Famous Studios Champion Collection: A New Look At A Forgotten Cartoon Studio

We all have those media fixations and interests that are odder than the rest. For some, it’s a certain franchise. For others, it’s a type of media or genre as a whole. For me, it has always been classic cartoons. Just something about them appeals to me in the sense that they were made fully formed by artists during a time of experimentation and freedom before animation became a more commercially driven medium. Looney Tunes, MGM, Fleischer, and many others appeal to me immensely. However, other studios do tend to slip under the radar of even die-hard animation fans. I already discussed Woody Woodpecker and, by extension, Walter Lantz Productions beforehand. Still, there is another studio that recently caught my eye and a new release of their material to justify said discussion.

Many studios have had their works restored to high quality and remastered for home release over the past two decades, such as the Disney Treasures DVDs and the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. However, there are other studios whose filmographies are either owned by smaller companies or lack the public interest to warrant a proper home media release. However, a new small label has been formed to give these other cartoons a time in the light. Cartoon Logic is a restoration project founded by animation historian Thad Komorowski and Ren & Stimpy animator Bob Jaques. They have hosted a podcast for years and last year began a new home media label specifically catered to animation fans with a focus on shining a spotlight on studios that have gotten less attention over the years. This one in particular is the Famous Studios Champion Collection, which takes shorts from the aforementioned studio and restores them in a proper manner for the first time.

Of all the short-form animation studios, Famous Studios might have one of the most interesting histories. It was originally the Fleischer Brothers studio. One of the pioneers of animation during the silent era of film with their innovative animation/live action hybrid series Out of the Inkwell. They developed a reputation for more bizarre, experimental, and even adult cartoons compared to the likes of Disney, especially with their first big draw, Betty Boop. By the 40s, they had established a model of innovative animation mixed with classical approaches alongside the popular Popeye and Superman cartoons. They eventually decided to get into the business of making movies after the success of Disney’s Snow White and adapted Gulliver’s Travels. They then went into production for their second film, called Mr. Bug Goes to Town. Unfortunately, that film ended up releasing at the worst possible time, right before the attacks on Pearl Harbor. This, combined with the non-existent foreign market, resulted in the failure of the film. The film’s failure also coincided with various other financial issues as well as conflicts with the Fleischer brothers. This resulted in Paramount, their distributor, legally taking the company and its assets from its founders and eventually ousting them from the company to reorganize it into Famous Studios.

The studio has had a mixed reputation over the years. On the one hand, they failed to come close to Fleischer’s ambition or passion and were hit very hard by the decline of the animated short by the mid-50s, resulting in many formulaic and dull cartoons, especially with the Popeye cartoons. However, the studio was still staffed by mostly former Fleischer employees, so their talents were still put to use for the most part. This new restored collection in particular mostly focuses on the 40s output of the studio, and while it isn’t anything groundbreaking compared to the work of their contemporaries, it is still a good lineup of well-animated and funny cartoons.

Aside from continuing the Popeye shorts from where the Fleischers ended, which is what they are likely most known for, Famous Studios juggled a bunch of characters around, and this release showcases some of their cartoons. The most famous is Casper the Friendly Ghos\. He has basically had a life on his own with a movie and other media to this day. Many might not even know that he started life so long ago and as a short’s character. There is also Little Audrey. This character would have a long life in the Harvey comics, but her start in cartoons has its own interesting history. Paramount initially got the license to make cartoons based on the Little Lulu comic, which makes sense since their extremely successful Popeye cartoons were also based on a comic. However, the licensing deal ended quickly, and the studio basically made Audrey as their “original” character to keep making shorts like the Lulu ones. A 10-minute cartoon starring Raggedy Ann is on here, and while the short is more saccharine in the vein of trying to imitate the 30s Disney output, it is still a well-made short. A duo of a wolf and a black sheep named Blackie have multiple cartoons on here and do a good job in emulating the hectic style that Chuck Jones and Tex Avery were pushing at the time. There’s also Baby Huey, a giant, dim-witted baby duckling. He also became a major player for Harvey and even had a brief cartoon show created by Bob Jaques back in the 90s.

As for the quality of the cartoons, well, it really does put a new shine onto them. A good portion of the Famous Studios output has been in the public domain since the 60s. This means that the copyright was not renewed on time and the shorts are free to be used by the general public. Cartoon Logic has taken advantage of this since the prints that have been widely available for a long time have looked terrible. Tinted in red or brown, muddy, and of very low quality, even compared to prints from other studios. Giving proper restoration to the picture and sound shows a lot more liveliness and effort in terms of the animation and slapstick that can actually be appreciated now. The visibility of the animation and backgrounds looks much better, and smaller details can be appreciated

In general, this is a quality release in terms of the cartoons present, the restoration quality, and in showcasing an underrepresented studio. It does get easy to overlook a lot of classic cartoons given how high the bar studios like Disney and Warner Bros set them. Sometimes, a well-animated cartoon can be enough and still have a lot of artistic merit behind it, especially since shorts like these were still developed in a period of high creative freedom and artistry with hand-drawn work. Allowing lesser-known studios a spotlight is beneficial both in terms of visibility of the overall history of animation and giving a new look at dismissed work. Hopefully, there is enough support for this release to allow Cartoon Logic to restore more short catalogues and keep doing good restoration work.