S3E37: Get Booped!

The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast

In the mood to get “Booped?” You’ve come to the right place!

In this episode, we deep dive into all things FLEISCHER STUDIOS with our guest MARK FLEISCHER. While WALT DISNEY captured an idealized, orderly pastoral world that flowed from Disney’s Midwestern roots, Mark’s father MAX FLEISCHER and his uncle DAVE FLEISCHER reveled in the Urban America into which they emigrated – filled with oddballs and idiosyncrasies. Instead of MICKEY MOUSE, they created BETTY BOOP and KOKO and GRAMPY. And then they made POPEYE THE SAILOR a star and put SUPERMAN on the screen.

Along the way, Max Fleischer invented the ROTOSCOPE – a way to project images onto a screen so as to trace them and use the traced images as the basis for the animation.

Fleischer v Disney

In the 1930’s and 40’s, Fleischer Studios and Walt Disney were the two big animation companies in Hollywood – and they very much competed with each other. Success in show business is never simple alas – and it wasn’t simple for the Fleischer’s either. And it didn’t necessarily produce happiness all around. We’ll talk about that, too.

We’ll also talk about Mark’s father RICHARD FLEISCHER who was one of Hollywood’s most versatile, talented and successful directors ever.

He directed movies like 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, COMPULSION, NARROW MARGIN, SOYLENT GREEN (“Soylent Green is people!”), AMITYVILLE 3-D and CONAN THE DESTROYER across a very long career.

Boop Happens

As this episode demonstrates, Boop happens. And a good thing, too. Because Betty Boop’s pretty much eternal. In fact, the first ever REAL LIFE BETTY BOOP is coming! Betty Boop is GOING TO BROADWAY in “BOOP: THE MUSICAL” – opening in 2025.

We’re going to talk about that, too.

So – if you’re in the mood to get Booped? Even if you’re not – don’t sit here reading this, hit play – and Get Booped!