Max Fleischer

The mechanically inclined Max invented the rotoscope, a time- and labour-saving device in which live-action film frames are traced as a guide for animated action. Brother Dave’s on-camera performance in a clown suit was rotoscoped into the character Ko-Ko the Clown, who starred in the Out of the…

From 1933 to 1942 brothers Max and Dave Fleischer produced numerous cartoon short subjects in which an animated Popeye was voiced by Jack Mercer and other actors. In the 1960s and ’70s Popeye cartoons were made for American television, where the old cartoons also found a wide audience. Popeye comic…

…animated short films produced by Max Fleischer and directed by his brother Dave. Modeled on the sexy, coy flapper of the 1920s, in particular the singer Helen Kane, Betty Boop has huge eyes, long eyelashes, which she bats frequently, and a distinctive high-pitched voice, provided by various actresses, notably Mae…

Max and Dave Fleischer had become successful New York animators while Disney was still living in Kansas City, Missouri. The Fleischers invented the rotoscoping process, still in use today, in which a strip of live-action footage can be traced and redrawn as a cartoon. The…