The Fleischer Story

By Leslie Cabarga

Book Overview

The Fleischer brothers, Max and Dave, were animation pioneers. Creators of Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, and the Bouncing Ball, they also brought Popeye the Sailor Man to the screen and produced the first feature-length animated cartoon--on the theory of relativity Max invented the Rotoscope and for a while the brothers kept pace with Disney in performance and profit. But after 1942 the studio closed and their films vanished. What happened and how they developed are examined for the first time in this work--for many years out of print and a collector's item. It is here, updated and enlarged with hundreds of sketches and storyboard layouts where these classic cartoons can once again receive the attention and adulation they deserve.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306803135
• ISBN13: 9780306803130
• Release Date: March 1988
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

INFORMATIVE + ENTHUSIASTIC = FUN!

I'm privileged to own both the 1970's first edition and this more recent (late 1980s) updated edition. If you are a fan of Betty Boop and/or Popeye and would like to educate yourself with behind the scenes info then this is the book you want. It is LOADED with illustrations - if the book has one flaw it is that the illustrations distract the reader from the copy on every page! There are family photos of the Fleischers, character model sheets, cel pics, assorted Fleischer-ana and a checklist of every film the brothers and studio produced. And as fascinating as the books subject is, the story of how it came together is just as interesting and is related here by the author Mr. Leslie Cabarga who now produces many fine volumes on type fonts and graphics. He also provided the large cut-outs that form Leonard Maltin's backdrop in his Fleischer film biography "Cartoon Madness: The Fantastic Max Fleischer Cartoons". It is truly a shame that this is no longer in print.

A Book Wrote With Love.

Rarely I have seen a biography with so much interesting details.Not a single page is wasted.As a Fleischer cartoon fan,it's la creme de la creme for me.Congratulations Cabarga.You wrote a book with love and admiration.

An excellent accountof the life and career of Max Fliescher

Leslie Carbaga is a big fan of Fliescher cartoons and this book shows it.I loved so many of them when i had the chance to see them on TV in my younger days.(Color Classics,Popeye,Sing-Alongs, and the movies Gulliver and Hoppity.)This tells the story of Max Fliescher,who made many worthy but largely unknown contributions to the art of animation.I recommend this to any fan of the vintage cartoons of the 20s/30s/40s