Motion Picture Producer, Inventor. Co-founder (with his brother Dave) of the Fleischer Studios, a leading producer of animated cartoons in the years between the World Wars. Their star characters Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor made them Walt Disney's strongest competitor in the 1930s and had a lasting effect on American popular culture. Four of their films were nominated for Academy Awards in the short subject category: "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor" (1936), "Educated Fish" (1937), "Hunky and Spunky" (1938), and "Superman" (1941). The son of an Austrian-Jewish tailor (sources conflict on whether he was born in Vienna or Krakow, Poland), he was brought to the United States at age four and raised in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York. He studied to be a mechanic before becoming a cartoonist for the Brooklyn "Daily Eagle" and then art editor for the magazine "Popular Science Monthly." His interest in the early animation field was stirred when he saw Winsor McCay's pioneering short "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914). In 1915, Max invented the Rotoscope (patented in 1917), a machine that enabled animators to trace live-action footage frame-by-frame to create the illusion of lifelike movement in drawings. For the test reel, Dave donned a clown costume and cavorted for the camera; the clip was then rotoscoped into a cartoon. This was the origin of their first popular character, Koko the Clown. During the World War I years, he made short training films for the U.S. Army and launched his "Out of the Inkwell" series of cartoons for producer J. R. Bray. In 1921, Max and Dave founded a studio in Manhattan, Out of the Inkwell Inc., reorganized as the Fleischer Studios in 1929; from 1927 their films were distributed by Paramount. The Fleischers' silent era "Out of the Inkwell" shorts were technically ingenious, and the surviving entries are still entertaining today. They typically combined live-action and animation, with the real Max Fleischer interacting with Koko and his canine sidekick Bimbo against photographed backgrounds. In 1924 - four years before Disney made a historic splash with "Steamboat Willie," often cited as the first sound cartoon - the Fleischers produced a quartet of animated talkies in collaboration with inventor Lee de Forest. Lack of interest from exhibitors caused the project to be dropped, but the experience left the brothers well-prepared for the industry-wide transition to sound at the end of the decade. Racy humor and a grungy, urban sensibility set the Fleischer cartoons well apart from Disney's, and they were at their unbridled best in the Betty Boop films of the early 1930s. Created by animator Grim Natwick, Betty Boop was the first cartoon star to deal with sex, a flirtatious, but innocent, flapper who had some trouble protecting her "boop-oop-a-doop" from lecherous men. (Even inanimate objects sprang to attention in her presence). Increased censorship under Hollywood's 1934 Production Code forced the Fleischers to tone down their sexy little character; Betty was never the same again, though her series lasted until 1939. Luckily they landed an even bigger hit property when they brought Elzie Segar's comic strip hero Popeye the Sailor to the screen in 1933. The spinach-eating swab and his supporting cast (girlfriend Olive Oyl, nemesis Bluto, and the low-key opportunist J. Wellington Wimpy) immediately caught the public's imagination and, for a time, rivaled Mickey Mouse in popularity. The Fleischers capitalized on this by producing three sumptuous two-reel "specials" in Technicolor: "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor," "Popeye Meets Ali Baba and His Forty Thieves," (1937), and "Popeye Meets Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (1939). Egged on by the unexpected success of Disney's feature-length "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) - and with big financial incentives from Paramount - the Fleischers expanded their operations, and, in 1938, moved to a new studio in Miami in preparation for making their own first feature. The result, "Gulliver's Travels" (1939), was no match for "Snow White" artistically or financially, though it did well enough for Paramount to back the Fleischers in a second feature and commission a new series, "Superman." The latter were the most visually-sophisticated cartoons the studio ever made and happily free of the Disney influence that marred later Fleischer releases. Unfortunately, the feature "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" (later reissued as "Hoppity Goes to Town") was an expensive flop when it was released in December 1941. It left the company deeply in debt to Paramount, and an ongoing feud between Max and Dave caused further concerns on the West Coast. In April 1942, Paramount took the studio away from the Fleischers and moved it back to New York with a greatly-reduced staff. (Reorganized as Famous Studios, it would remain active until 1967). Max remained in the animation field another two decades, but as a marginal figure, turning out industrial and educational shorts for Detroit's Jam Handy Studio and for J. R. Bray. His one-reel adaptation of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1944, reissued 1948) was regularly shown on television before it was eclipsed by the 1964 Rankin-Bass version. In 1960, he revived "Out of the Inkwell" as a low-budget TV cartoon series; it lasted a year. He then retired to Los Angeles, where he died at the Motion Picture Country Home. He did not live to see the publication of Leslie Cabarga's book "The Fleischer Story" (1976), an early effort to restore the family to their rightful place in the history of American animation. Max was the father of film director Richard Fleischer.
Motion Picture Producer, Inventor. Co-founder (with his brother Dave) of the Fleischer Studios, a leading producer of animated cartoons in the years between the World Wars. Their star characters Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor made them Walt Disney's strongest competitor in the 1930s and had a lasting effect on American popular culture. Four of their films were nominated for Academy Awards in the short subject category: "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor" (1936), "Educated Fish" (1937), "Hunky and Spunky" (1938), and "Superman" (1941). The son of an Austrian-Jewish tailor (sources conflict on whether he was born in Vienna or Krakow, Poland), he was brought to the United States at age four and raised in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York. He studied to be a mechanic before becoming a cartoonist for the Brooklyn "Daily Eagle" and then art editor for the magazine "Popular Science Monthly." His interest in the early animation field was stirred when he saw Winsor McCay's pioneering short "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914). In 1915, Max invented the Rotoscope (patented in 1917), a machine that enabled animators to trace live-action footage frame-by-frame to create the illusion of lifelike movement in drawings. For the test reel, Dave donned a clown costume and cavorted for the camera; the clip was then rotoscoped into a cartoon. This was the origin of their first popular character, Koko the Clown. During the World War I years, he made short training films for the U.S. Army and launched his "Out of the Inkwell" series of cartoons for producer J. R. Bray. In 1921, Max and Dave founded a studio in Manhattan, Out of the Inkwell Inc., reorganized as the Fleischer Studios in 1929; from 1927 their films were distributed by Paramount. The Fleischers' silent era "Out of the Inkwell" shorts were technically ingenious, and the surviving entries are still entertaining today. They typically combined live-action and animation, with the real Max Fleischer interacting with Koko and his canine sidekick Bimbo against photographed backgrounds. In 1924 - four years before Disney made a historic splash with "Steamboat Willie," often cited as the first sound cartoon - the Fleischers produced a quartet of animated talkies in collaboration with inventor Lee de Forest. Lack of interest from exhibitors caused the project to be dropped, but the experience left the brothers well-prepared for the industry-wide transition to sound at the end of the decade. Racy humor and a grungy, urban sensibility set the Fleischer cartoons well apart from Disney's, and they were at their unbridled best in the Betty Boop films of the early 1930s. Created by animator Grim Natwick, Betty Boop was the first cartoon star to deal with sex, a flirtatious, but innocent, flapper who had some trouble protecting her "boop-oop-a-doop" from lecherous men. (Even inanimate objects sprang to attention in her presence). Increased censorship under Hollywood's 1934 Production Code forced the Fleischers to tone down their sexy little character; Betty was never the same again, though her series lasted until 1939. Luckily they landed an even bigger hit property when they brought Elzie Segar's comic strip hero Popeye the Sailor to the screen in 1933. The spinach-eating swab and his supporting cast (girlfriend Olive Oyl, nemesis Bluto, and the low-key opportunist J. Wellington Wimpy) immediately caught the public's imagination and, for a time, rivaled Mickey Mouse in popularity. The Fleischers capitalized on this by producing three sumptuous two-reel "specials" in Technicolor: "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor," "Popeye Meets Ali Baba and His Forty Thieves," (1937), and "Popeye Meets Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (1939). Egged on by the unexpected success of Disney's feature-length "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) - and with big financial incentives from Paramount - the Fleischers expanded their operations, and, in 1938, moved to a new studio in Miami in preparation for making their own first feature. The result, "Gulliver's Travels" (1939), was no match for "Snow White" artistically or financially, though it did well enough for Paramount to back the Fleischers in a second feature and commission a new series, "Superman." The latter were the most visually-sophisticated cartoons the studio ever made and happily free of the Disney influence that marred later Fleischer releases. Unfortunately, the feature "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" (later reissued as "Hoppity Goes to Town") was an expensive flop when it was released in December 1941. It left the company deeply in debt to Paramount, and an ongoing feud between Max and Dave caused further concerns on the West Coast. In April 1942, Paramount took the studio away from the Fleischers and moved it back to New York with a greatly-reduced staff. (Reorganized as Famous Studios, it would remain active until 1967). Max remained in the animation field another two decades, but as a marginal figure, turning out industrial and educational shorts for Detroit's Jam Handy Studio and for J. R. Bray. His one-reel adaptation of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1944, reissued 1948) was regularly shown on television before it was eclipsed by the 1964 Rankin-Bass version. In 1960, he revived "Out of the Inkwell" as a low-budget TV cartoon series; it lasted a year. He then retired to Los Angeles, where he died at the Motion Picture Country Home. He did not live to see the publication of Leslie Cabarga's book "The Fleischer Story" (1976), an early effort to restore the family to their rightful place in the history of American animation. Max was the father of film director Richard Fleischer.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7323557/max-fleischer: accessed
), memorial page for Max Fleischer (19 Jul 1883–11 Sep 1972), Find a Grave Memorial ID 7323557;
Cremated, Ashes given to family or friend;
Maintained by Find a Grave.
Add Photos for Max Fleischer
Fulfill Photo Request for Max Fleischer
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
There is no plot information for this memorial. Your photo request is more likely to be fulfilled if you contact the cemetery to get the plot information and include it with your request.
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.