Talkartoons


Talkartoons is a series of 42 animated cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures from 1929 to 1932.

History

For the Fleischer brothers, the transition to sound was relatively easy. With the new contract with Paramount Pictures, and without the burden of Red Seal Pictures and Alfred Weiss, Max Fleischer was free to experiment with new, bold ideas. First he changed the name of the Ko-Ko Song Cartunes series to Screen Songs. Although the Screen Songs were successful, Fleischer felt that it wasn't enough; Walt Disney seemed to gain a great amount of fame through his sound cartoons as well. He decided to work with his brother, Dave on a new series of cartoons where the characters did more than just simply dance to the music of the "bouncing ball". The name for the new series was to be Talkartoons. When the idea was pitched to Paramount, they leaped at the opportunity.
The Talkartoons started out as one-shot cartoons. The first entry in the series was Noah's Lark, released on October 26, 1929. Although a Fleischer cartoon, it appeared to be patterned after the Aesop's Film Fables of Paul Terry. In it, a Farmer Al Falfa-esque Noah allows the animals of his ark to visit Luna Park. When he brings them back into the ship, the weight is so heavy that it sinks. In the end, Noah chases topless mermaids throughout the ocean waters. Lark has very few gray tones, as it was mostly done in the paper-cutout animation process utilized in the Screen Songs produced during the same time and the earlier Fleischer silent works. It also included copyright-free songs, mostly utilized from old 78-rpm's.
The series began to take a new direction, however, with the arrival of Max and Dave's brother, Lou Fleischer, whose skills in music and mathematics made a great impact at the studio. A dog named Bimbo gradually became the featured character of the series. The first cartoon that featured Bimbo was Hot Dog, the first Fleischer cartoon to be almost fully animated on cels, and thus to employ a full range of greys. New animators such as Grim Natwick, Shamus Culhane, and Rudy Zamora began entering the Fleischer Studio, with new ideas that pushed the Talkartoons into a league of their own. Natwick especially had an off-beat style of animating that helped give the shorts more of a surreal quality. Perhaps his greatest contribution to the Talkartoons series and the Fleischer Studio was the creation of Betty Boop with Dizzy Dishes in 1930.
By late 1931, Betty Boop dominated the series. Koko the Clown was brought out of retirement from the silent days as a third character to Betty and Bimbo. By 1932, the series was at an inevitable end and instead, Betty Boop would be given her own series, with Bimbo and Koko as secondary characters.

Filmography

Dave Fleischer was the credited director on every cartoon produced by Fleischer Studios. Fleischer's actual duties were those of a film producer and creative supervisor, with the head animators doing much of the work assigned to animation directors in other studios. The head animator is the first animator listed. Credited animators were therefore listed for each short; however, many of the shorts from 1931 to 1932 don't have their animator credits listed, as they were cut when the shorts were sold to television and had their titles replaced.

1929

! No. !! Film !! Original release date !! Credited animators !! Notes
!Video if in the public domain
  • First Talkartoon.

    1930

! No. !! Film !! Original release date !! Credited animators !! Notes
!Video if in the public domain
  • UCLA has nitrate elements on this title, therefore is not a lost cartoon.
  • Working title: Wedding Belles
  • First appearance of Margie Hines in a Fleischer cartoon
  • The bedtime story broadcast at the end was written by Yip Harburg.
  • First appearance of Bimbo.
  • First Fleischer cartoon to feature gray tones.
  • First Fleischer cartoon to be scored by Lou Fleischer.
  • Utilizes a recording of "Saint Louis Blues" by Eddie Peabody within the soundtrack.
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • First Fleischer cartoon to credit animators.
  • Utilizes a recording of "Some of These Days" by Eddie Peabody within the soundtrack.
  • Uncredited animator: Grim Natwick
  • A Bimbo cartoon. First appearance of Betty Boop.
  • Bimbo's fur switches from white to black.
  • First appearance of a new title card design that would remain through the series.
  • Officially released on Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Volume 2.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon, featuring them in the roles of Barnacle Bill and Nancy Lee.
  • Uncredited animator: Grim Natwick
Willard Bowsky
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • Includes caricature of Jewish comedian Max Davidson.
  • Uncredited animators: Grim Natwick, Jimmie Culhane
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • A Bimbo cartoon, naming him in the title card; from here onward, he is usually named.
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon.
  • Some sources incorrectly label this as a 1929 release.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon.
  • Uncredited animator: Grim Natwick

    1931

! No. !! Film !! Original release date !! Credited animators !! Notes
!Video if in the public domain
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • Television materials exist as with most of the other Talkartoons, but prints are more scarce.
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon.
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • Bimbo's fur switches back to white.
  • The bull's dance was rotoscoped.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon.
  • Betty is voiced by Harriet Lee instead of Margie Hines.
  • First time Betty Boop is seen with her slender physique.
  • Uncredited animator: Grim Natwick
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • Uncredited animator: Grim Natwick
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon.
  • First time Betty is named, though only as "Betty".
  • First time Betty is voiced by Mae Questel.
  • A Bimbo cartoon. First time Bimbo is animated in his most familiar design.
  • First sound cartoon appearance of Koko the Clown.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon.
  • Bimbo is voiced by Walter Van Brunt instead of Billy Murray.
  • Placed at #37 in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons.
  • Officially released on Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Volume 2.
  • A Bimbo and Betty cartoon.
  • Bimbo is voiced by Claude Reese.
  • A Betty and Bimbo cartoon.
  • A Bimbo cartoon.
  • Not to be confused with the 1929 similarly-titled Screen Song, In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree.
  • Lost cartoon.
  • A Betty and Bimbo cartoon.
  • Bimbo is voiced by Walter Van Brunt.
  • The first Talkartoon to put the director and animator credits on a separate title card.
  • First time Betty is depicted as a human in the Talkartoon series, with her dog ears replaced by hoop earrings.
Sam Stimson
  • A Betty and Bimbo cartoon, seemingly held over from earlier production
  • A Betty and Bimbo cartoon.
  • Bimbo is voiced by Claude Reese.

    1932

! No. !! Film !! Original release date !! Credited animators !! Notes
!Video if in the public domain
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • The surviving master negative has the original opening title card intact.
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • Betty is voiced by Margie Hines, with Mae Questel providing her singing voice.
  • First use of the song "Sweet Betty", which would become the theme song for the Betty Boop series.
  • Officially released on Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Volume 2.
  • A Bimbo cartoon, seemingly held over from earlier production.
  • There is a possibility this was intended to be an advertising cartoon, since the characters are similar to those on the 1931 Fleischer short Step on It, produced for Texaco)
February 26
  • A Betty and Bimbo cartoon.
  • Betty is voiced by Margie Hines, with Mae Questel providing her singing voice.
  • Bimbo is voiced by Claude Reese.
  • Music performed by Cab Calloway and his orchestra. This short contains the earliest known footage of him and his orchestra performing.
  • The walrus' dancing is rotoscoped from footage of Calloway himself.
  • Sometimes seen with a refilmed TV title card; transfers with original titles were featured on some on 1980s video compilations.
  • Named #20 in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons.
  • Officially released on Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Volume 3.
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • The original title cards likely animated the short's title; the later, commonly seen TV title card is taken from a single frame of the original, captured at a point where the title reads just "S O S".
  • A Betty and Bimbo cartoon.
  • Betty is voiced by Mae Questel.
  • Contains special live-action title cards.
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • Betty is voiced by Mae Questel
  • Officially released on Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Volume 1.
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • A Bimbo cartoon, seemingly held over from earlier production.
  • There is a possibility that, as in the aforementioned cartoon, this was intended to be an advertising cartoon.
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • Betty is voiced by Mae Questel
  • A Betty, Bimbo and Koko cartoon.
  • Final Talkartoon.
  • Officially released on Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Volume 2.