Dave Fleischer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Fleischerc. 1940 | |
| Born | (1894-07-14)July 14, 1894 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | June 25, 1979(1979-06-25) (aged 84) Hollywood, Los Angeles, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1918–1967 |
| Spouses | |
| Relatives | Max Fleischer (brother) Lou Fleischer (brother) Richard Fleischer (nephew) Ruth Fleischer (niece) Seymour Kneitel (nephew-in-law) |
Dave Fleischer (/ˈflaɪʃər/; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer who co-ownedFleischer Studios with his older brotherMax Fleischer. He was a native of New York City.
Fleischer was the youngest of five brothers and grew up inBrownsville, Brooklyn, a poorJewish neighbourhood. By the time he was born, his father had lost his means of livelihood due to the mass production of garments.
Fleischer worked as an usher at thePalace Theater onBroadway, where he was exposed tovaudeville. This experience contributed to the development of his sense for gags andcomic timing, which came into play when he joined forces with his older brother, Max in the production of animated cartoons. At one point, the family lived inConey Island, and he became interested in being a clown for one of the sideshow amusements. This clown character would be recalled a few years later in connection with Max's early experiments with his first major invention, "The Rotoscope", and was the source of their first character who evolved intoKoko the Clown in the pioneering series,Out of the Inkwell.[1]
Around 1913–14, he began working as afilm cutter forPathé Exchange the American branch ofPathé, the French company that was the world's largest film production and distribution company, and the largest manufacturer of film equipment in the first decades of the 20th century.
In 1921, he joined forces with Max in starting their first studio,Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. in a dingy basement apartment inmidtown Manhattan. He went on to become director and later supervising producer of the studio's output. Among the cartoon series Fleischer supervised wereOut of the Inkwell,Inklings,The Inkwell Imps,Talkartoons,Betty Boop,Popeye the Sailor,Color Classics. He also supervised two animated featuresGulliver's Travels andMr. Bug Goes to Town.[1]
Following a relocation toMiami, Florida, and the production of their first feature,Gulliver's Travels,Fleischer Studios became indebted toParamount Pictures due to the cost overruns onGulliver and losses in rentals on the new 1940s cartoon series produced under Dave's control. The new series, includingStone Age Cartoons,Gabby andAnimated Antics, were poorly received with theaters only valuing the Popeye cartoons. This forced the temporary surrender of Fleischer Studios to Paramount on May 24, 1941, while their final feature was contracted for completion.[2]
Max Fleischer secured the license forSuperman afterRepublic Pictures allegedly passed on the property as a potential serial. Budgeted at twice the cost of a Popeye cartoon,Superman became the most successful cartoon series of the late Fleischer Studio period, representing its maturing into the 1940s. Relations between the brothers began to deteriorate around 1938, which was aggravated further by Dave's taking control of production starting in 1940, which resulted in the poorer cartoons produced under his control compounded by his continued rejection of Max's input and late completion of films.[2][1]
Dave Fleischer resigned from Fleischer Studios in late November 1941, following the recording of the score forMr. Bug Goes to Town. His official resignation was announced on December 31, 1941.[2] He would then eventually become a producer forScreen Gems atColumbia Pictures in April 1942, where he producedSong of Victory (1942) andImagination (1943), the latter of which was nominated for anAcademy Award. Fleischer would later take over forFrank Tashlin and Ben Schwalb as head producer, where he producedThe Fox and the Crow andLi'l Abner series, as well as the omnibusPhantasies series. In spite of the Oscar nominations, Fleischer was noted for being very detached from his staff according to directorJohn Hubley, as well as editing completed cartoons in a way that broke continuity.[3]Harry Cohn fired Fleischer in 1944, replacing him with Paul Worth.[4]
After getting kicked out of Columbia, he approachedRepublic Pictures with an elf-like version of Koko the Clown, a character named "Snippy", who was tried out as a live action–animation combo novelty at the end of the low-budget nightclub musical,Trocadero. A "Snippy" cartoon series was never materialized unfortunately. Fleischer continued at Republic as associate producer of the minute-long animation sequence for another "B" movie,That's My Baby! (1944).[5]
For a short period, he had a comic strip forThe Hollywood Citizen News. In the early 1950s, Dave animated a series of Technicolor theatricalsnipes for the Filmack Trailer Company ofChicago, Illinois. Filmack at the time was America's largest producer of both theatrical and commercial advertising for decades. It was at the same Filmack headquarters in Chicago that he famously animated theLet's All Go to the Lobby snipe in 1957.[5]
Following a series of oddball assignments, Dave landed a permanent position as a "technical specialist" atUniversal through animation producer,Walter Lantz. At Universal, Dave was a Special Effects Technical and general problem-solver, working on films such asFrancis,The Birds, andThoroughly Modern Millie. He was credited as "Technical Advisor" on Universal's American release of the Russian animated feature,The Snow Queen (1957), supervising the English language dubbing.[5]
Following his assignment onThoroughly Modern Millie, Fleischer retired and continued to live at the Peyton Hall apartment complex on Hollywood Boulevard until his death. Fleischer died of a stroke on June 25, 1979, at age 84. His wife died in 1991.
Media related toDave Fleischer at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or aboutDave Fleischer atWikisource