The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound synchronized cartoons in 1928, gradually ending in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medium of television. Animated media from after the golden age were produced on cheaper budgets and with more limited animation techniques between the 1960s and 1970s. The theatrical animation of the golden age peaked in the 1930s and 1940s, while the period is subdivided as the silver age for the rest of its animation produced in the 1950s and 1960s; which includes the latest theatrical animations produced by Walt Disney and Walter Lantz, the latest theatrical cartoons of MGM and Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera's earliest animated television series and DePatie–Freleng's earliest theatrical cartoons. Furthermore, the history of animation became very important as an artistic industry in the United States.
Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a main character for a decade before Popeye's 1929 appearance.
Fleischer Studios was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s.
Max Fleischer was a Polish-American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios, which he co-founded with his younger brother Dave. He brought such comic characters as Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman to the movie screen, and was responsible for several technological innovations, including the rotoscope, the "follow the bouncing ball" technique pioneered in the Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes films, and the "stereoptical process". Film director Richard Fleischer was his son.
Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the companion series to Looney Tunes, and featured many of the same characters. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it was revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black-and-white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.
Winfield B. Mercer, professionally known as Jack Mercer, was a prolific American voice actor, animator and TV screenwriter. He is best known as the voice of cartoon characters Popeye the Sailor Man and Felix the Cat. The son of vaudeville and Broadway performers, he also performed on the vaudeville and legitimate stages.
The Fleischer Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated superhero short films released in Technicolor by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman, making them his first animated appearance.
Mae Questel was an American actress. She was best known for providing the voices for the animated characters Betty Boop, Olive Oyl and numerous others.
Color Classics are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color format, with the first entry of the series, Poor Cinderella (1934), being the first color cartoon produced by the Fleischer studio. There were 36 shorts produced in this series.
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Popeye Color Specials series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 26, 1937 by Paramount Pictures. It was produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios, Inc. and directed by Dave Fleischer. Willard Bowsky was head animator, with musical supervision by Sammy Timberg. The voice of Popeye is performed by Jack Mercer, with additional voices by Mae Questel as Olive Oyl, Lou Fleischer as J. Wellington Wimpy and Gus Wickie as Abu Hassan.
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Popeye Color Specials series, produced in Technicolor and released to theaters on April 7, 1939, by Paramount Pictures. It was produced by Max Fleischer, and directed by Dave Fleischer for Fleischer Studios, Inc., with David Tendlar serving as head animator, and music being supervised by Sammy Timberg. The voice of Popeye is performed by Jack Mercer, with additional voices by Margie Hines as Olive Oyl and Carl Meyer as the evil Wazzir.
Popeye the Sailor is a 1933 animated short produced by Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Publix Corporation. While billed as a Betty Boop cartoon, it was produced as a vehicle for Popeye in his debut animated appearance.
"You Gotta Be a Football Hero" is a song written by Al Sherman, Buddy Fields and Al Lewis in 1933. It is one of the most widely recorded and performed American football anthems of all time.
I Yam What I Yam is the second Popeye theatrical cartoon short, starring William "Billy" Costello as Popeye, Bonnie Poe as Olive Oyl and Charles Lawrence as Wimpy. The source of the quote is the comic strip, Thimble Theatre by E. C. Segar, in which Popeye first appeared. This is a paraphrase of words spoken by Popeye in the comic strip.
The Popeye Song Folio is a collection of 24 songs issued by Popular Melodies, Inc. 1619 Broadway, New York City in 1936. They contain the tunes played in the various Popeye cartoon short series directed by Dave Fleischer.
Olive Oyl for President is a 1948 entry in the Popeye the Sailor animated short subject series, produced by Famous Studios and released on January 30, 1948 by Paramount Pictures. The short is a reworking of a 1932 Betty Boop cartoon, Betty Boop for President, and depicts what Popeye imagines the world would be like if Olive Oyl were president.
Popeye the Sailor is an American animated series of short films based on the Popeye comic strip character created by E. C. Segar. In 1933, Max and Dave Fleischer's Fleischer Studios, based in New York City, adapted Segar's characters into a series of theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. The plotlines in the animated cartoons tended to be simpler than those presented in the comic strips, and the characters slightly different. A villain, usually Bluto, makes a move on Popeye's "sweetie", Olive Oyl. The villain clobbers Popeye until he eats spinach, giving him superhuman strength. Thus empowered, Popeye makes short work of the villain.
Popeye the Sailor is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar. The character first appeared on January 17, 1929, in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was in its tenth year when Popeye made his debut, but the one-eyed sailor quickly became the lead character, and Thimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular properties during the 1930s. Following Segar's death in 1938, Thimble Theatre was continued by several writers and artists, most notably Segar's assistant Bud Sagendorf. The strip continues to appear in first-run installments on Sundays, written and drawn by R. K. Milholland. The daily strips are reprints of old Sagendorf stories.
Wild Elephinks is a Popeye theatrical cartoon short, starring William "Billy" Costello as Popeye, Bonnie Poe as Olive Oyl, William Pennell as a Lion and Charles Lawrence as Wimpy. It was released in 1933 and was the fifth entry in the Popeye the Sailor series of theatrical cartoons released by Paramount Pictures, lasting through 1957.
Lillian Friedman Astor was an American animator who was one of the first female animators in the country. She worked for Fleischer Brothers' studio, inking and eventually animating various Betty Boop cartoons, as well as one Popeye, some Color Classics, and several Hunky and Spunky cartoons, although she received screen credit on only six of the forty-two cartoons she animated in her lifetime.
