Last week i caught the tail end of a week long Fleischer Studios animation retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. You likely know them for the 1930s Betty Boop and Popeye shorts, but they started in the silent era and were interestingly based in Times Square rather than Hollywood. The 5 immigrant brothers built a film empire producing 800 films between 1919 and 1939, capped by their feature Gullivers Travels and the 1941 Superman series before being bought out by Paramount Studios and moving to TV in the 50s. They are credited with inventing many innovative animation techniques such as rotoscoping, 3D backgrounds, sound, color and combining animation with live action. The museum screened that day selections from the Fleischer Color Classics series from the 1930s, the first few shot on two strip technicolor, an early color film process using only reds and blues. Some excellent short films, lovely and funny. Unlike Disney, a midwesterner whose cartoons represented middle america, The Fleischers were New Yorkers and many of their films represent urban life with its diverse dialects, working class and immigrant culture, jazz soundtracks and even gay references.
Find the complete collection here