On October 1st 1956, Paramount Pictures took full control of Famous Studios and major changes were taking place behind the scenes. On screen, the 1956-57 cartoons began to sport a new look inspired by UPA.
The 1955-56 season. This would be the final one for Famous Studios as we know it. The pre-1950 films were sold to UM&M; The Popeye cartoons were transferred to AAP. Change was in the wind.
Paramount readies to sell its cartoon shorts to television; the studio reconfigures its pictures to fill new wide screen standards; and Irv Spector boards a classic in this week’s survey of Famous Studio cartoons.
In 1953, Famous Studios was contracted to provide a 3D Popeye short and a 3D Casper cartoon during this season’s output. The final results found Famous superior to the other studios (including Disney) in creating dimensional cartoons.
A comic book licensing deal with Harvey Comics would, in a few years, become the biggest thing that Famous Studios ever did for itself. Here’s the original contract between Harvey and Famous from 1951.
Sam Buchwald passed away on January 8th, 1951. His share in the partnership known as Famous Studios went to his estate. Buchwald was not replaced – Seymour Kneitel and Isadore…
In some ways, the 1950-51 season was the zenith of Famous Studios existence. Perhaps not creatively, but in their role as Paramount’s in-house cartoon studio they had certainly established a…
For the 1949-50 season, Paramount gave Famous Studios a repeat of its previous year’s order of 30 cartoons: Eight Popeye, twelve Screen Songs and ten Noveltoons. Screen Songs Strolling Thru…
The 1947-48 season was one of transition. The contractual arrangement with Marge, and the license for Little Lulu, had come to an end. The cartoons had not caught on with…
More Noveltoons! The 1946-47 season brought about eight Noveltoons which broke down into three “Screen Songs”, one (still lost) “Snuffy Smith” cartoon, a “Herman & Henry”, a “Blackie”, and two…
