Out of the Inkwell

Plot

The series is the result of three experimental short films Max Fleischer produced independently in the period 1914-1916 to demonstrate his invention, the rotoscope, which was a device made up of a movie projector and a stand used as an aid to obtain realistic movements in cartoons . The rotoscope projected a film film through an opening in the stand, covered by a glass plate acting as a design surface. The image on the projected film was drawn on paper, advancing the film one frame at a time as each drawing was made. Brother Dave Fleischer was working as clowns at Coney Island, and served as a model for what would become their first famous character, Koko the Clown.

Out of the Inkwell was started at Bray Productions as a monthly release at The Bray's Pictorgraph Screen Magazine produced for Paramount Pictures from 1918 to 1920 and later for Goldwyn Pictures in 1921. In the same year, Fleischer brothers opened their studio, And in 1923 the clown who had previously no name began to be known as Ko-Ko when veteran animator Dick Huemer became the new director of animation. Huemer, who started animating with the Mutt and Jeff series in 1916, brought the influence of that series into Out of the Inkwell and created a small canine partner named Fitz. Huemer also redesigned the clown for animation and brought the Fleischer away from their dependence on the rotoscope. He also defined the design style with its distinctive inking quality for which the series was famous.

But it was the integration and interaction of live action sequences featuring Max Fleischer who spun the series. Generally, cartons begin live action by showing Max who begins his day. He begins to draw characters on paper, or open the inkwell and they come out and interact with reality. An image of Ko-Ko at The Chinese Restaurant (1927) of The Inkwell Imps series, with Koko il Clown and Fitz the Dog.

The Out of the Inkwell series lasted from 1918 to 1926, the following year was renamed The Inkwell Imps for Paramount and continued until 1929. Fleisher continued in the series, acting as an actor, producer, screenwriter and animator for his studio Out of The Inkwell Films, producing 62 episodes of Out of the Inkwell and 56 by The Inkwell Imps. Although the Inkwell Imps series was replaced by Talkartoons in 1929, Koko il Clown returned in 1931 as a supporting character with Bimbo and Betty Boop. Koko's latest cinematic appearance was in the hilarious Betty Boop Gas cartoon (1934), which was a remake of The Cure (1924) of this series. Koko had a short cameo in his only color film appearance in the episode of Screen Songs Toys will be Toys (1949).

In 1955, short films of the Out of the Inkwell series, together with another 2500 Paramount pre-1950 shorts, were sold to television, the majority acquired by U.M. & M. TV. Corp. In 1958 Max Fleischer activated a new study in a partnership with Hal Seeger, and in 1960 produced a television series called Out of the Inkwell, consisting of 100 episodes of five minutes each. In the new color series, KoKo had a clown girl named KoKette and an antagonist named Mean Moe. Larry Storch dubbed KoKo and all the supporting characters. Much of the shorts in the original series are now in the public domain.

Filmography (1917–1935)

The Bray Studio Years (1918–1921)

Inkwell Studio: Out of The Inkwell years 1921–1926

Inkwell Imps (1927–1929)

Betty Boop (1933 –1934)

Screen Songs (1949 –1950)

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