Cartoon Wars

The history of cartoons is one fraught with conflict and drama – as fledgling studios vie for power, influence, and money to be the master of this new and lucrative market.

Betty Boop was Americas favorite “flapper” in the 1930s and remains very popular to this day.

The Fleischer Studios were the first to create true three-color Technicolor animations, and the best of the era from any studio were Max Fleischer’s Superman.

In Part One we will look at how animation quietly exposed theater audiences to the possibility of war.

On the Homefront the public needed to be reassured, the government commissioned animation to explain various parts of the war to the public.

As World War Two began to wind down, the U.S. Government was faced with the unprecedented situation of being the only industrialized country on earth not ravaged by war.

This episode is about fairy tales that were told outside the norm.

In the late 1920s Popeye the Sailor Man literally burst on the scene out of the inkwell as a side character of Betty Boop.

In the 1930’s, 40’s and early 50’s most people got their news, knowledge and all visual filmed entertainment from the theater.

This true full-length animated motion picture classic has been loved by generations but lost to time.

Where did the beautiful art of unique standalone cartoons go? Ones that tell a full story from start to finish with a surprising ending. Where did they go and why did they disappear?

This episode will deal with the three pioneers of 3D style of animation, approached from three different angles. Before the advent of digital animation, this was as good as it got.