| Superman | |
|---|---|
 Title card from the firstSuperman animated short produced byFleischer Studios. | |
| Directed by |
|
| Story by |
|
| Based on | |
| Produced by | Max Fleischer Sam Buchwald Dan Gordon Seymour Kneitel I. Sparber |
| Starring | Bud Collyer Joan Alexander Julian Noa Jack Mercer |
| Music by | Sammy Timberg Winston Sharples (uncredited) Lou Fleischer (uncredited) |
| Animation by |
|
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Running time | 10 minutes (one reel) |
| Language | English |
TheFleischerSuperman cartoons are a series of seventeen Americananimatedsuperheroshort films released inTechnicolor byParamount Pictures and based upon thecomic book characterSuperman, making them his first animated appearance.
They were originally produced byFleischer Studios, which completed the initial short and eight further cartoons in 1941 and 1942. Production was resumed in May 1942 byFamous Studios, the successor company to Fleischer, which produced eight more cartoons in 1942–1943.Superman was the final animated series initiated by Fleischer Studios before Famous Studios officially took over production.[1]
Although all entries are in thepublic domain in the United States,[2]ancillary rights, such as merchandising contract rights, as well as the original 35 mm master elements, are owned today byWarner Bros., which has also owned Superman's publisher,DC Comics, since 1969. In 2023, Warner Bros. released aBlu-ray set containing the 17 cartoons, taken from high-definition restorations of the original 35mm source elements.[3][4][5]
Only the first nine cartoons were produced byFleischer Studios; nonetheless, all seventeen shorts are collectively known as "the FleischerSuperman cartoons". In 1942, Fleischer Studios was dissolved and reorganized asFamous Studios, which produced the final eight shorts. These cartoons are seen as some of the finest quality and most lavishly budgeted animated cartoons produced duringThe Golden Age of American animation. In 1994, the first entry in the series was voted #33 on a list ofThe 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.[6]
By mid-1941, brothersMax andDave Fleischer were running their own animation studio inMiami, Florida, and had recently finished their firstanimated feature film,Gulliver's Travels. The Fleischers were also well into production on their second,Mr. Bug Goes to Town. They were reluctant to commit themselves to another major project at the time when they were approached by their studio's distributor and majority owner since May 1941,Paramount Pictures. Paramount was interested in financially exploiting the phenomenal popularity of the newSuperman comic books by producing a series of theatrical cartoons based upon the character. Dave Fleischer had misgivings about Superman as a subject, recognizing the greater technical difficulties and costs that would come with properly animating the characters as compared to the more unrealistic, traditionally cartoony characters that Fleischer Studios were experienced with.[7] The Fleischers hoped to discourage Paramount from committing to the series, so they told the studio that the cost of producing such a series of cartoons would be about $100,000 per short (or $1.64 million per short as of 2024[8]), about four times the typical budget of an average cartoon of that period.[9] Instead of withdrawing its request, Paramount entered into negotiations with them, and got the per-episode budget lowered to $50,000 (or $820,131 per short as of 2024[8]).[10] However, only the first short was actually done for $50,000; the rest of the series were produced at $30,000 per short.[7]
Recognizing that the Fleischer Studios staff were inexperienced in animating characters like Superman, Max Fleischer hosted a sketch class for the animators and assistant animators.[7] Superman co-creatorJoe Shuster also became involved during the design phase. Schuster happened to be in Miami for a visit at the time, and an acquaintance invited him to the animation studio to see them working onSuperman. Fascinated by what he saw of the project, Schuster stayed at the studio for a few days drawingmodel sheets of the characters.[7]
In the summer of 1940, Paramount announced their deal with Fleischer Studios and promised the first in the series would be released that Christmas, but technical issues stalled the project.[7] The first cartoon in the series, simply titledSuperman, was released on September 26, 1941, and was nominated for the 1941Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. It lost toLend a Paw, aMickey Mouse cartoon fromWalt Disney Productions andRKO Radio Pictures.
The voice of Superman for the series was initially provided byBud Collyer, who also performed the lead character's voice duringThe Adventures of Superman radio series.Joan Alexander was the voice ofLois Lane, a role she also portrayed on radio alongside Collyer. Music for the series was composed bySammy Timberg, the Fleischers' long-time musical collaborator.
Rotoscoping, the process of tracing animation drawings from live-action footage, was used to lend realism to the character's bodily movements.[9]Muscleman Karol Krauser served as the rotoscope model for Superman.[7] Many of Superman's actions, however, could not be rotoscoped (such as flying, lifting very large objects, etc.). In these cases, the Fleischers' lead animators—many of whom lacked training in figure drawing—animated "roughly" and depended upon their assistants (usually inexperienced animators but established draftsmen) to keep Superman "on model" during his action sequences.[9]
Writer Jay Morton was tasked with coming up with the opening lines to the series that would introduce the main character, Superman. He went through numerous drafts, such as "More powerful than a bolt of lightning, scaling tremendous heights in a single leap, faster than time itself, this amazing ally from the planet Krypton, mighty man of steel, Superman!" Eventually Morton arrived at "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap buildings in a single bound!", but he felt that the meter was bad, so he tried adding various adjectives to "buildings" before finally deciding on "tall buildings".[7] The first seven cartoons used these opening lines, which, along with the now-classic exclamation "Up in the sky, look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!", were shortly after adopted by theSuperman radio series and the live-action television series a decade later.[7] The radio series also eventually used the cartoon series' theme music. For the final two Fleischer-produced cartoons and the first of the eight Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening was changed to "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to soar higher than any plane!". For the remaining Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening line was changed again to "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" For international prints ofSuperman cartoons starting with "Showdown" the opening line is "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!"[7]
The Fleischer cartoons introduced the trope of Clark Kent using phone booths to change into costume to the Superman mythos.[7] The Fleischer cartoons were also responsible for giving Superman the power of flight. When the Fleischers started work on the series, the Superman of the comic books could onlyleap long distances. After seeing the leaping fully animated, however, the Fleischers deemed it "silly looking", and asked permission from Action Comics (later DC Comics) to have him fly instead; the publisher agreed. Previously, he was only shown flying on the cover ofTriumph #772,[11] in "The Adventure of Superman" radio show and in the comics due to an artist and editorial error inSuperman #10.[12] The flight power was adopted into the Superman comic books in 1943.[7]
By the start of 1941, the Fleischer brothers were no longer speaking with each other, and communicated by passing notes.[7] Dave Fleischer left Florida for New York, where he became the new head ofColumbia Pictures'Screen Gems studio.[13] Dissatisfied with the situation, Paramount executives put a financial squeeze on Max and Dave Fleischer, effectively forcing them to resign from Fleischer Studios.[7][13] After the Fleischers were removed, Paramount renamed the companyFamous Studios, placingSeymour Kneitel (Max Fleischer's son-in-law),Isadore Sparber, Sam Buchwald, andDan Gordon in charge of production.
Famous Studios dramatically reduced costs on the series production, such as cutting the number of drawings used to animate many sequences in half, causing a noticeable drop in animation quality.[7] AnimatorMyron Waldman commented that after Famous Studios took over production, "... they stopped putting the work into them because they were limited by budget, and they kept changing him."[7] The characters' voices were also recast, with Lee Royce (best known for voicingBluto in the FleischerPopeye the Sailor cartoons) now being both the voice and rotoscope model for Superman, and Barbara Willock now voicing Lois Lane, after beating out other contenders in her audition with her distinctive Lois Lane scream.[7]
There was also a change in the storylines of the series, as it took on a grimmer and more horrific tone.[7] The first nine cartoons had more of a science fiction aspect to them, as they involved the Man of Steel fighting robots, giant monsters, meteors from outer space, and natural perils. The later eight cartoons in the series, which were all Famous Studios productions, dealt more withWorld War IIpropaganda stories, such as inEleventh Hour, which finds Superman going toJapan to commit acts of sabotage in order to reduce the morale of the enemy. An angeredAdolf Hitler appears at the end ofJungle Drums after Superman foils anotherNazi plot.
Famous Studios ended the series after a total of seventeen shorts had been produced, replacing it with theLittle Lulu series, which was based onMarge'scomic strip of the same name. The high cost of the series kept it from continuing in the face of budgetary restrictions that were imposed after removing the Fleischers from the studio. The first cartoon had a budget of $50,000 (equivalent to $722,811 in 2024[8]), and the other sixteen each had a budget of $30,000 (equivalent to $433,687 in 2024[8]), bringing the total cost of the series to $530,000 (equivalent to $7.66 million in 2024[8]).[10] Paramount cited waning interest in theSuperman shorts among theater exhibitors as another justification for the series' cancellation.[14][15]
The FleischerSuperman cartoons became a staple of local TV shows during the 1950s, broadcast inblack-and-white since television stations had not yet upgraded tocolor broadcasting.[7]
The rights to all seventeen cartoons eventually reverted toNational Comics, who licensed TV syndication rights to Flamingo Films (distributors of the TV seriesAdventures of Superman). All eventually fell into thepublic domain, due to National's failure to renew their copyrights; thus, they have been widely distributed onVHS,LaserDisc, andDVD.[2] Nonetheless,Warner Bros. (via DC Comics) now owns the original film elements to the cartoons.
Issue #19 of DC'sSuperman comic series (August 1942) included a comic story titled "Superman, Matinee Idol!" by Superman creators Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artwork). In this short story, Lois and Clark attend a Saturday movie matinee and see aSuperman cartoon, in which Superman battles a giant robot created by the Mad Scientist fromSuperman, the first episode of the Fleischer animated series.
A 1944Famous StudiosPopeye the Sailor cartoon entitledShe-Sick Sailors parodied theSuperman cartoons a year after production of the cartoons had ceased. In this cartoon, Popeye's enemyBluto, who was voiced by the announcer for the Superman radio series,Jackson Beck, dresses up as Superman to foolOlive Oyl, and he challenges Popeye to feats of super-strength that "only Superman" can do. The musical score forShe-Sick Sailors includes echoes of Sammy Timberg's Fleischer/FamousSuperman score.
The previous year,Merrie Melodies did a parody starringBugs Bunny calledSuper-Rabbit.
In a rare move for a competing studio,Leon Schlesinger Productions, producers ofLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies (which were distributed by Warner Bros.), featured Timberg's Superman theme inSnafuperman, a 1944Private Snafu cartoon Schlesinger produced for theU.S. Army.
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In 1985, DC Comics named Fleischer Studios as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publicationFifty Who Made DC Great for its work on theSuperman cartoons.[16] The series strongly influenced the creation of the acclaimedanimated television seriesBatman: The Animated Series, as well as the similar-lookingSuperman: The Animated Series.[citation needed] Comic book artistAlex Ross has also listed the shorts among the inspiration for his take on Superman's look.[citation needed]
This animated version of Superman was planned to be made as a cameo in the original final scene from the 1988 filmWho Framed Roger Rabbit.[17]
The robot robbery scene fromThe Mechanical Monsters has been echoed by several later works. In 1980, Japanese animated film writer and directorHayao Miyazaki created an identical robbery with a similarly functioning robot in the last episode of the TV seriesLupin the Third Part II, a robot design he used again in his feature filmCastle in the Sky.[18]
The elements of the scene were borrowed again in 1994 for "The Tick vs. Brainchild" (Season 1, Episode 9 ofThe Tick), with the robbery committed by Skippy, a cyborg dog.[19]
The Mechanical Monsters was featured as part ofFantastic Animation Festival.
A 1988 music video for the song "Spy in the House of Love" byWas (Not Was) borrowed footage extensively from Famous'Secret Agent short.[citation needed]
In theCrisis on Infinite Earths tie-in comic, the world of those cartoons takes place on Earth-F before being destroyed by theAnti-Monitor.[20]
The first official home video releases of the ParamountSuperman cartoons were byWarner Home Video in 1987 and 1988, in a series ofVHS andLaserDisc packages calledTV's Best Adventures of Superman. Four volumes were released, each containing two episodes of the 1950s TV seriesAdventures of Superman (one black-and-white episode and one color episode) and one Max FleischerSuperman short (marking the first official release of such as Warner holds the original film elements).
A 1991 VHS set produced by Bosko Video, the somewhat incorrectly titledThe Complete Superman Collection: Golden Anniversary Edition – The Paramount Cartoon Classics of Max & Dave Fleischer, was released as two VHS volumes which featured high-quality transfers from 35 mm prints. The Bosko Video set was issued onDVD byImage Entertainment asThe Complete Superman Collection: Diamond Anniversary Edition in 2000. The Bosko Video release was not associated withDC Comics or their parent company Warner Bros.
Another DVD wasSuperman: The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection from VCI Entertainment, released on May 30, 2006, a month prior to the release of the filmSuperman Returns. DVD features included: all 17 animated shorts digitally restored in Dolby Digital 2.0 audio;Snafuperman, a 1944 Warner Bros. wartime parody of the Fleischer cartoons, featuringPrivate Snafu and produced for theU.S. Army; "Behind the Cape" synopses and fun facts with each cartoon; a fold-out booklet with notes on the series; bios of the voice actors, producer Max Fleischer, and Superman; a trailer for the 1948Superman serial withKirk Alyn; and a recorded audio phone interview withJoan Alexander (the voice of Lois Lane). This release, like the Bosko Video release, was not associated with DC Comics or their parent company Warner Bros.
Restored and remastered original vault elements were released on DVD on November 28, 2006, as part of Warner Home Video's re-releases of theSuperman cartoons. The first nine cartoons were released as part of the four-disc special editionSuperman: The Movie set, and the eight remaining cartoons were included on the two-disc special editionSuperman II set. The entire collected Fleischer / Famous cartoons were included in the box setsThe Christopher Reeve Superman Collection andSuperman Ultimate Collector's Edition, where both sets also included a 13-minute documentary on the cartoons, entitledFirst Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series. This documentary (which was included on theSuperman II two-disc special edition DVD) features interviews with surviving members, relatives and biographers of the animation and production team, and contemporary animators such asBruce Timm,Paul Dini and Dan Riba (Superman: The Animated Series), who detail the influence these cartoons have had on their own works.
In 2005, a two-disc DVD set was released by Platinum disc corporation with digitally enhanced audio 5.1.
In December 2004, Toonami Digital Arsenal made the shorts available for free download inMP4 format on its website. They posted one episode per day with the final episode, "Secret Agent", going live on New Year's Day 2005.
On July 1, 2008, Warner Bros. released the shorts on iTunes via their DC Comics sections.
On April 7, 2009, a collection of all the cartoons released by Warner Home Video was released as the first authorized collection from the original masters, titledMax Fleischer's Superman: 1941–1942; the set included "The Man, The Myth, Superman" featurette, along with an old special feature seen in theSuperman II 2006 DVD release, "First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series".[21]
The 8-discBlu-ray boxsetThe Superman Motion Picture Anthology, released in June 2011, includes all the Max Fleischer cartoons in SD as bonuses on the discs for the two versions ofSuperman II.[22] The nine Fleischer Studios cartoons plus the 13-minute featureFirst Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series are on theSuperman II – Original 1980/81 Theatrical Release disc and the eight Famous Studios cartoons are on theSuperman II – The 2006 Richard Donner Cut disc.
A Blu-ray set containing all the cartoons, calledMax Fleischer's Superman: Collector's Edition was released on October 30, 2012, by the Gaiam studio. According to a Blu-Ray.com review, it was upscaled from standard definition to HD, and the set's video quality and audio quality were criticized.[23]
The shorts were available for the first time in true HD on WarnerMedia'sDC Universe streaming service.[24] After the service went down in early 2021, they were no longer available. As of 2023, they have yet to reappear on Warner Bros.'s flagship streaming serviceMax.
A Blu-ray set from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment was released on May 16, 2023. All of the cartoons are presented in 1080p resolution based on a 4K scan of the original 35 mm successive exposure negative.[25]
| Nº | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Superman | September 26, 1941 |
| 2. | The Mechanical Monsters | November 28, 1941 |
| 3. | Billion Dollar Limited | January 9, 1942 |
| 4. | The Arctic Giant | February 27, 1942 |
| 5. | The Bulleteers | March 27, 1942 |
| 6. | The Magnetic Telescope | April 24, 1942 |
| 7. | Electric Earthquake | May 15, 1942 |
| 8. | Volcano | July 10, 1942 |
| 9. | Terror on the Midway | August 30, 1942 |
| Nº | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|
| 10. | Japoteurs[26] | September 18, 1942 |
| 11. | Showdown | October 16, 1942 |
| 12. | Eleventh Hour | November 20, 1942 |
| 13. | Destruction, Inc. | December 25, 1942 |
| 14. | The Mummy Strikes | February 19, 1943 |
| 15. | Jungle Drums | March 26, 1943 |
| 16. | The Underground World | June 18, 1943 |
| 17. | Secret Agent | July 30, 1943 |
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