Dance sequences appear in a significant amount of Fleischer Studios cartoons throughout the 1920s and 1930s. These sequences presented the audience with an aesthetic sense of realism and an increased illusion of a third dimension, even though Fleischer’s cartoons were traditionally hand animated.This text examines these dance sequences as unique examples of the depth of three-dimensional movement that was pioneered by Fleischer Studios. 

Many of the Fleischer cartoons utilized existing styles of dancing an effort to display a sense of realism in movement.  The depictions of different dance styles were used within the narrative structure of each cartoon, sometimes for comedic effect, and yet these sequences all led to an authenticity of movement in their depictions of dancing.  For example, in The Dance Contest (1934), Bluto and Olive dance a variation of an Apache dance, while Popeye and Bluto combine their dance with a fight sequence.  In Kickin’ The Conga Round (1942), Popeye, Bluto, Olive, their waiter, and the emcee all dance the Conga, and similarly in Famous Studios’ We’re On Our Way To Rio (1944), Olive and Popeye dance the Samba.  While the dances themselves look authentic because they are depicting recognizable dance styles, the characters dancing only move from left to right along the x-axis within the Cartesian coordinate system.  Whereas, in Morning, Noon, and Nightclub (1937), when Popita and Olivita dance the Rumba there is a much greater depth of space and movement between the foreground and the background.  Similarly, when Koko Tap Dances in The Betty Boop Limited (1932), and when everyone is dancing during Betty Boop& Grampy (1935), all these characters are moving into and out of the background to create a greater illusion of depth. 

Fleischer cartoons continued to push the limits of 2D animation by utilizing many different methods to create the illusion of a third dimensional space.  In addition to the use of forced perspectives and the depiction of existing dance styles to create movement fluidity, Fleischer Studios also frequently utilized two techniques, specifically invented by Max Fleischer for the purpose of advancing the animated moving image.  The rotoscope was invented and patented in 1915 by Max Fleischer, and it wasused in early animation to solve the problem of how to animate human beings.  Here live-action footage is being traced over to paper and cels, providing Fleischer exclusively with decades of realistic movement and fluidity in the studio’s animated cartoons.  Used extensively by Fleischer Studios, this technique of rotoscoping was notably used to animate Gulliver in Gulliver’s Travels (1939), and it was also notably used throughout all of Fleischer’s series of Superman cartoons (1941-1943).  In addition to the rotoscope, in 1933, Max Fleischer also invented his technique of the 3-D stereoptical process in further effort to display the illusion of a third dimensional space in his cartoons.  The 3-D setback process filmed animation cels in front of a 3-D miniature set that rotates, which resulted in the appearance of three dimensions and depth of focus.  This animation technique was also used extensively by Fleischer Studios, notably in the opening sequence of Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941), and throughout many of the sprawling backgrounds of Fleischer Studios’ color cartoons, such as Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936) and Somewhere in Dreamland (1936). 

The rotoscope is a technological innovation that was primarily used to animate realistic human movements since it allows audiences to see extremely authentic fluidity of motion in any animated character.  In the 1932 Betty Boop cartoon Bamboo Isle, the audience is presented with an extended dance sequence of Betty performing a Hawaiian Hula dance.  At the start of the cartoon, the audience is shown a short live action segment of a hula dancer performing with The Royal Samoans.  This was the exact footage that was rotoscoped to animate Betty’s body as she danced the hula. See figure 1.  For that reason, the rotoscoped animation looks realistic, adding an additional layer to Betty’s hula dance.  Though Betty only moves from left to right in this particular scene, the combination of the rotoscoping and the exacting movements of the hula dance create a strong sense of authenticity to the movement.

Figure 1. Screenshots from left to right: live-action hula dancer from The Royal Samoans and rotoscoped Betty Boop from Bamboo Isle (1932).

Fleischer Studios also used rotoscoped dance sequences to create a sense that there is realistic movement when portraying the animation of unrealistic Fleischeresque abstractions.  This is best seen in the 1932 Betty Boop cartoon Minnie the Moocher.  The short begins with a live action instrumental orchestral performance that features a dance performance from its bandleader Cab Calloway.  Later in the short, Calloway performs one of his most famous songs, Minnie the Moocher, as the voice of an anthropomorphized walrus-like ghostly apparition.  This completely unrealistic character is rotoscoped using the footage of Calloway dancing from the cartoon’s opening live action segment, which creates a heightened sense of realistic movement.  The same footage of Calloway dancing in Minnie the Moocher(1932) is used in the 1933 Fleischer short Snow White to rotoscope Koko the Clown dancing while performing St. James Infirmary Blues. See figure 2.  However, in Snow White (1933) the footage is utilized in both of the aforementioned aspects: first, Koko appears in his usual clown apparel, and the rotoscoped dancing enhances the realistic human movement; then, Koko is transformed by the Evil Queen into a ghostly abstraction, yet his fluidity of movement remains seamless and realistic.

Figure 2. Screenshots from left to right: live-action Cab Calloway from Minnie the Moocher (1932), rotoscoped Calloway from Minnie the Moocher (1932), and rotoscoped Calloway as Koko the Clown from Snow White (1933).

Fleischer continued to use dance sequences, sometimes coupled with the 3-D setback process to create an illusion of three-dimension, as can be seen in the Color Classic Musical Memories (1935).  In this cartoon, an elderly couple use a stereoscope to reminisce about their musical past.  The short features multiple dance sequences and utilize the 3-D setback with each of them to create a sense of dimensional depth.  Though these characters were not rotoscoped to create completely fluid movement, the dimensional effect adds to the aesthetic realism of their dancing in the flashbacks. See figure 3.

Figure 3. A dance sequence created by the 3-D setback technique from Musical Memories (1935).

Poor Cinderella (1934) is a Fleischer Studios cartoon that utilizes both 3-D setback and rotoscoping to create dancing sequences which accurately create the illusion of three dimensions.  Early in the cartoon, Betty Boop is in rags pretending to be a princess and singing and dancing alone.  While she is dancing by herself, her movements are very simple and the background is used to create the illusion of depth, whereby a tiled floor similar to the checkerboard floor seen later in the short depicts Betty Boop dancing from the background into the foreground.  Though the illusion is effective, the scene still moves along the Cartesian x- and y-axis.  Max Fleischer’s inventions, however, were utilized in an effort to create an inventive and accurate illusion of a z-axis.  In the dance sequence at the ball in Poor Cinderella(1934), we see Betty Boop and Prince Charming moving in every possible direction while dancing a Waltz.  Their dancing is rotoscoped which makes their movements realistic and fluid, and the entire sequence utilizes the 3-D setback which adds another layer of dimensional depth to the shots.  Furthermore, filmed in glorious red and blue Cinecolor, the dance floor makes use of a painted checkerboard pattern, and the short insert features a lined, graph-like pattern, which further adds to the illusion that Betty Boop and Prince Charming are not only moving left-to-right, up-and-down, and rotating 360 degrees, but that they are also moving both into and out of the background and foreground, along the imaginary z-axis. See figure 4.

Figure 4.  The main dance sequence at the ball from Poor Cinderella (1934) displaying both the 3-D setback and rotoscoping animation techniques.

Having examined the elaborate dance sequences of some of Fleischer Studios’ cartoons, we can see how Max Fleischer’s innovations were able to most successfully create the illusion of 3-dimensional depth during the early days of American animation.

References

Barrier, Michael.  Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age.  Oxford University Press, 1999.

Cabarga, Leslie. The Fleischer Story. Da Capo, 1988.

Culhane, Shamus.  Talking Animals and Other People.  St. Martin’s Press, NY, 1986.

Dobbs, G. Michael. Made of Pen and Ink: Fleischer Studios The New York Years.  Inkwell Prods, 2022.

Fleischer, Max.  Art of Making Motion Picture Cartoons.  US Patent 2,054,414, filed November 2, 1933, and issued September 15, 1936.

Fleischer, Max. Method of Producing Moving Picture Cartoons.  US Patent 1,242,674, filed December 6, 1915, and issued October 9, 1917.

Fleischer, Richard. Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution. University Press Of Kentucky, 2011.

Langer, Mark.  “Max & Dave Fleischer.”  Film Comment.  Vol. 11 No. 1.  Jan-Feb. 1975. 

William J. Lorenzo an independent film and television historian.  He holds a Master’s in Film and Television and twobachelor’s degrees in cinema studies and pure mathematics.  His writing has been published in multiple film and television anthologies, such as McFarland’s Adapting Superman.  He has also presented papers at national conferences on topics such as sci-fi film, animation, Star Trek, and Italian-American film and television.  He has taught Animation History andmultiple film and television history, writing, and communications courses at various NYC colleges, as well as having worked as an archivist in the Film Department at the Museum of Modern Art.