Famous Studio’s Flip Flap (1948), isn’t top Famous, but I’ve always liked this one. Just as in the Fleischer years, the director credit goes to the supervisor, with the actual animation direction being done by the first animator in the credits, in this case, Myron Waldman. There are no less than four people credited for story on this picture, with Bee Lewi getting top credit. Lewi, a children’s author, wrote the story for ‘Calling All Kids”, a monthly children’s magazine. Thankfully, the original credits have shown up on the internet, although only in black and white.
As most every Famous Studios cartoon from this period, it’s well-produced and animated – and especially aimed toward children. It has one of my favorite scores of any of the Famous Studios shorts, of course by Winston Sharples.
A whole bunch of years ago, when I was either 19 or 20, my friend Jeff Missinne let me know that there was a 16mm print of Flip Flap for sale from a collector named Dennis Atkinson- probably advertised in ‘The Big Reel’. I called Dennis up, and, little did I know, he ran a yearly program of films called Cinesation in Saginaw, Michigan- about 2 1/2 hour from me. He invited me to come to the show and pick the print up while I was there. I think he wanted $30 for this near-mint Kodachrome print of the film. I hadn’t seen too many of the Noveltoons since they really weren’t shown on TV around Detroit when I was a kid- so each new 16mm print was especially fun since they were ‘new’ films to me.
All these years later, I’m happy to say this print has been enjoyed by a lot of people. It remains the only copy really available to the public of this short – and I’ve been really happy to share it.
We released the film on the Noveltoons Blu-ray that’s been out of print for some years, attempting to recreate the original titles at least closer to their original look (and with the proper Polacolor opening and closing).
Have a good week all!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
did Larry Silverman and Jack Ozark also work on this short?
Bee Lewi and Mickey Klar Marks were both prolific children’s authors in the 1940s and ’50s, often in collaboration with other writers. As far as I know, “Flip Flap” was their only joint project as a team. I know next to nothing about Bee Lewi, but Mickey Klar Marks (1914-1986) donated her papers to the University of Southern Mississippi, where they are housed in the McCain Library and Archives. The catalog lists material pertaining to her published and unpublished books, plays, short stories, print cartoons, poems, and art instruction manuals (she was also a talented sculptor who worked in a wide variety of media), as well as personal and professional correspondence. Clearly Mrs. Marks was an extraordinarily creative and energetic person.
Of particular interest to us here is a collection of no less than twelve story treatments for short animated films, all written in 1946 and ’47, most of which were never produced. The catalog makes no mention of “Flip Flap”, so I suspect that that story was primarily Bee Lewi’s work. However, the collection does contain her story treatment for “The Little Cut-Up”, released by Famous Studios as a Noveltoon in 1949, in which she was credited as “M. Marks” alongside co-writer I. Klein. Marks also came up with a projected series about a character called “Mr. Nimblewit”, including the following titles: “The Very Sad Iron”, “The Owl and the Fox”, “Paddy and the Dancing Shoes”, “The Three Quacks”, and “Twelve Is a Dozen”. She sold the second of these to Famous in 1947, but apparently it was never produced.
Mrs. Marks’s other sale to Famous, made in that same year, was a story with the simple yet intriguing title of “Audrey”. Could she have had a hand in the creation of Little Audrey? She’s never been credited for it. Her unproduced cartoon stories include “Benjy and the Bees” (two versions), “Dig, Dig, Dig”, “Gin Rummy”, and “Little Boy Blue”. She also developed the concept for a series of cartoons called “Turtle Tales”, of which the archive holds only a single synopsis titled “Paul’s Horse”.
Around this same time, Marks wrote for the Marvel Comic “Nellie the Nurse”, which, along with the similarly alliterative series “Tessie the Typist” and “Millie the Model”, was part of Marvel’s short-lived fascination with stories about attractive working women.
I think the papers of Mickey Klar Marks would be well worth the attention of any enterprising cartoon historian willing to travel to Hattiesburg and examine them.
This is not a bad example of what famous studios could do. Like most of the classic animation Studios, the one shots show off most what any number of animators strive to perfect. Thanks for sharing this. That novel tunes disc was quite good.
The British film institute has an orginal polacolor nitrate of this cartoon. Maybe you can contact them to scan them Steve. http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150007760
It’s more than likely that BFI’s print is in black and white. We had a nasty little surprise regarding that when putting together bonus shorts for the Aleutian Adventure blu-ray.
Maybe you could still examine the prints and put it in the Noveltoon dvd or upload it to use the orginal titles for reference. I suspect it might have orginal titles
Is there plans for a reissue of the Noveltoons Blu-Ray?
But can you imagine if I add Little Audrey cartoons may have restoration like this?
Hopefully the original titles for the 1944 Famous Raggedy Ann short, “Suddenly It’s Spring” will show up someday.
Famous Studios definitely had talent, craftmanship, and the budget to create some really lovely eye candy, and this is no exception.
Side note: is there a scene missing at 3:37? The cartoon goes right from Flip sliding away to a huddle of seals which ends in Flip getting awarded a recognition. Maybe it’s a good idea to reach out to BFI for their original nitrate to discover if something went missing.
I wish we could see the lost Screen Songs cartoon, “Readin, Rittin’ and Rhythmetic” someday!
The locale is, pretty clearly, the seal pool at the Central Park Zoo. Watching feeding time for the seals was a bit of family fun and a long-standing highlight of a visit to the zoo, especially for kids— including yours truly. The daily event always attracted a crowd, just as we see here.
Since the Famous crew consisted mainly of New Yorkers, both Fleischer veterans like Myron Waldman and people who joined later on, the seals at the zoo were a natural subject for them! Also, Famous’s Manhattan HQ was only a short walk from Central Park South, where the zoo is.
A charming cartoon— not one to make you laugh out loud, but it’s good for more than a few smiles.
“…but it’s good for more than a few smiles…”
And maybe a tear or two.
“Flip Flap” was the first of sevral stories featuring that character in “CALLING ALL KIDS” magazine. That was origially published in their May-June 1946 issue…….and it was a lot different from the one Lewi and Marks collborated on. For one thing, Flip Flap looked different- and other parts of the story were altered……..and “Sealia”, was added to Stultz and Riley’s adaptation as a love interest. Her presence changed the end of the original story.