Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution [Hardcover]

Richard Fleischer (Author), Leonard Maltin (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2005

Max Fleischer (1883--1972) was for years considered Walt Disney's only real rival in the world of cartoon animation. The man behind the creation of such legendary characters as Betty Boop and the animation of Popeye the Sailor and Superman, Fleischer asserted himself as a major player in the development of Hollywood entertainment. Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution is a vivid portrait of the life and world of a man who shaped the look of cartoon animation. Also interested in technical innovation, Fleischer invented the rotoscope -- a device that helped track live action and allowed his cartoons to revolutionize the way animated characters appeared and moved on-screen. In the 1920s, Fleischer created a series of "Out of the Inkwell" films, which led to a deal with Paramount. Their character KoKo the Clown introduced new animation effects by growing out of Fleischer's pen on-screen. As the sound revolution hit film, the studio produced shorts featuring the characters interacting with songs and with the now-famous bouncing ball that dances across lyrics projected on the screen. Max Fleischer's story is also one of a creative genius struggling to fit in with the changing culture of golden age cinema. Out of the Inkwell captures the twists and turns, the triumphs and disappointments, and most of all the breathless energy of a life vibrantly lived in the world of animation magic.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Richard Fleischer achieved a measure of success as the director of such movies as Fantastic Voyage, but in Hollywood history he is dwarfed by his father, animated-cartoon pioneer and technological innovator Max Fleischer. Besides creating the jazz-age siren Betty Boop and bringing Popeye and Superman to the screen, Max invented the rotoscope, a process for creating animated cartoons by tracing live-action footage. Curiously, in this lively memoir his son seems more enthusiastic about Max's inventions than about his cartoons, which get relatively short shrift, perhaps because, while Max ran the studio (much like rival Walt Disney), others directed the cartoons. Richard also dwells heavily on business matters, especially Max's disastrous 1938 decision to move his studio from New York to Miami, which set the stage for Paramount to seize control and drive him out of business. There was no second act for Max, who slowly declined until his death in 1972. Richard's loving if not exactly unbiased portrait is an entertaining supplement to more substantive and objective accounts of Max's significance to cinema. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

""A vivid portrait of the life and world of a man who shaped television animation and became a major player in the development of Hollywood entertainment." --Animation Magazine" --

""There is probably no one more important to the birth and early development of animation than Max Fleischer and no one better than his son, director Richard Fleischer, to tell the amazing story of the creative genius behind Fleischer Studios." --Army Archard" --

""A short, informal and highly--do we dare?--animated history" --Barnstable Patriot" --

""Besides creating the jazz-age siren Betty Boop and bring Popeye and Superman to the screen, Max invented the rotoscope, a process for creating animated cartoons by tracing live-action footage.... [A] lively memoir." --Booklist" --

""Fleischer captures the life and career and other talented family members this succinct, anecdote-filled biography. This book deserves a wide readership. Highly recommended." --Choice" --

""A precious record of an important animation pioneer." --Animation" --

""Max Fleischer, the main Hollywood rival of Walt Disney, finally gets his due." --Dallas Morning News" --

""Max Fleischer is animation's unsung hero. If Walt Disney is the most celebrated and chronicled producer in the history of the medium, Fleischer is his polar opposite. Fleischer has long been a hero to anyone who loves animated cartoons. Now, thanks to his son, we can get to know the very human figure behind all those wonderful films." --Leonard Maltin, from the foreword" --

""A primary piece of history that tells the story of an unexplored but vital figure in animation's short history." --Palm Beach Post" --

""Richard Fleischer has brought a loving tribute to his dad, and a reminder, in times where computer animation seems so effortless, of just how much hard work it took for the pioneers in the field to make the drawings dance." --Times of Acadiana" --

""A wonderful read and a tribute by a son to a famous father." --Umbrella" --

""Richard Fleischer, director of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, charts the life of his dad, who animated Popeye and Superman, as well as Ms. Boop, and seemed destined to trump Walt Disney in the annals of animation history." --Vanity Fair" --

""Richard Fleischer, a film director who never became a household name despite working with some of Hollywood's biggest stars… [his son] Max Fleischer, and Max's siblings were pioneers in the early days of animation, gaining fame with their Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor shorts in the 1930s." -- The New York Times" --

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (June 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813123550
• ISBN-13: 978-0813123554
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,224,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Animation Giant, June 15, 2005

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R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution (Hardcover)

Everyone knows Walt Disney and his animated creation Mickey Mouse. When cartoons were just starting to become standards of entertainment, however, Disney had one real competitor, whose name is not as well known to the public but is well regarded by cartoon fans: Max Fleischer. The creator of Betty Boop and the animator of Popeye the Sailor and Superman, Fleischer also invented gadgets that made animation easier and more realistic. In _Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution_ (University Press of Kentucky), Fleischer's son, Richard, has given us a short memoir and biography of an amazing artist and technician. It is appropriately full of filial admiration, as Max Fleischer seems to have been a genuinely admirable man and a loving father. His son even starts his book by contradicting the saw that it is difficult to be the son of a famous man. "I grew up as a famous man's son, and I didn't find it difficult at all. In fact, it was great." The animator was famous enough, for instance, that just by mentioning his name, his son could get into the movies free. Fleischer never had a Fleischerland theme park, or the entertainment connections that Disney had, but his place in animation is secure, and this fond biography allows us to appreciate his contributions to the art.

Animated cartoons by 1915 were very primitive; they moved, but in a jerky and unrealistic way. In a combination of his love of drawing and gadgetry, Fleischer realized that a motion picture camera could be rigged to take pictures that could be traced in ink. It wasn't easy; the process involved tracing sixteen pictures for a second of film, and then photographing each drawing onto motion picture film. It seems obvious now, but no one had ever thought of it before, and Fleischer took out a patent for the Rotoscope. Eventually Paramount produced a series of his "Out of the Inkwell" cartoons consisting of Ko-Ko the clown, coming to life on the animation board in front of Fleischer, interacting with him in live action, and then being captured into the ink bottle again. No one had ever seen anything like it, and it was a worldwide hit. Disney was the spur for Fleischer's most enduring creation. Mickey Mouse pushed Ko-Ko off center stage, so Fleischer responded by giving Ko-Ko a new dog, tough, cigar-chewing, and piano-playing. It didn't work, so the dog was replaced by a half-dog, half-human love interest for Ko-Ko. She was ugly, with saucer eyes an enormous bouncy behind, but Paramount thought she was great. Fleischer refined her, took away her dog's snout and ears, gave her a sexy figure, and a new name: Betty Boop. She was a sensation; Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong played for her cartoons, there were tie-in dolls and dishes and fan clubs, and a daily comic strip. Betty made over a hundred pictures, with her initial career winding down at the end of the thirties. The Motion Picture Production Code killed her; her harmless sexual image was stripped of its garter and plunging neckline, and her hemline dropped. She became less fun, and audiences less enthusiastic, and the series ended so that America could be safe from Betty's smut.

Fleischer had other notable successes, like the original Superman cartoons, and the first animated Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. It did not ensure him financial success; the author tries to clarify the murky funny-business by which Paramount summarily canceled their contract and asserted rights to all of Fleischer's creations. By the sixties he was broke, but his family arranged for him and his wife to be cared for in the Motion Picture Country House, set up for Hollywood figures that needed a place for retirement. The King Features Syndicate brought out a new line of Betty Boop products in 1972, and it seems as if she will live forever. 1972 was the year, though, that Fleischer died, and he didn't get to experience her reappearance in pop culture. Richard Fleischer has brought a loving tribute to his dad, and a reminder, in times where computer animation seems so effortless, of just how much work it took for the pioneers in the field to make the drawings dance.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the great true Hollywood stories., July 2, 2007

By 

I. Sondel "I. Sondel - lover of the arts" (Tallahassee, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating memoir of Max Fleischer, "the" great pioneer of 20th Century motion picture cartoon making, written by his son Richard Fleischer* [*himself the director of such films as "20,000 Leagues under the Sea," "Compulsion," "10 Rellington Place" and "Fantastic Voyage"]. This isn't one of those exhautive (or exhausting) biographies that regurgitate facts and statistic about a great artist no matter how redundant, erroneous or incongruous; rather this is a loving tribute to an incredible man, artist and father.

Max Fleischer was the genuine article. He created Koko the Clown, Betty Boop and "follow the bouncing ball" and brought them lovingly to life on the big screen. His studio also produced the Popeye the Sailor and Superman cartoon shorts. He was an extraordinary inventor who held patents on a number of revolutionary filmmaking gadgets and gizmos. Though he inspired uncommon respect and loyalty from those in his employ, he was not a great businessman. Max was an honest and far too trusting man, who unwittingly got into bed with those nefarious folks at Paramount.

This is a great unfilmed Hollywood story, one I'd love to see brought to the big screen by Francis Ford Coppola (a la "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" - the two stories have much in common). Max Fleischer's life story is filled with drama and passion. He was an uncommon man of talent and ambition. His was an American dream that came true, and then became a nghtmare. Still, through it all, he remained optimistic. Bravo Max, and bravo Richard Fleischer for telling your father's story with such care.