Dave Fleischer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Fleischer (July 14, 1894 - June 25, 1979) was a German-American animator of Jewish ancestry, film director, and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer as well as uncle to director Richard Fleischer. He was a native of New York City.

Sometime around 1913-1914, Dave began working as a film-cutter for the American branch of Pathé, the France based company that during the first part of the 20th Century, was the world's largest film production and distribution company, as well as the largest manufacturer of film equipment.

Dave Fleischer was notable during the brothers' early days as the rotoscope model for their first character, Koko the Clown. he went on to become director and later producer of the studio's output. Although he is credited as "director" of every film released by the Fleischer studio from 1921 to 1942, the lead animators actually performed directorial duties, and Fleischer served as a producer. Among the cartoon series Fleischer supervised during this period were Talkartoons, Betty Boop Cartoons, Popeye the Sailor, Color Classics and several others. He also supervised two animated features released through Paramount Pictures, Gulliver's Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941).

In January 1942, Fleischer, no longer able to cooperate with his brother, left the company to become President of Screen Gems at Columbia Pictures. Fleischer Studios ceased on May 24, 1941 when Paramount called in the loan it had given the studio. Now owned wholly by Paramount, it was re-organized as Famous Studios (though the name wasn't official until May 1943.)

In the late-1940s, Fleischer moved over to Universal, where he became a special effects expert and general problem-solver, working on films such as Francis (1950), The Birds (1963), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). He died on June 25, 1979 of a stroke in Woodland Hills, California, having spent over a decade in retirement.