This image of Superman appeared at the beginning of each of the cartoons.

The Superman animated cartoons, commonly known as the "Fleischer Superman cartoons" were a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films, released by Paramount Pictures between 1941 and 1943, based upon the comic book character Superman. The first nine cartoons were produced by Fleischer Studios (the name by which the cartoons are commonly known). In 1942, Fleischer Studios was dissolved and reorganized as Famous Studios, which produced the final eight shorts. These cartoons are seen as some of the finest, and certainly the most lavishly budgeted, animated cartoons produced during The Golden Age of American animation. Superman, from the title sequence of the Fleisher Superman cartoons This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Superman, from the title sequence of the Fleisher Superman cartoons This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another. ... 12 frames per second is the typical rate for an animated cartoon. ... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary. ... Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... This article is about the year. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Superman is a fictional character and one of the most famous and popular comic book superheroes of all time. ... Fleischer Studios, Inc. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Famous Studios was the animation studio owned by Paramount Pictures after the company foreclosed on Fleischer Studios and ousted Max and Dave Fleischer in 1942. ... The Golden Age of American animation is a period in American animation history that began with the advent of sound cartoons in 1928 and lasted into the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts slowly began losing to the new medium of television animation. ...

History

Superman saves the Daily Planet building in Superman, the first of the Technicolor cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios.

By mid-1941, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer had recently finished their first animated feature film, Gulliver's Travels, and were deep into production on their second, Mister Bug Goes to Town. They were reluctant to commit themselves to another major project at the time when they were approached by Paramount Pictures. Paramount was interested in cashing in on the phenomenal popularity of the new Superman comic books by producing a series of theatrical cartoons based upon the character. The Fleischers hoped to discourage Paramount from committing to the series, so they informed the studio that the cost of producing such a series of cartoons would be about $100,000 per short -- an amazingly high figure, about four times the typical budget of a six-minute Fleischer Popeye the Sailor cartoon during the 1940s. To their surprise, Paramount agreed to the high cost, and the Fleischers were committed to the project. Screenshot of 1941 cartoon Superman. ... Screenshot of 1941 cartoon Superman. ... The Daily Planet is a fictional newspaper that appears in Superman stories published by DC Comics. ... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary. ... Fleischer Studios, Inc. ... This article is about the year. ... Max Fleischer (July 19, 1883–September 11, 1972) was an important pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon. ... David Fleischer ( July 14, 1894 - June 25, 1979) was a German-American animator, film director, and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. ... Animation refers to the technique in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. ... Gullivers Travels is a 1939 cel-animated Technicolor feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios. ... Mister Bug Goes to Town is an animated feature produced by Fleischer Studios and released to theares by Paramount Pictures on December 4, 1941. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... Superman is a fictional character and one of the most famous and popular comic book superheroes of all time. ... Popeye from an opening still from one of his cartoon shorts, with his characteristic corncob pipe and single good eye. ... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ...

The first cartoon in the series, simply titled Superman, was released on September 26, 1941, and was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. It lost to Lend a Paw, a Pluto cartoon from Walt Disney Productions and RKO Pictures. September 26 is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 96 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... This article is about the year. ... This class was known as Short Subjects, cartoons from 1932 until 1970, and as Short Subjects, animated films from 1971 to 1973. ... Pluto Pluto is a fictional character made famous in a series of Disney short cartoons. ... Walt Disney Productions is the former name of The Walt Disney Company, which it held from 1929 to 1986. ... The classic opening logo of RKO Radio Pictures. ...

The Fleischers produced nine cartoons in the Superman series before Paramount took over the Fleischer Studios facility and ousted Max and Dave Fleischer. The sleek look of the series continued, but there was a noticeable change in the storylines of the later shorts of the series. The first nine cartoons had more of a science fiction aspect to them, as they involved the Man of Steel fighting robots, giant dinosaurs, meteors from outer space, and other perils. The later eight cartoons in the series dealt more with World War II propaganda stories, such as in Eleventh Hour, which finds Superman going to China (then occupied by Japan) to commit acts of espionage in order to reduce the morale of the enemy. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... This article is becoming very long. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Rotoscoping, the process of tracing animation drawings from live-action footage, was used extensively to lend realism to the human characters and Clark Kent. Many of Superman's actions, however, could not be rotoscoped (flying, lifting very large objects, and so on). In these cases, the Fleischer lead animators, many of whom were not trained in figure drawing, animated roughly and depended upon their assistants, many of whom were inexperienced with animation but were trained in figure drawing, to keep Superman "on model" during his action sequences. A rotoscope is a device that enables animators to trace live action movement, frame by frame, for use in animation. ...

The first seven cartoons used the classic opening line of the Superman radio series: "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" However, for the final two of the first nine Fleischer-produced cartoons and first of the eight Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening was changed to "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to soar higher than any plane!". With the changeover to Famous Studios and the loss of the Fleischers, the opening line of the cartoon series was changed to "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" This series also continued (from the radio series) the use of the now-classic exclamation: "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Superman!" Announcer Jackson Beck (left) with Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander The Adventures of Superman, adapted from the DC Comics character created in 1938 (see Superman), came to radio as a syndicated show on New York Citys WOR on February 12, 1940. ...

Famous Studios cancelled the series after a total of seventeen shorts had been produced, replacing it with a series of shorts based on Little Lulu. The high cost of the series kept it from continuing in the face of budgetary restrictions that were imposed after removing the Fleischers from the studio. All seventeen cartoons eventually fell into the public domain (their copyrights having not been renewed by either Paramount, NTA/Republic, or EMKA, Ltd./Universal Studios), and have been widely distributed on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD. Image:Lulu cover. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... National Telefilm Associates (otherwise known by its initials, NTA) was an independent distribution company that handled much of Paramount Pictures animated library. ... Republic Pictures Corporation (aka Republic Entertainment) is an independent film, television, and video distribution company that was originally a movie production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, best known for its specialization in quality B pictures, westerns and movie serials. ... EMKA, Ltd. ... Universal Studios Theme Parks. ... Top view VHS cassette with U.S. 25c coin for scale Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS or simply as Video, is a recording and playing standard for video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by JVC (with some... Pioneers LaserDisc Logo Laserdisc certification mark The laserdisc (LD) was the first commercial optical disc storage medium, and is used primarily for the presentation of movies. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

The voice of Superman for the entire series was provided by Bud Collyer, who also performed the lead character's voice during the Superman radio series. Joan Alexander was the voice of Lois Lane, a role she also portrayed on radio alongside Collyer. Music for the series was composed by Sammy Timberg, the Fleischers' long-time musical collaborator. Bud Collyer on Beat The Clock, 1957 Bud Collyer (b. ... Announcer Jackson Beck (left) with Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander The Adventures of Superman, adapted from the DC Comics character created in 1938 (see Superman), came to radio as a syndicated show on New York Citys WOR on February 12, 1940. ... Announcer Jackson Beck (left) with Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander from The Adventures of Superman Joan Alexander is an American actress best known for her role as the voice of Lois Lane in the 1940s radio serial The Adventures of Superman and the subsequent Superman short films . ... Lois Lane is a fictional comic book character who appears in DC Comics’ Superman stories. ... Sammy Timberg (1903-1992) was an American musician and composer who was perhaps most famous for the music he wrote for the cartoons of the Fleischer_Studios, such as Popeye, Betty Boop, and Superman. ...

Influence

Decades later, the series strongly influenced the creation of the acclaimed animated television series Batman: The Animated Series, featuring Superman's main counterpart Batman, the 1990s Superman: The Animated Series, and the feature length film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Award-winning comic book artist Alex Ross has also listed the shorts among the inspiration for his take on Superman's look. An animated series or cartoon series is a television series produced by means of animation. ... The animated Batman shoots his grappling gun from a rooftop in a scene from the episode, On Leather Wings. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still sometimes as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... See also 1990s, the band The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, sometimes informally including popular culture from the very late 1980s and from 2000 and beyond. ... Superman: The Animated Series is the unofficial title given to Warner Bros. ... Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a film released on September 17, 2004 in the United States. ... Rosss rendition of the Justice League Nelson Alexander Alex Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book painter, acclaimed for the photorealism of his work. ...

Filmography

As all of these cartoons are now in the public domain, free downloadable links from the Internet Archive have been provided where available. In addition, these films are widely available on VHS and DVD, usually in budget-line releases of varying quality. A more "official" release from restored and remastered elements is scheduled for DVD release on November 28, 2006 as part of Warner Home Video's Superman re-releases. The nine Fleischer Studios cartoons will be released as part of the four-disc Superman: The Movie set, and the eight Famous Studios cartoons will be released as part of the two-disc Superman II set. The full set will be available in the box sets, The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection and The Ultimate Superman Collection. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... Internet Archive headquarters. ... November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Superman, also known as Superman: The Movie (as it was called in pre-release advertising), is a superhero film, released by Warner Bros. ... Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 feature film Superman. ... French box set cover, with the title Superman - Ultimate The Ultimate Superman Collection (also known as Superman: The Ultimate Collection) is an upcoming 14-disc DVD box set of Superman films, due to be released in November, 2006 by Warner Home Video. ...

Fleischer Studios

A robot terrorises the city in The Mechanical Monsters.

Image File history File links Superman-mechanical-monster. ... Image File history File links Superman-mechanical-monster. ...

1941

• Superman (a.k.a. The Mad Scientist) [1]
• The Mechanical Monsters [2]

1942

• Billion Dollar Limited [3]
• The Arctic Giant [4]
• The Bulleteers [5]
• The Magnetic Telescope [6]
• Electric Earthquake [7]
• Volcano
• Terror On The Midway

Famous Studios

1942

• Japoteurs (no studio is credited on the original opening titles) [8]
• Showdown [9]
• Eleventh Hour [10]
• Destruction, Inc. [11]

1943

• The Mummy Strikes [12]
• Jungle Drums [13]
• The Underground World
• Secret Agent [14]

External links

• The Super Guide to the Fleischer Superman Cartoons
• Superman (1941) at IMDB
• Timberg Alley - website of Sammy Timberg, the composer for the Superman cartoons
• "The Real Heroes of Superman" essay on Max Fleischer from Flixens.com

Movie downloads

• PPCVIDZ
• Toonami Digital Arsenal
• The Original Superman Cartoons
• Superman, Billion Dollar Limited, Destruction, Inc, and Volcano in Windows and Real file formats