Educated Fish
An evening pause: I especially like the worm’s imitation of Mae West.
On a more serious note, these old animated films provide a very real window into the culture that existed in America in the 1930s. If you want to know where we are going, compare this to today’s art.
Hat tip James Mallamace.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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An evening pause: I especially like the worm’s imitation of Mae West.
On a more serious note, these old animated films provide a very real window into the culture that existed in America in the 1930s. If you want to know where we are going, compare this to today’s art.
Hat tip James Mallamace.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
James Mallamace– good suggestion.
Mr. Z.; excellent point about; “these old animated films provide a very real window into the culture that existed in America in the 1930s.”
Animation in the 1930’s was neck-deep with culture, and they weren’t written exclusively for children.
Personally, I prefer Bob Clampett over Fleischer, but I’ve seen them all. Ordinary people with extraordinary talent, telling universal stories, in the height of the Depression.
–a nice color Popular Science short, from 1939.
Max Fleischer: Stereoscopic Rotary Process for Animation
https://youtu.be/qmUsSN0tdo8
(6:19)
“Fleischer-patented a three-dimensional background effect called “The Stereoptical Process,” a precursor to Disney’s Multiplane Process.
-This technique replaced the usual (1 to 3) flat-plane, drawn and painted cartoon backgrounds, with a circular 3-D scale-model background — a diorama — in front of which the action cels were positioned and photographed. As the character, say, hustled down a city street, the camera operator would rotate the diorama a click with each frame. The result was a constantly changing perspective of converging parallel lines that gave an amazing sense of depth.
– The process worked most dramatically with pans or tracking shots; for static shots, traditional drawn backgrounds sufficed. It was used to great effect in the longer format Popeye cartoons Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936) and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves (1937).”
Walt Disney explains-
MultiPlane Camera Animation; Camera & Process
From Wonderful World of Disney, February 1957
https://youtu.be/YdHTlUGN1zw
(7:20)