Max Fleischer: Difference between revisions

Fleischer produced his ''Inkwell'' films for ''The Bray Studios'' until, in 1921, he and his brother Dave established [[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. Koko and Fitz remained the stars of the ''Out of the Inkwell'' series, which was renamed ''Inkwell Imps'' in 1927. The Fleischer brothers partnered with DeForest, Edwin Miles Fadiman, and [[Hugo Riesenfeld]] to form Red Seal Pictures Corporation, which owned 36 theaters on the East Coast, extending as far west as [[Cleveland, Ohio]].

Fleischer invented the "[[follow the bouncing ball]]" technique for his "[[Song Car-Tunes]]" series of animated sing-along shorts beginning in May 1924. After a few films with unsynchronized sound (music and [[sound effects]] only), Fleischer added synchronized sound to this series, with ''[[My Old Kentucky Home (film)|My Old Kentucky Home]]'' (released April 13, 1926) with a dog-like character saying "Follow the ball, and join in, everybody". The sound entries in the Song Car-Tunes series -- roughly 19 out of 36 short films -- used the [[Phonofilm]] [[sound-on-film]] process developed by [[Lee de Forest]]. The Song Car-tunes series would last until early 1927, just a few months before the actual start of the sound era. This was before [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Steamboat Willie]]'' (1928), which is often mistakenly cited as the first cartoon to synchronize sound with animation. However, by late 1926, both the DeForest Phonofilm Corp. and Red Seal Pictures had filed for bankruptcy, and the Song Car-Tunes series came to an end.