that form Leonard Maltin's backdrop in his Fleischer film biography "Cartoon Madness: The Fantastic Max Fleischer Cartoons".

It is truly a shame that this is no longer in print.

This book, originally written in 1976 and updated in 1988, was written at a critical time when a few of the important personalities in the book were still alive to be interviewed. I have the Michael Barrier book and the Leonard Maltin book on the history of animation at all the studios, but this book concentrated on the Fleischer brothers. Like many studios, they had stellar moments, and had some run of the mill stuff as well. If their first full length feature "Gulliver's Travels" had done better at the box office, they may have truly soared into a big animation powerhouse. The timing of the war killed their next feature, "Hoppity Goes to Town" and they would never try one again. But their shorts from Popeye, to Betty Boop, and the marvelous Superman shorts show what they were capable of. The pioneering work they did in roto-scoping, and in using 3 dimensional backgrounds on a turntable gave their projects a unique look. The art deco styling and cinematic angles used in the Superman shorts has continued to marvel new fans spoiled by modern computer animation and digital 3d.

The book had been out of print for years. Now even the 1988 update has been out of print for over 15 years and is rare and expensive. The 1988 version of the book is my personal favorite, it added many more sketches and photos.

Long out of print, this is from 1976. Totally in black and white, even the shots from "Gulliver's Travels." Despite the slick covers you see on this thing, it's pretty dreary inside. This presentation wouldn't be tolerated today. Needs to be redone.