Saturday, August 10, 2019

Max Fleischer, the rotoscope and Betty Boop

Max Fleischer invented rotoscoping and he invented the original rotoscope. He had just graduated from High School at the time, but World War I intervened and he had to wait three years before he could actually use the invention to produce the first KoKo the Clown "Out of the Inkwell" series. Dave Fleischer was the actor who portrayed the live action Koko that was rotoscoped for the cartoon animation. The first rotoscope animation ever produced by Max Fleischer took one year to complete and was one minute long. (...it took ONE YEAR to complete ONE MINUTE of rotoscope animation. On today's digital computer, that work could be done in a few shifts by a skilled operator)

 Betty Boop is the only Max Fleischer property that his estate managed to regain rights to years after his death.  In the early forties Max Fleischer was "forced" to sell his studio to pay a debt to Paramount.  The Book called "Out of the Inkwell" by Richard Fleischer and Gary Galone is a well written biography of Max Fleischer's fascinating life...

copyright (c) 2019 
William Schaeffer

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