Max Fleischer and the
Rotoscope
Born in July 1883, Max Fleischer played a key role in the
technological aspect of animation. In addition to having created
Betty Boop and
Popeye the Sailor, both of which posed substantial competition for
Disney in the 1930s, Fleischer is also credited, along with his brothers Dave
and Joe, with having invented the rotoscope, a device enabling animators to
trace live action footage.
Fleischer and his family emigrated from
Austria to
New York in 1887. Initially he trained to be
a mechanic before becoming a cartoonist for the
Brooklyn
Daily Eagle. He went on to become an
editor and illustrator for
Popular
Science magazine before turning to animation in 1915. Patented in 1917, the
rotoscope allowed Fleischer to trace his brother Dave as a clown for a
collection of innovative cartoons known as the
Out of the Inkwell series, which saw their first popular cartoon
character Koko the Clown.
From 1919 to 1921, they worked for Bray Studios. Thereafter,
Max and Dave founded Fleischer Studios, which saw substantial success in the
1920s and 1930s, even rivalling Disney. Fleischer Studios is also sometimes
credited as having released the first sound cartoon.
In 1934, however, the Hollywood Production Code requested
that
Betty Boop be censored, though
her series continued nonetheless, until 1939. Their feature
Gulliver’s Travels (1939) was a surprise
hit, and they subsequently went on to create a successful series based on
Superman comics from 1941 onwards. Four
short films produced under the studio were even nominated for Academy Awards.
However, the feature
Mr
Bug Goes to Town (1941) was a major box office disappointment. Paramount
Studios completely took over the company, and edited Fleischer’s cartoons for
television. Consequently, Fleischer himself was forced out of his own studio,
and continued to work for lesser-known animation companies. He died in 1972, at
which time the legacy he left behind was only just starting to be recognised.
For further info,
check out these sources:
Infoplease: http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/maxfleischer.html
Find a Grave: http://www.findagrave.com
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