Animation Sensation: All's Fair at the Fair, 1938

"All's Fair at the Fair" was released in 1938, and was a Color Classic produced by Max Fleischer and distributed by Paramount.

A review of the short written upon its release describes it thusly:

"A couple of sticks visit the Fair grounds, and find themselves participating in a series of adventures with the ultra-modern mechanism operated by robots. Finally, they reach the dance pavilion, and the wife and husband each are taken in hand by robots and whirled around the floor. Other mechanical gags give them a marvelous meal, beauty and barber treatments, and clinical attention to restore their youth. Very clever and novel. A Max Fleischer cartoon in Technicolor."

Fleischer intended then cartoon as a nod to the coming 1939 New York World's Fair.

Sunday Morning Special: Little Lambkins, 1940

In this 1940 Max Fleischer animated short, a precocious toddler, wanting to return to his farm and a pair of animal friends in the country, tampers with the electronic gadgets in his new city home—chaos ensues.  Chaos and much knee-bending.

Sunday Morning Special: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor

There you are, with gravy!

--Popeye

I just like Popeye. So, enjoy Max Fleischer’s 1936 short feature, “Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor.” 

There’s singing and everything.  And, a two-headed...something!  Hooray!

Friday Fun: Bunny Mooning

Another Max Fleischer cartoon to remind us that, in the 1930s, people had odd ideas about how animals functioned.

Sunday Morning Special: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year,” 1936

Another of the treasured “Sugar Plum Nightmares,” this Max Fleischer cartoon from 1936 features his character, “Grampy,” the nutty inventor as he tries to bring some joy to a group of orphans by creating dangerous Christmas gifts for them out of forks, cheese graters and percolating coffee pots.  Sure, they may scald themselves, cut their little fingers, swallow small parts and break their necks, but by jiminy, they’re going to have a happy Christmas thanks to Grampy and his craftiness.  And, yet, the big question I have is “why does the dog live in a cuckoo clock?”  As I’ve said before of 30’s-era cartoons, expect lots of knee-bending and bobbing up and down.  And, of course, yes, the song will stick in your head until 2015. Merry Christmas.    It's coming.

Saturday Silliness: Chicken a la King, 1937

If a chicken sultan had Popeye's voice, this is what would happen.

Saturday Silliness: Popeye the Sailor in "Never Kick a Woman"

Yes, I colored it.

This 1930s Max Fliescher “Popeye” cartoon is entitled, ‘Never Kick a Woman” which is a fair enough instruction. It seems that Popeye has decided that Olive Oyl needs some lessons in self defense and, so, as one does, he brings her to a languid, blonde, Mae West type who appears to be constructed entirely of cartilage and saline. Despite Mae’s curious chemical composition, she attempts to seduce Popeye, much to Olive’s chagrin. Chaos and spinach theft ensue.

Sunday Morning Special: All's Fair at the Fair, 1938

"All's Fair at the Fair" was released in 1938, and was a Color Classic produced by Max Fleischer and distributed by Paramount.

A review of the short written upon its release describes it thusly:

"A couple of sticks visit the Fair grounds, and find themselves participating in a series of adventures with the ultra-modern mechanism operated by robots. Finally, they reach the dance pavilion, and the wife and husband each are taken in hand by robots and whirled around the floor. Other mechanical gags give them a marvelous meal, beauty and barber treatments, and clinical attention to restore their youth. Very clever and novel. A Max Fleischer cartoon in Technicolor."

Fleischer intended then cartoon as a nod to the coming 1939 New York World's Fair.

Sunday Morning Special: Bunny Mooning

Another Max Fleischer cartoon to remind us that, in the 1930s, people had odd ideas about how animals functioned.

Saturday Silliness: Chicken a la King, 1937

If a chicken sultan had Popeye's voice, this is what would happen.

Sunday Morning Special: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year,” 1936

Another of the treasured “Sugar Plum Nightmares,” this Max Fleischer cartoon from 1936 features his character, “Grampy,” the nutty inventor as he tries to bring some joy to a group of orphans by creating dangerous Christmas gifts for them out of forks, cheese graters and percolating coffee pots.  Sure, they may scald themselves, cut their little fingers, swallow small parts and break their necks, but by jiminy, they’re going to have a happy Christmas thanks to Grampy and his craftiness.  And, yet, the big question I have is “why does the dog live in a cuckoo clock?”  As I’ve said before of 30’s-era cartoons, expect lots of knee-bending and bobbing up and down.  And, of course, yes, the song will stick in your head until 2014. Merry Christmas.    It's coming.

Saturday Silliness: In My Merry Oldsmobile 1931

The popular song, “Come Away with Me Lucille, in My Merry Oldsmobile” has been interpteted by Max Fleischer into a bizarre saga of perversion, peeping tommery, rough lovin', suggestive candy, elaborate underwear, and… 

Just oddness as only 1931 could serve up. 

This short film was also meant to sell cars. Really. It was an ad. It doesn’t make me want an Oldsmobile, not that I could get one anyway.

Sunday Morning Special: Poor Cinderella, 1934

Made in 1934 by Max Fleischer, this retelling of the “Cinderella” story is the only color Betty Boop short made during the characters tenure with Fleischer. The film was made with a two-color process. You see, everyone’s favorite, scheming uncle, Walt Disney, had secured the exclusive animation rights to Technicolor’s three-color process, so Fleischer was forced to use a weaker two-color method.

That’s the reason Betty has red hair, by the way. It’s the only time she does, but Fleischer wanted to make the best of the limited color palette available through the two-color process. 

Saturday Silliness: Greedy Humpty Dumpty, 1936

Deep in the horrors of Fairytale Town, Humpty Dumpty lords over the citizens with a miserly fist and a desire to see sheep humiliated.

From Flesicher Studios, this 1936 animated short requires no further explanation. Well, it needs a lot of explanation. But, I have none. 

Saturday Silliness: Popeye the Sailor in "Never Kick a Woman"

Yes, I colored it.

This 1930s Max Fliescher “Popeye” cartoon is entitled, ‘Never Kick a Woman” which is a fair enough instruction. It seems that Popeye has decided that Olive Oyl needs some lessons in self defense and, so, as one does, he brings her to a languid, blonde, Mae West type who appears to be constructed entirely of cartilage and saline. Despite Mae’s curious chemical composition, she attempts to seduce Popeye, much to Olive’s chagrin. Chaos and spinach theft ensue.

Sunday Morning Special: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor

There you are, with gravy!

--Popeye

We’re looking at birds today. There’s a really large bird in this cartoon. That’s the only connection. I just like Popeye. So, enjoy Max Fleischer’s 1936 short feature, “Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor.” 

There’s singing and everything.  And, a two-headed...something!  Hooray!

Sunday Morning Special: Betty Boop and Cab Calloway in “Minnie the Moocher”

In this 1932 Flesicher animated film, Betty Boop, urged by her parents to eat, seems to take offense and runs off to a scandalous world.  The cartoon, pre-code, was considered quite scandalous.  Accordingly, it was banned from broadcast for many years.  

Sunday Morning Special: Little Lambkins, 1940

In this 1940 Max Fleischer animated short, a precocious toddler, wanting to return to his farm and a pair of animal friends in the country, tampers with the electronic gadgets in his new city home—chaos ensues.  Chaos and much knee-bending.

Sunday Morning Special: Popeye in "Blow Me Down," 1933

Popeye the Sailor starred in 230 original theatrical shorts.  Of these, 108 shorts--from 1933 to 1942—were produced by the Max Fleischer Studio.  In 1942, Paramount Pictures bought the studio from Fleischer and renamed it Famous Studios, which continued production uninterrupted until 1957. King Features Syndicate commissioned several studios to produce 215 made for television episodes featuring Popeye and the gang from 1960-62.

Here’s one of the original Fleischer Popeye shorts.  This one, from 1933, takes its name from one of the squinty-eyed sailor’s favorite phrases.  “Blow me down.”


Enjoy all the knee-bending, spinach-snorting, muttering, sailor-y goodness.

Sunday Morning Special: All's Fair at the Fair, 1938

"All's Fair at the Fair" was released in 1938, and was a Color Classic produced by Max Fleischer and distributed by Paramount.

A review of the short written upon its release describes it thusly:

"A couple of sticks visit the Fair grounds, and find themselves participating in a series of adventures with the ultra-modern mechanism operated by robots. Finally, they reach the dance pavilion, and the wife and husband each are taken in hand by robots and whirled around the floor. Other mechanical gags give them a marvelous meal, beauty and barber treatments, and clinical attention to restore their youth. Very clever and novel. A Max Fleischer cartoon in Technicolor."

Fleischer intended then cartoon as a nod to the coming 1939 New York World's Fair.