Max Fleischer

Place of birth has also been erroneously reported to be Vienna, Austria-Hungary.

He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios. He brought such animated characters as Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Popeye, and Superman to the movie screen and was responsible for a number of technological innovations, including the first rotoscope.

He also wrote the book Noah's Shoes.

links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Fleischer
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281502/

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Cartoon Animator. Born in in Kraków, then part of the Austrian province of Galicia,Vienna, Austria, he was the brother of animator Dave Fleischer. He began his career as a newspaperman, later inventing the rotoscope while practicing as a cartoonist. Together with his brother, they created the character of 'Koko The Clown' who they featured in many cartoons. In the 1920s he produced the first talking cartoons with Lee de Forest, and created a device called the Bouncing Ball to encourage audiences to sing along with the lyrics on the screen. In the 1930s he introduced the character of 'Betty Boop' in the "Dizzy Dishes" cartoons which brought him great fame. Boop was a popular success, with her sexy dance moves and skimpy outfits, but in 1934 when the Production Code was introduced, her costume and demeanor changed. In 1933 Fleischer negotiated to bring Elzie Segar's "Trimble Theatre" comic strip character, 'Popeye The Sailor' to the screen, and this was the studio's biggest claim to fame. Fleischer began Popeye in the short, "Popeye The Sailor" in which he sang his signature song. Popeye became one of the screen's great cartoon characters of the time, rivaling the likes of 'Mickey Mouse.' Fleischer went on and worked on, "Popeye The Sailor Meets Sinbad The Sailor" (1936), Popeye Meets Ali Baba And His Forty Thieves" (1937), and "Popeye Meets Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp" (1939). After Popeye, he was asked by Paramount Studios to make feature full-length cartoons after the success of Disney's "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. He did, "Gulliver's Travels" (1939), and "Mr. Bug Goes To Town" (1942). He later moved to Florida from New York and in 1941 he began working on an animated full-length feature of 'Superman.' After a few more successes and a few failed, Max and his brother Dave, parted ways with Paramount Studios. His other works include, "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" "Many Tanks" "The Raven" "Lazy Bones" "Tune Up And Sing" "The Male Man" "Silly Scandals" and "My Gal Sal" among many others.