Famous Studios
Encyclopedia
Famous Studios was the animation
division of the film studio Paramount Pictures
from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios
, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max
and Dave Fleischer
, in 1941. The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischers—Popeye the Sailor, Superman
, and Screen Songs
—as well as Little Lulu
, Casper the Friendly Ghost
, Herman and Katnip
, Baby Huey
, Little Audrey
, and the anthology Noveltoons
series.
The Famous name was previously used as Famous Players Film Company
, one of several companies which in 1912 became Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the company which founded Paramount Pictures. Paramount's music publishing branch, which held the rights to all of the original music in the Fleischer/Famous cartoons, was named Famous Music
.
was a successful animation studio responsible for producing successful cartoon shorts starring characters such as Betty Boop
and Popeye the Sailor. The studio moved its operations from New York City
to Miami Beach in 1938, following union
problems and the start of production on its first feature film, Gulliver's Travels
(1939). While Gulliver was a success, the expense of the move and the expanded staff required to produce the feature created finance problems for the Fleischer Studios. The studio depended upon advances and loans from its distributor, Paramount Pictures
, in order to continue production on its short subjects and to begin work on a second feature, Mr. Bug Goes to Town.
Compounding the problems the studio was facing was the fact that the studio's co-founders, brothers Max Fleischer
and Dave Fleischer
, were becoming increasingly estranged, and by this time, they were no longer speaking to each other due to personal and professional disputes. On May 25, 1941, Paramount assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, and had the Fleischer brothers submit signed letters of resignation, to be used at Paramount's discretion. Following the unsuccessful release of Mr. Bug in December 1941, Max Fleischer, no longer able to cooperate with Dave, sent Paramount a telegram expressing such. Paramount responded by producing the letters of resignation, severing the Fleischer brothers from control of their studio.
Paramount renamed the studio Famous Studios, and although they had ownership of the company, it remained a separate entity. Four top Fleischer employees were promoted to run the animation studio: business manager Sam Buchwald, storyboard artist Isadore Sparber
, animator Dan Gordon, and Max Fleischer's son-in-law, head animator Seymour Kneitel
. Buchwald assumed Max Fleischer's place as executive producer
, while Sparber, Kneitel, and Gordon shared Dave Fleischer's former responsibilities as supervising producers and credited directors. Gordon remained only briefly before departing after 1943. Although the Fleischers left the studio at the end of 1941, Famous Studios was not officially incorporated until May 25, 1942, after Paramount's contract with Fleischer Studios had formally run its course.
and storyman Carl Meyer to animators such as Myron Waldman
, David Tendlar
, Tom Johnson, Nicholas Tafuri
, and Al Eugster
, were holdovers from the Fleischer era. These artists remained with Famous/Paramount for much of the studio's existence. As at Fleischer's, the head animators carried out the tasks that were assigned to animation director
s at other studios, while the credited directors—Kneitel, Sparber, Gordon, and Disney/Terrytoons veteran Bill Tytla
—acted more as supervisors. Sammy Timberg
served as musical director until 1945 when Winston Sharples
, formerly of the Van Beuren Studios
, took his place.
Continuing series from the Fleischer period included Popeye the Sailor and Superman
, both licensed from popular comics
characters. The expensive Superman cartoons, having lost their novelty value with exhibitors, ended production in 1943, a year after Famous' inception. They were replaced by a series starring Saturday Evening Post comic strip character Little Lulu
. Also in 1943, Famous began producing the formerly black-and-white Popeye cartoons in Technicolor
, and began a new series of one-shot cartoons under the umbrella title Noveltoons
(similar in respects to the Color Classics
series from Fleischer Studios, and also the Looney Tunes
and Merrie Melodies
series from Warner Bros.
).
The Noveltoons series introduced several popular characters such as Herman and Katnip
and Baby Huey
, and Casper the Friendly Ghost
, created by writer Seymour Reit
and Famous animator Joe Oriolo
during World War II
as a children's book manuscript, was sold to Famous in 1945 and became the studio's most successful wholly owned property. In 1947, Paramount decided to stop paying Little Lulu creator Marge
licensing royalties, and created a Lulu clone, Little Audrey
, as a replacement. That same year Famous resurrected an old Fleischer series, Screen Songs
, introducing a new series of musical cartoons featuring a "bouncing ball" sing-along. The Screen Songs were eventually resurrected in 1951 as "Kartune Musical Shorts" (ending in 1953), and as one-shot Noveltoons in 1954 ("Candy Cabaret") and 1963 ("Hobo's Holiday").
Although the studio still carried much of the staff from the previous regime, animation
fans and historians note that its films soon diverged from the previous style. Many of them deride the company style for being highly formulaic and largely oriented towards a children's audience, with none of the artistic ambition or sophistication that the previous management strove for.
Sam Buchwald died in 1951. Seymour Kneitel and Isadore Sparber became the production heads of the studio, and Dave Tendlar was promoted to director.
The mid and late-1950s brought a number of significant changes for Famous Studios. In 1955, Paramount sold most of their pre-October 1950 shorts and cartoons, except for the Popeye and Superman shorts, to U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
for television
distribution. The Popeye cartoons were acquired by Associated Artists Productions
(a.a.p.), and the Superman cartoons had already reverted to Superman's owners National Comics
after the studio's film rights to the character had expired. In October 1956, Famous Studios was downsized and reorganized. Paramount assumed full control of the studio, integrating it into the Paramount Pictures Corporation as a division named Paramount Cartoon Studios. Two years after the company's reorganization, Isadore Sparber died, leaving Seymour Kneitel alone in charge of the studio. In addition, budget cutting became a huge problem for the studio at this time, the animation quality of the shorts started to drop severely and by 1959 everything that the studio was turning out began to look bizarrely cheap and limited
. Paramount also ceased using Technicolor
by this time in favor for cheaper color processes as well. The last Famous Studios short to use Technicolor was Katnip's Big Day, the finale of the Herman and Katnip
cartoon series.
Paramount sold their remaining cartoon film library and the rights to their established characters to Harvey Comics
in 1959; however, the final theatrical cartoon to have any of their established characters already acquired by Harvey Comics since was Turtle Scoop featuring Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare (both uncredited and redrawn) in 1961. Paramount's attempts at creating replacement characters, among them Jeepers and Creepers and The Cat, proved unsuccessful. Nonetheless, television animation production outsourced from King Features and Harvey Films
brought the company additional income. Ironically, these arrangements had Paramount working on new television cartoons starring Casper, whom they had originally created, and Popeye and Little Lulu, characters they had previously licensed for theatrical cartoons. In the case of King Features' Popeye and King Features Trilogy TV cartoons, Paramount was one of several animation studios, among them Jack Kinney Productions and Rembrandt Films, to which King Features subcontracted production. The first of only two all-new Little Lulu cartoons after the character's 16-year hiatus off-screen, Alvin's Solo Flight, was released as part of the Noveltoons series in 1961, while twelve of the King Features Trilogy cartoons, starring characters such as Krazy Kat
, Little Lulu, Beetle Bailey
, and Snuffy Smith, were released theatrically by Paramount in 1962 under the title Comic Kings.
Seymour Kneitel died of a heart attack
in 1964, and Paramount brought in comic book veteran Howard Post
to run the cartoon studio. Under Post's supervision, Paramount began new cartoon series and characters such as Swifty and Shorty and Honey Halfwitch (the latter having originated from the Modern Madcaps
series in the 1965 short Poor Little Witch Girl), and allowed comic strip artist Jack Mendelsohn
to direct two well-received cartoons based upon children's imaginations and drawing styles: The Story of George Washington and A Leak in the Dike (both 1965).
However, Post left the studio due internal conflicts with the Paramount staff. His replacement was Shamus Culhane
, a veteran of the Fleischer Studios
. Culhane completed a few films that Post started and then ignored the rule book and made films that were very different from the previous regime. In 1966, the studio subcontracted The Mighty Thor
cartoons from Grantray-Lawrence Animation
, producers of the animated television series The Marvel Super Heroes. In 1967, Culhane directed another short based upon children's art, My Daddy, the Astronaut, which became Paramount's first film to be shown at an animation festival. However, when Paramount's board of directors rejected a proposal to produce episodes for a second Grantray-Lawrence series, Spider-Man
, Culhane quit the studio, and was succeeded by former Terrytoons
animator Ralph Bakshi
in mid-1967. Although Bakshi quickly put several experimental shorts into production, by the fall of 1967, Paramount's new owners, Gulf+Western
, had begun the process of shutting down the animation studio, a task completed in December. The last cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios, Mouse Trek, the finale of the Fractured Fables series, premiered on December 31, 1967.
would start an imprint
that published comics adapted from Paramount films and TV series, Paramount Comics
. Even later, Marvel Studios
would ink a deal with Paramount for that studio to distribute a number of Marvel-produced films, an adaptation of The Mighty Thor among them. Meanwhile, in 1980, Paramount had co-produced and released a live-action feature film adaptation of Popeye the Sailor, titled simply Popeye
, with Walt Disney Pictures
. The live-action film was Paramount's final involvement with the Popeye franchise.
In 2006, Paramount Pictures became the primary distributor of animated features produced by DreamWorks Animation
, many of which, such as Kung Fu Panda
and How to Train Your Dragon
, were notable critical and financial successes. In 2011, with the company's contract with that production house set to expire in 2012 while the film Rango
produced by Industrial Light and Magic
, proving a major success itself, Paramount announced their intention to re-establish a in-house animation department to compete in the feature animation field on their own.
owns all of the Paramount Popeye cartoons via their Turner Entertainment
division, following several company mergers and purchases involving the a.a.p. film library. In addition, Time Warner (via its DC Comics
unit) owns the masters to the Superman cartoons, although all seventeen of the series' entries are in the public domain
.
All Fleischer-produced Popeye cartoons, as well as the Famous-produced black-and-white cartoons, have been restored for DVD release as part of a Popeye the Sailor DVD series
from Warner Home Video
. Three volumes have been released in the series so far.
Restored versions of the seventeen Superman cartoons, otherwise widely available on budget public domain releases, were released on DVD in restored versions as bonus features for the 2006 releases of Superman: The Movie and Superman II
. A standalone set of the Superman cartoons was released in 2009.
, which later bought the January 1960–March 1962 cartoons as well (except for certain special releases under copyright to third parties). Harvey created a division, Harvey Films
, to both syndicate the cartoons, and hold the copyrights to them.
Like U.M.&M. and NTA, Harvey created new prints of the cartoons that eliminated references to Paramount and Technicolor. In Harvey's case, they created new animated opening and closing logos featuring a modified jack-in-the-box (based on the Noveltoons
mascot) with the Harvey "Big H" on it (and the bottom looking like a television). This mascot was surrounded by many of the original characters created by Famous Studios (the rights to the characters were also sold to Harvey).
The harlequin unfolded the company name just like an accordion, and, in the same way, he unveiled the cartoons' new branding, Harveytoons, soon with the characters surrounding it (for some cartoons, while on other cartoons, it segued into a title card for the star character). The original copyright notice was blacked out, but unlike the NTA package, a new notice was placed on the black bar.
Today, the cartoons and the characters are owned by Classic Media
via their subsidiary The Harvey Entertainment Company. This includes the October 1950-March 1962 non-Popeye Paramount cartoons (except for the 1961 Noveltoon starring Little Lulu, Alvin's Solo Flight, which is owned by the Marge estate) and the original characters created by Famous before 1959.
A number of the cartoons are available on DVD from Classic Media with Harvey-created opening titles replacing the originals.
, Paramount's current parent company, owns what was once the U.M.&M. library via their Republic Pictures
arm. This library includes the rights to all of the Paramount cartoons—Fleischer and Famous—released before October 1950 (with the aforementioned exceptions). However, a significant number of these cartoons did not have their copyrights renewed, and have fallen into the public domain. Numerous public domain sourced home video
collections feature Paramount cartoons which were sold to U.M.&M. (several other Paramount cartoons sold to other entities have gone PD as well).
Paramount itself continues to hold the theatrical rights (and the copyrights) to the cartoon shorts released after March 1962 (except for the Comic Kings, which are owned by King Features with the exception of the Little Lulu
cartoon Frog's Legs, owned by the estate of Little Lulu's creator Marjorie Henderson Buell
, AKA Marge), and has held video rights since the early days of home video (though none of the later Paramount cartoons have ever seen video release).
As of the present, television syndication of both the later-period cartoons and the non-Popeye/Superman pre-October 1950 cartoons is the responsibility of Trifecta Entertainment & Media
, which handles the theatrical side of the Republic library for television (Trifecta's rights were assumed from previous distributor CBS Television Distribution
, a unit of the current incarnation of CBS Corporation
).
Republic has licensed the home video/DVD rights to the former U.M.&M./NTA package to Lions Gate Entertainment
(successor to Artisan Entertainment
, previously named LIVE Entertainment), although official re-releases have yet to be announced. As mentioned before, Paramount also owns the video rights to the non-Comic King library from April 1962 to the end of 1967.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
division of the film studio Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer was an American animator. He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios...
and Dave Fleischer
Dave Fleischer
David "Dave" Fleischer was an American animator film director and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his two older brothers Max Fleischer and Lou Fleischer...
, in 1941. The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischers—Popeye the Sailor, Superman
Superman (1940s cartoons)
The Fleischer & Famous Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman....
, and Screen Songs
Screen Songs
Screen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. They were revived by Famous Studios in 1945 starting with the Noveltoon Old MacDonald Had a Farm....
—as well as Little Lulu
Little Lulu
"Little Lulu" is the nickname for Lulu Moppett, a comic strip character created in the mid-1930s by Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935 in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and strewing the aisle with banana peels...
, Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable...
, Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters . From 1944 to September 1950, Herman appeared without Katnip, who made his first appearance in November 1950 with Mice Meeting You. The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons by Famous Studios until 1959...
, Baby Huey
Baby Huey
Baby Huey is a gigantic and naïve duckling cartoon character. He was created by Martin Taras for Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios, and became a Paramount cartoon star during the 1950s. Although created by Famous for its animated cartoons, Huey first appeared in comic-book form in an original...
, Little Audrey
Little Audrey
Little Audrey is a fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better-known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic strip character...
, and the anthology Noveltoons
Noveltoons
Noveltoons was an anthology series of animated cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the close of the studio in 1967. Casper the Friendly Ghost, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey all got their start from this series...
series.
The Famous name was previously used as Famous Players Film Company
Famous Players Film Company
The Famous Players Film Company was founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, the powerful New York City theatre impresarios. The company advertised "Famous Players in Famous Plays" and its first release was the French film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth starring...
, one of several companies which in 1912 became Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the company which founded Paramount Pictures. Paramount's music publishing branch, which held the rights to all of the original music in the Fleischer/Famous cartoons, was named Famous Music
Famous Music
Famous Music was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom since 1994. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Award-winning motion pictures as The Godfather and Forrest Gump...
.
Fleischer Studios dissolution
Fleischer StudiosFleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
was a successful animation studio responsible for producing successful cartoon shorts starring characters such as Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
and Popeye the Sailor. The studio moved its operations from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Miami Beach in 1938, following union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
problems and the start of production on its first feature film, Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels (1939 film)
Gulliver's Travels is a 1939 American cel-animated Technicolor feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios. The film was released on Friday, December 22, 1939 by Paramount Pictures, who had the feature produced as an answer to the success of Walt...
(1939). While Gulliver was a success, the expense of the move and the expanded staff required to produce the feature created finance problems for the Fleischer Studios. The studio depended upon advances and loans from its distributor, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, in order to continue production on its short subjects and to begin work on a second feature, Mr. Bug Goes to Town.
Compounding the problems the studio was facing was the fact that the studio's co-founders, brothers Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer was an American animator. He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios...
and Dave Fleischer
Dave Fleischer
David "Dave" Fleischer was an American animator film director and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his two older brothers Max Fleischer and Lou Fleischer...
, were becoming increasingly estranged, and by this time, they were no longer speaking to each other due to personal and professional disputes. On May 25, 1941, Paramount assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, and had the Fleischer brothers submit signed letters of resignation, to be used at Paramount's discretion. Following the unsuccessful release of Mr. Bug in December 1941, Max Fleischer, no longer able to cooperate with Dave, sent Paramount a telegram expressing such. Paramount responded by producing the letters of resignation, severing the Fleischer brothers from control of their studio.
Paramount renamed the studio Famous Studios, and although they had ownership of the company, it remained a separate entity. Four top Fleischer employees were promoted to run the animation studio: business manager Sam Buchwald, storyboard artist Isadore Sparber
Isadore Sparber
Isadore Sparber was an American storyboard artist, writer, director and producer of animated films. He is best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. His work appeared with different versions of his name including Izzy Sparber, I...
, animator Dan Gordon, and Max Fleischer's son-in-law, head animator Seymour Kneitel
Seymour Kneitel
Seymour Kneitel was an American animator. He is best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios.-Early years:...
. Buchwald assumed Max Fleischer's place as executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, while Sparber, Kneitel, and Gordon shared Dave Fleischer's former responsibilities as supervising producers and credited directors. Gordon remained only briefly before departing after 1943. Although the Fleischers left the studio at the end of 1941, Famous Studios was not officially incorporated until May 25, 1942, after Paramount's contract with Fleischer Studios had formally run its course.
Early years
Shortly after the takeover, Paramount began plans to move a significantly downsized Famous Studios back to New York, a move completed early in 1943. Virtually all of the Famous staff, from voice artist/storyman Jack MercerJack Mercer
Jack Mercer was an American animator, storyman and voice actor. He is best known as the voice of cartoon character Popeye the Sailor...
and storyman Carl Meyer to animators such as Myron Waldman
Myron Waldman
Myron Waldman was an American animator, best known for his work at Fleischer Studio.Waldman was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a graduate of the Pratt Institute, where he majored in Art. He started his first career work in 1930 at Fleischer Studio...
, David Tendlar
David Tendlar
David Benjamin Tendlar was an American animator. He is best known for his work with Fleischer Studio and its successor, Famous Studios....
, Tom Johnson, Nicholas Tafuri
Nicholas Tafuri
Nicholas Tafuri was an American animator who worked primarily for the Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios, most prolifically in the animation unit headed by Myron Waldman...
, and Al Eugster
Al Eugster
Alfred Eugster was an American animator, writer, and film director, regarded as one of the greatest of all time...
, were holdovers from the Fleischer era. These artists remained with Famous/Paramount for much of the studio's existence. As at Fleischer's, the head animators carried out the tasks that were assigned to animation director
Animation director
An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film...
s at other studios, while the credited directors—Kneitel, Sparber, Gordon, and Disney/Terrytoons veteran Bill Tytla
Bill Tytla
Vladimir Peter "Bill" Tytla was one of the original Disney animators and is considered by many to be the best character animator to work during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation...
—acted more as supervisors. Sammy Timberg
Sammy Timberg
Sammy Timberg was an American musician and composer who was perhaps most famous for the music he wrote for the cartoons of the Fleischer Studios, such as Popeye, Betty Boop, and Superman...
served as musical director until 1945 when Winston Sharples
Winston Sharples
Winston Singleton Sharples was a composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures...
, formerly of the Van Beuren Studios
Van Beuren Studios
Van Beuren Studios was an American animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons from 1928 to 1936.Producer Amedee J. van Beuren first became involved in the animation industry in 1920, when he formed a partnership with Paul Terry and formed the "Aesop's Fables Studio" for the production of...
, took his place.
Continuing series from the Fleischer period included Popeye the Sailor and Superman
Superman (1940s cartoons)
The Fleischer & Famous Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman....
, both licensed from popular comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
characters. The expensive Superman cartoons, having lost their novelty value with exhibitors, ended production in 1943, a year after Famous' inception. They were replaced by a series starring Saturday Evening Post comic strip character Little Lulu
Little Lulu
"Little Lulu" is the nickname for Lulu Moppett, a comic strip character created in the mid-1930s by Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935 in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and strewing the aisle with banana peels...
. Also in 1943, Famous began producing the formerly black-and-white Popeye cartoons in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, and began a new series of one-shot cartoons under the umbrella title Noveltoons
Noveltoons
Noveltoons was an anthology series of animated cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the close of the studio in 1967. Casper the Friendly Ghost, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey all got their start from this series...
(similar in respects to the Color Classics
Color Classics
Color Classics were a series of animated short subjects produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color, with the first entry in the series, Poor Cinderella, being the...
series from Fleischer Studios, and also the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
and Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
series from Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
).
The Noveltoons series introduced several popular characters such as Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters . From 1944 to September 1950, Herman appeared without Katnip, who made his first appearance in November 1950 with Mice Meeting You. The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons by Famous Studios until 1959...
and Baby Huey
Baby Huey
Baby Huey is a gigantic and naïve duckling cartoon character. He was created by Martin Taras for Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios, and became a Paramount cartoon star during the 1950s. Although created by Famous for its animated cartoons, Huey first appeared in comic-book form in an original...
, and Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable...
, created by writer Seymour Reit
Seymour Reit
Seymour Victory Reit was the author of over 80 children's books as well as several works for adults. Reit was the creator, with cartoonist Joe Oriolo, of the character Casper the Friendly Ghost...
and Famous animator Joe Oriolo
Joe Oriolo
Joseph "Joe" Oriolo was an American cartoon animator, writer, director and producer, known as the creator of the Felix the Cat TV series.-Early life:...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a children's book manuscript, was sold to Famous in 1945 and became the studio's most successful wholly owned property. In 1947, Paramount decided to stop paying Little Lulu creator Marge
Marge (cartoonist)
Marjorie Henderson Buell was an American cartoonist who worked under the pen name Marge. She was best known as the creator of Little Lulu....
licensing royalties, and created a Lulu clone, Little Audrey
Little Audrey
Little Audrey is a fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better-known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic strip character...
, as a replacement. That same year Famous resurrected an old Fleischer series, Screen Songs
Screen Songs
Screen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. They were revived by Famous Studios in 1945 starting with the Noveltoon Old MacDonald Had a Farm....
, introducing a new series of musical cartoons featuring a "bouncing ball" sing-along. The Screen Songs were eventually resurrected in 1951 as "Kartune Musical Shorts" (ending in 1953), and as one-shot Noveltoons in 1954 ("Candy Cabaret") and 1963 ("Hobo's Holiday").
Although the studio still carried much of the staff from the previous regime, animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
fans and historians note that its films soon diverged from the previous style. Many of them deride the company style for being highly formulaic and largely oriented towards a children's audience, with none of the artistic ambition or sophistication that the previous management strove for.
Later period and sales of cartoon libraries
The mid and late-1950s brought a number of significant changes for Famous Studios. In 1955, Paramount sold most of their pre-October 1950 shorts and cartoons, except for the Popeye and Superman shorts, to U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. is best known as the original purchaser of Paramount Pictures' pre-October 1950 shorts and cartoons...
for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
distribution. The Popeye cartoons were acquired by Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
(a.a.p.), and the Superman cartoons had already reverted to Superman's owners National Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
after the studio's film rights to the character had expired. In October 1956, Famous Studios was downsized and reorganized. Paramount assumed full control of the studio, integrating it into the Paramount Pictures Corporation as a division named Paramount Cartoon Studios. Two years after the company's reorganization, Isadore Sparber died, leaving Seymour Kneitel alone in charge of the studio. In addition, budget cutting became a huge problem for the studio at this time, the animation quality of the shorts started to drop severely and by 1959 everything that the studio was turning out began to look bizarrely cheap and limited
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...
. Paramount also ceased using Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
by this time in favor for cheaper color processes as well. The last Famous Studios short to use Technicolor was Katnip's Big Day, the finale of the Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters . From 1944 to September 1950, Herman appeared without Katnip, who made his first appearance in November 1950 with Mice Meeting You. The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons by Famous Studios until 1959...
cartoon series.
Paramount sold their remaining cartoon film library and the rights to their established characters to Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
in 1959; however, the final theatrical cartoon to have any of their established characters already acquired by Harvey Comics since was Turtle Scoop featuring Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare (both uncredited and redrawn) in 1961. Paramount's attempts at creating replacement characters, among them Jeepers and Creepers and The Cat, proved unsuccessful. Nonetheless, television animation production outsourced from King Features and Harvey Films
Harvey Films
Harvey Films was an animation production arm of comic book publisher Harvey Comics. It was founded in 1957.Currently, Harvey Films is owned by Classic Media...
brought the company additional income. Ironically, these arrangements had Paramount working on new television cartoons starring Casper, whom they had originally created, and Popeye and Little Lulu, characters they had previously licensed for theatrical cartoons. In the case of King Features' Popeye and King Features Trilogy TV cartoons, Paramount was one of several animation studios, among them Jack Kinney Productions and Rembrandt Films, to which King Features subcontracted production. The first of only two all-new Little Lulu cartoons after the character's 16-year hiatus off-screen, Alvin's Solo Flight, was released as part of the Noveltoons series in 1961, while twelve of the King Features Trilogy cartoons, starring characters such as Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run...
, Little Lulu, Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey is an American comic strip set in a fictional United States Army military post, created by cartoonist Mort Walker. It is among the oldest comic strips still being produced by the original creator...
, and Snuffy Smith, were released theatrically by Paramount in 1962 under the title Comic Kings.
Seymour Kneitel died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 1964, and Paramount brought in comic book veteran Howard Post
Howard Post
Howard Post , aka Howie Post, was an American animator, cartoonist and comic strip and comic book writer-artist....
to run the cartoon studio. Under Post's supervision, Paramount began new cartoon series and characters such as Swifty and Shorty and Honey Halfwitch (the latter having originated from the Modern Madcaps
Modern Madcaps
Modern Madcaps is an animated film series produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios animation division between the years 1958 and 1967. The series featured assorted characters that later became part of the Harvey Comics library.- List of shorts :...
series in the 1965 short Poor Little Witch Girl), and allowed comic strip artist Jack Mendelsohn
Jack Mendelsohn
Jack Mendelsohn is a writer-artist who has worked in animation, comic strips and comic books. An Emmy-nominated television comedy writer and story editor, he has numerous credits as a TV scripter, including Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Three's Company, The Carol Burnett Show and Teenage Mutant Ninja...
to direct two well-received cartoons based upon children's imaginations and drawing styles: The Story of George Washington and A Leak in the Dike (both 1965).
However, Post left the studio due internal conflicts with the Paramount staff. His replacement was Shamus Culhane
Shamus Culhane
James "Shamus" Culhane was an American animator, film director, and film producer.Culhane worked for a number of American animation studios, including Fleischer Studios, the Ub Iwerks studio, Walt Disney Productions, and the Walter Lantz studio. He began his animation career in 1925 working for J.R...
, a veteran of the Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
. Culhane completed a few films that Post started and then ignored the rule book and made films that were very different from the previous regime. In 1966, the studio subcontracted The Mighty Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
cartoons from Grantray-Lawrence Animation
Grantray-Lawrence Animation
Grantray-Lawrence Animation was an animated cartoon studio active from 1954 to 1967 and founded by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson , and Robert Lawrence....
, producers of the animated television series The Marvel Super Heroes. In 1967, Culhane directed another short based upon children's art, My Daddy, the Astronaut, which became Paramount's first film to be shown at an animation festival. However, when Paramount's board of directors rejected a proposal to produce episodes for a second Grantray-Lawrence series, Spider-Man
Spider-Man (1967 TV series)
Spider-Man is an animated television series that ran from September 9, 1967 to June 14, 1970. It was jointly produced in Canada and the United States and was the first animated adaptation of the Spider-Man comic book series, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko...
, Culhane quit the studio, and was succeeded by former Terrytoons
Terrytoons
Terrytoons was an animation studio founded by Paul Terry. The studio, located in suburban New Rochelle, New York, operated from 1929 to 1968. Its most popular characters included Mighty Mouse, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Deputy Dawg, Luno and Heckle and Jeckle; these cartoons and all of its...
animator Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
in mid-1967. Although Bakshi quickly put several experimental shorts into production, by the fall of 1967, Paramount's new owners, Gulf+Western
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.- History :Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan...
, had begun the process of shutting down the animation studio, a task completed in December. The last cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios, Mouse Trek, the finale of the Fractured Fables series, premiered on December 31, 1967.
Aftermath
Coincidentally, years later, Marvel ComicsMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
would start an imprint
Paramount Comics
Paramount Comics is a former comic book imprint of Marvel Comics that was active for about two years beginning in 1996.The imprint was the result of a deal between Marvel and Paramount Pictures to produce licensed comic book series based upon the entertainment company's franchises Mission:...
that published comics adapted from Paramount films and TV series, Paramount Comics
Paramount Comics
Paramount Comics is a former comic book imprint of Marvel Comics that was active for about two years beginning in 1996.The imprint was the result of a deal between Marvel and Paramount Pictures to produce licensed comic book series based upon the entertainment company's franchises Mission:...
. Even later, Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios, originally Marvel Films, is an American television and motion picture studio based in Manhattan Beach, California. Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, a self-contained part of the The Walt Disney Company conglomerate....
would ink a deal with Paramount for that studio to distribute a number of Marvel-produced films, an adaptation of The Mighty Thor among them. Meanwhile, in 1980, Paramount had co-produced and released a live-action feature film adaptation of Popeye the Sailor, titled simply Popeye
Popeye (film)
Popeye is a 1980 live-action film adaptation directed by Robert Altman and adapted from E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre aka Popeye comic strip.Marketed with the tagline, "The sailor man with the spinach can!", the film is a musical...
, with Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
. The live-action film was Paramount's final involvement with the Popeye franchise.
In 2006, Paramount Pictures became the primary distributor of animated features produced by DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
, many of which, such as Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
and How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon (film)
How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 3D computer-animated action fantasy film by DreamWorks Animation loosely based on the 2003 book of the same name. The film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and Christopher...
, were notable critical and financial successes. In 2011, with the company's contract with that production house set to expire in 2012 while the film Rango
Rango (2011 film)
Rango is a 2011 American computer-animated Western Comedy film directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Graham King. In the film, a chameleon named Rango accidentally ends up in the town of Dirt, an outpost that is in desperate need of a new sheriff...
produced by Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...
, proving a major success itself, Paramount announced their intention to re-establish a in-house animation department to compete in the feature animation field on their own.
Current ownership of Paramount cartoons
Today, several companies own different components of the Paramount animated library.Popeye and Superman
Time WarnerTime Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
owns all of the Paramount Popeye cartoons via their Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
division, following several company mergers and purchases involving the a.a.p. film library. In addition, Time Warner (via its DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
unit) owns the masters to the Superman cartoons, although all seventeen of the series' entries are in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
All Fleischer-produced Popeye cartoons, as well as the Famous-produced black-and-white cartoons, have been restored for DVD release as part of a Popeye the Sailor DVD series
Popeye the Sailor (Warner DVD series)
Popeye the Sailor is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, which first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
from Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
. Three volumes have been released in the series so far.
Restored versions of the seventeen Superman cartoons, otherwise widely available on budget public domain releases, were released on DVD in restored versions as bonus features for the 2006 releases of Superman: The Movie and Superman II
Superman II
Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
. A standalone set of the Superman cartoons was released in 2009.
Harvey Comics
In 1960, the October 1950–December 1959 cartoons were sold to Harvey ComicsHarvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
, which later bought the January 1960–March 1962 cartoons as well (except for certain special releases under copyright to third parties). Harvey created a division, Harvey Films
Harvey Films
Harvey Films was an animation production arm of comic book publisher Harvey Comics. It was founded in 1957.Currently, Harvey Films is owned by Classic Media...
, to both syndicate the cartoons, and hold the copyrights to them.
Like U.M.&M. and NTA, Harvey created new prints of the cartoons that eliminated references to Paramount and Technicolor. In Harvey's case, they created new animated opening and closing logos featuring a modified jack-in-the-box (based on the Noveltoons
Noveltoons
Noveltoons was an anthology series of animated cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the close of the studio in 1967. Casper the Friendly Ghost, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey all got their start from this series...
mascot) with the Harvey "Big H" on it (and the bottom looking like a television). This mascot was surrounded by many of the original characters created by Famous Studios (the rights to the characters were also sold to Harvey).
The harlequin unfolded the company name just like an accordion, and, in the same way, he unveiled the cartoons' new branding, Harveytoons, soon with the characters surrounding it (for some cartoons, while on other cartoons, it segued into a title card for the star character). The original copyright notice was blacked out, but unlike the NTA package, a new notice was placed on the black bar.
Today, the cartoons and the characters are owned by Classic Media
Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
via their subsidiary The Harvey Entertainment Company. This includes the October 1950-March 1962 non-Popeye Paramount cartoons (except for the 1961 Noveltoon starring Little Lulu, Alvin's Solo Flight, which is owned by the Marge estate) and the original characters created by Famous before 1959.
A number of the cartoons are available on DVD from Classic Media with Harvey-created opening titles replacing the originals.
NTA and post-1962
ViacomViacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, Paramount's current parent company, owns what was once the U.M.&M. library via their Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
arm. This library includes the rights to all of the Paramount cartoons—Fleischer and Famous—released before October 1950 (with the aforementioned exceptions). However, a significant number of these cartoons did not have their copyrights renewed, and have fallen into the public domain. Numerous public domain sourced home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
collections feature Paramount cartoons which were sold to U.M.&M. (several other Paramount cartoons sold to other entities have gone PD as well).
Paramount itself continues to hold the theatrical rights (and the copyrights) to the cartoon shorts released after March 1962 (except for the Comic Kings, which are owned by King Features with the exception of the Little Lulu
Little Lulu
"Little Lulu" is the nickname for Lulu Moppett, a comic strip character created in the mid-1930s by Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935 in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and strewing the aisle with banana peels...
cartoon Frog's Legs, owned by the estate of Little Lulu's creator Marjorie Henderson Buell
Marge (cartoonist)
Marjorie Henderson Buell was an American cartoonist who worked under the pen name Marge. She was best known as the creator of Little Lulu....
, AKA Marge), and has held video rights since the early days of home video (though none of the later Paramount cartoons have ever seen video release).
As of the present, television syndication of both the later-period cartoons and the non-Popeye/Superman pre-October 1950 cartoons is the responsibility of Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television. Trifecta is primarily a distribution company and also handles advertising sales in exchange for syndication deals with local television...
, which handles the theatrical side of the Republic library for television (Trifecta's rights were assumed from previous distributor CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
, a unit of the current incarnation of CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
).
Republic has licensed the home video/DVD rights to the former U.M.&M./NTA package to Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
(successor to Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...
, previously named LIVE Entertainment), although official re-releases have yet to be announced. As mentioned before, Paramount also owns the video rights to the non-Comic King library from April 1962 to the end of 1967.
Theatrical short subjects series
- Popeye the Sailor (inherited from Fleischer StudiosFleischer StudiosFleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
, 1942 – 1957) - SupermanSuperman (1940s cartoons)The Fleischer & Famous Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman....
(inherited from Fleischer Studios, 1942 – 1943) - NoveltoonsNoveltoonsNoveltoons was an anthology series of animated cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the close of the studio in 1967. Casper the Friendly Ghost, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey all got their start from this series...
(1943 – 1967) - Little LuluLittle Lulu"Little Lulu" is the nickname for Lulu Moppett, a comic strip character created in the mid-1930s by Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935 in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and strewing the aisle with banana peels...
(1943 – 1948) - Screen SongsScreen SongsScreen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. They were revived by Famous Studios in 1945 starting with the Noveltoon Old MacDonald Had a Farm....
(1947 – 1951; originally produced by Fleischer Studios 1929 – 1938) - Casper the Friendly GhostCasper the Friendly GhostCasper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable...
(1950 – 1959) - Kartunes (1951 – 1953)
- Herman and KatnipHerman and KatnipHerman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters . From 1944 to September 1950, Herman appeared without Katnip, who made his first appearance in November 1950 with Mice Meeting You. The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons by Famous Studios until 1959...
(1952 – 1959) - Modern MadcapsModern MadcapsModern Madcaps is an animated film series produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios animation division between the years 1958 and 1967. The series featured assorted characters that later became part of the Harvey Comics library.- List of shorts :...
(1958 – 1967) - Jeepers and Creepers (1960)
- The Cat (1961)
- Swifty and Shorty (1964 – 1965)
- Honey Halfwitch (1965 – 1967)
- Merry Makers (1967)
- GoGo Toons (1967)
- Fractured Fables (1967)
Television series
- Segments of Felix the CatFelix the Cat (TV series)Felix the Cat was the first television series featuring the famous cartoon character Felix the Cat.In 1954 Otto Messmer retired from the Felix daily newspaper strips, and his assistant Joe Oriolo took over. Oriolo struck a deal with Felix's new owner to begin a new series of Felix cartoons on...
(1958 – 1961; outsourced from King Features and Trans-LuxTrans-LuxTrans-Lux is a world leader in designing, selling, renting, installing and maintaining multi-color, real-time data and LED large-screen electronic information displays, but is primarily known as a major supplier of national stock ticker display devices for stock exchanges...
) - Segments of Popeye the Sailor (1960 – 1962; outsourced from King Features)
- The New Casper Cartoon Show (1962 – 1963, produced for Harvey FilmsHarvey FilmsHarvey Films was an animation production arm of comic book publisher Harvey Comics. It was founded in 1957.Currently, Harvey Films is owned by Classic Media...
) - Segments of King Features Trilogy (1962 – 1964; outsourced from King Features)
- Twelve of the Paramount-produced shorts in this series were released theatrically in 1962 under the title Comic Kings.
- The Mighty ThorThor (Marvel Comics)Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
segments of The Marvel Super Heroes (1966; outsourced from Grantray-Lawrence AnimationGrantray-Lawrence AnimationGrantray-Lawrence Animation was an animated cartoon studio active from 1954 to 1967 and founded by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson , and Robert Lawrence....
)