Here’s the second edition of the Fleischer Studio in-house newsletter, from January 1935.
In his editorial, Max suggests that the newsletter is part of the company’s health plan, and explains how the proceeds of the last issue ($15.), matched by an additional $15 from company funds, were used to aid ailing inker Dan Glass (Glass’s fate would become a catalyst of the Fleischer Strike in 1936).
The rest of the issue is filled with interesting info, humor and poetry (what else would one expect from the Fleischer Studio in its prime)? There’s a nice list of how long key personnel have been with the studio (Doc Crandall, 15 years; Izzy Sparber 13 years!), and a zany gossip column with items like: “Ask Jack Mercer to give you his ‘Popeye voice'” and “Tony Di Paola is a sissy”. Did you know: “Seymour Kneitel was one of the gag-men for MGM?”, “That Izzy Sparber was once Max’s office boy?” (I knew that one) or “That Tom Moore designed some of the fixtures in the Paramount Theatre?”
Lots of gold to be mined here. Click thumbnails below to enlarge each page – and enjoy!
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Lotta Barebax… funny!
I don’t think Jack Mercer had recorded a cartoon as Popeye at the time this came out…. he had only been doing the voice for the amusement of his co-workers, but as fate would have it, Fleischer needed a new voice for Popeye, and the right guy had been in their midst all along. Mercer had done some voices for the early Talkartoons around 1930-1931 or so.
It also sounds like Mercer doing Wimpy’s lone line in “Choose Yer Weppins”, which came out a couple of months before he took over as Popeye. Or at least it sounds like the same voice as he’d use for Wimpy 25 years later in the KFS Popeyes.
Also, I’d like to know how Abner Knietel whistled his way out of a job at the Fleischers’ Long Island City studio.
Continued good stuff. Does a complete set exist?
As I said in my first posting of FLEISCHER’S ANIMATED NEWS, I have most of them and am only missing these six:
Vol. 1, No. 4 March 1935
Vol. 1, No. 9 September 1935
Vol. 2, No. 3 February 1936
Vol. 2, No. 9 August 1936
Vol. 3, No. 3 February 1937
Vol. 3, No. 5 March 1937
If there were any issues beyond April 1937, I’d love to see them. Probably not, though. The big Fleischer employee strike was in May 1937 – and the studio moved to Miami a year later.
Who is Morris Fleischer? Related?
My name is Jason Carter Glass, the great nephew of Mr. Dan Glass, and also an artist/animator(second generation)and I appreciate the fact that these records exist and are most educational for me particularly. After all, every artist should be able to discover their creative roots at some point.