Here’s issue number 13 of Fleischer’s Animated News from December 1935. The front cover art, sourced from a xeroxed scan, leaves much to be desired in terms of image quality. Here’s a better look at an original edition in Yuletide red.
Among the highlights of Fleischer’s holiday newsletter:
• Gag cartoons by Sid Pillet, Hal Seeger, Warren Foster, Mike Maltese, George Hill, and Dave Tendlar.
• Tintype bios of Ted Vosk, Ben Solomon, and Roberta Whitehead. (Ben Solomon, then a Fleischer in-betweener in December 1935, was the subject of an animator profile on Cartoon Research, which you can read here. As for Robert Whitehead, she migrated with the Fleischer staff to Miami; she became a writer of Easy Reading children’s books for Houghton Mifflin Company in 1943.)
• Aaron Krawetz (1913-1969) writes about the studio’s inking department. (Krawetz still remained as chief of the inking department when the Fleischer Studio relocated to Miami in 1938.)
• Reviews of Future Stars (aka “Making Stars” – de facto dir. Myron Waldman) and King of the Mardi Gras (de facto dir. Dave Tendlar).
(click to enlarge)
•Thanks to Jerry Beck and Bob Jaques for these rare production materials.
DEVON BAXTER is a film restoration artist, video editor, and animation researcher/writer currently residing in Pennsylvania. He also hosts a 
Hey, that’s kinda neat – Popeye with Pudgy!
I hope the Fleischer staff enjoyed their Christmas party at the Paramount Hotel. I also hope they took as much pleasure in reading these newsletters as I do!
Nice to see that “everyone was raving” about Jack Mercer’s debut as the voice of Popeye in “King of the Mardi Gras”, as well they should. Although, now that I think about it, it seems curious that there has been no mention in these newsletters so far of Gus Wicke, Billy Costello, Mae Questel, or any other voice actors.
One Fleischer employee who has been mentioned regularly in the Animated News is setback designer Johnny Burks, and I was glad to see Saul Kessler’s poetic paean to him. Like God, Burks could indeed make a tree, but he could also make a windmill, a mountain, a carousel shaped like a birthday cake, a bandit’s cave filled with treasure, and so much more. Truly one of the studio’s unsung talents. It’s terribly unfortunate that, apart from the films themselves, no concrete trace of his artwork has survived to this day. All of it would have been discarded without a second thought either when the studio relocated to Miami, or when Paramount cleaned house after taking it over.
My grandfather was a professional portrait painter, and when I was little I used to beg him to draw various kinds of animals for me. He always cheerfully obliged. If he had been an animator, however, I probably would have demanded that he draw entire flip books. No wonder Warren Foster looks so exasperated in his gag cartoon.
And, wonder of wonders, young Henry puts in yet another appearance courtesy of none other than Michael Maltese! There he is, guarding the chimney of his house against the incursions of Popeye, Wimpy, and Bluto, all of them dressed up as Santa. I guess there’ll be no scalp wax in Henry’s stocking this year!
Who is the “Abbey” who drew the “Absolutely Absurd” cartoons? Is it newlywed Abner Kneitel?
Regarding your question from June 22, in which you asked me for proof that Carl Anderson worked for Bray—and to which I unfortunately replied far too late—here is the article about the series Anderson worked on:
https://brayanimation.weebly.com/police-dog.html
I also really like Mike Maltese’s take on Henry; it’s a real shame that Maltese wasn’t hired as a screenwriter for the film adaptation of the character—I think he would have been a much better screenwriter than Myron Waldman.
Thanks for that information. I just saw one of the surviving Police Dog cartoons — by the standards of its time, it was very good!
Anitmator Gordon Sheehan told me that he came up with the name “Pudgy” for Betty Boop’s dog character. There was a contest at Fleischer’s to name the cartoon canine and Gordon won (I think) 50 bucks, which was a pretty good amount of money at the time.
I suspect that Gus Wicke and Mae Questel were mentioned somewhere in these magazines. When was the first publication date of FLEISCHER’S ANIMATED NEWS? I suspect that Jack Mercer was singled out, because he was “one of the staff” as an “in-betweener” in the animation department rather than a voice actor like Costello, Wicke and Mercer.
Lots of great stuff to be found in these “house” publications!
The first issue of Fleischer’s Animated News is dated December 1934. None of the issues posted on Cartoon Research so far mention any voice actors except for Jack Mercer in the December 1935 newsletter. (There are, however, several issues missing.) I’m sure you’re correct that Mercer was singled out because, as an in-betweener, he was on the studio’s payroll and not merely a freelance contractee like Wicke, Questel et al.