https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS6UX4fWiRw

If the folks who run the theatrical division at Paramount Pictures are smart they will release the Max Fleischer Studio animated film owned by Paramount to theatres in packages of three cartoons to theatres as soon as possible.

Why?

For starters because audiences love great cartoons. The Max Fleischer Studio cartoons are the greatest of the great.

When this package was first announced I was surprised to see listed titles which have been in the public domain for decades (BETTY BOOP’S CRAZY INVENTIONS, BETTY BOOP IN BLUNDERLAND).

Having seen this set, boy, am I glad they were included because they have never looked this wonderful.

Many think the Disney cartoons the greatest.

They are wonderful however the wild inventiveness of the Fleischer animated films puts them way out in front of those produced by Disney.

Simply put, the Fleischer Films are hip by which I mean “cool” by which I mean, “in the know.”

There’s a lot more going on in a single Max Fleischer Studio animated film than at first meets our eyes.

For example, take BETTY BOOP AND GRAMPY (1935): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKBYLe6KmgQ .

The main song is TIGER RAG, one of the first rock and roll songs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fZGnAdago , showcasing a fast pace and brass instruments that laid the groundwork for high-energy dance music.

We never get this anywhere but at Fleischer.

This collection includes DINAH (1933) which features THE MILLS BROTHERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C_DaEjxqJo .

In their debut film, I AIN’T GOT NOBODY (1932) we hear them do TIGER RAG.

This film DEMANDS to be experienced with an audience of several thousand joining in and SINGING ALONG.

The FLEISCHER STUDIO SCREEN SONGS document American Music of the time with an exuberant vitality found nowhere else.

Max Fleischer Studio Cartoons have an exuberance we just do not find from any other studio.

One of the reasons is they they were created by men and women living in what is easily even now the hippest city on the planet.

This restoration comes from THAD KOMOROWKSI’s CARTOON LOGIC. It is just one of several titles Thad has brought to us.

Once upon a time going to the movies was a helluva lot of fun.

Bringing thee pictures back to theatres in these wonderfully restored editions will go a long way to getting kids back to going to the movies.

As someone who shunned the easy ride of government funding because he wished to accept the same challenge the great producers of motion pictures accept I have learned a lot about what audiences love. Most of all audiences love to have their expectations surpassed.

The MAX FLEISCHER STUDIO animated films do that.

Bring’em back.

The greatest animation artist at THE FLEISCHER STUDIO was the Great GRIM NATWICK whom I brought to Toronto TWICE in 1980 and 1982.

Why because I wanted to learn from the best. The best are rarely found in the schools.

I posted this so kids today could learn from Grim:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CEYYLr9tRU

Grim celebrated his 90th birthday in 1980 in Toronto.

“That man could live to be 100,” I said to myself.

From that year on I let the world know when it was Grim’s birthday.

The year he turned 100 I bought a full page in THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY DURECTORY which led to this wonderful celebration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEWI5WodkD8 .

I was out there for it.

Said Grim, “You have done more for me than anyone else.”

It was easy. Greatness inspires greatness.

THE MAX FLEISCHER STUDIO ANIMATED FILMS are the greatest.

Let their greatness to inspire greatness.

–Reg Hartt 06-09-2026.

HEARTBEAT Graeme Kirkland and Reg Hartt.

Grim in Toronto 1980:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDAcJW66MkM

Grim at THE MOTION PICTURE ACADEMY 1984:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0AivWOg7bI

PETUNIA & THE VIPERS: IT’S A SHAME REG HARTT HAD TO PICK TORONTO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sfsGzV7S5I&list=RD9sfsGzV7S5I&start_radio=1

WHO IS REG HARTT:

https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-male-orators/reference

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