Fleischer Studios dissolution Fleischer Studios was a successful animation studio responsible for producing cartoon shorts starring characters such as
Betty Boop and
Popeye the Sailor. The studio moved its operations from New York City to
Miami, Florida in 1938, following
union problems and the start of production on its first feature film, ''
Gulliver's Travels (1939). While Gulliver
was a success, the expense of the move and increased overhead costs created financial problems for the studio, which then depended on advances and loans from its distributor, Paramount Pictures, in order to continue production on its short subjects and to begin work on a second feature, Mr. Bug Goes to Town (also known as Hoppity Goes to Town''). Compounding the problem was the animosity between studio's co-founders, brothers
Max Fleischer and
Dave Fleischer, who were becoming increasingly estranged, and by this time were no longer speaking to each other due to personal and professional disputes. On May 25, 1941, Paramount assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, and required the Fleischer brothers to submit signed letters of resignation, to be used at Paramount's discretion. Although the Fleischers left the studio at the end of 1941, Famous Studios was not officially incorporated until May 25, 1942, after Paramount's contract with Fleischer Studios had formally run its course (Famous remained a separate entity from Paramount). The
Noveltoons series introduced several popular characters such as
Herman and Katnip,
Baby Huey, and
Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Casper was created by writer
Seymour Reit and Famous animator
Joe Oriolo in the late 1930s as a children's-book manuscript, and was sold to Famous during
World War II. It became the studio's most successful wholly owned property. In 1947, Paramount decided to stop paying
Little Lulu creator
Marge Buell licensing royalties, and created another "mischievous girl" character,
Little Audrey, as a replacement. Seymour Kneitel and Isadore Sparber became the production heads of the studio shortly afterward, and Dave Tendlar was promoted to director in 1953. Seymour Kneitel died of a
heart attack in 1964, and Paramount brought in comic-book veteran
Howard Post to run the cartoon studio. Under Post's supervision, Paramount began new cartoon series and characters such as
Swifty and Shorty and
Honey Halfwitch (the latter having originated from the
Modern Madcaps series in the 1965 short
Poor Little Witch Girl), and allowed comic strip artist
Jack Mendelsohn to direct two well-received cartoons based upon children's imaginations and drawing styles:
The Story of George Washington and
A Leak in the Dike (both 1965). In 1966, the studio subcontracted
The Mighty Thor cartoons from
Grantray-Lawrence Animation, producers of the animated television series
The Marvel Super Heroes. which became Paramount's first film to be shown at an
animation festival. However, when Paramount's board of directors rejected a proposal to produce episodes for a second Grantray-Lawrence series,
Spider-Man, Culhane quit the studio, and was succeeded by former
Terrytoons animator
Ralph Bakshi in mid-1967. Ralph Bakshi quickly put several shorts into production, experimenting with new characters and ideas, but by late 1967 Paramount's new owners,
Gulf+Western, had decided to shut down the animation studio, a task completed in December. The last cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios,
Mouse Trek, the finale of the
Fractured Fables series, premiered on December 31, 1967. == Legacy ==