Koko the Clown is an
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
character created by
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...
. He first appeared as the main protagonist in ''
Out of the Inkwell
''Out of the Inkwell'' is an American major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929.
History
The series was the result of three short experimental films that Max Fleischer independently produced from 191 ...
'' (1918-1929), a major
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
series of the
silent era
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...
. Throughout the series, he goes on many adventures with his
canine companion “Fitz the Dog”, who would later evolve into
Bimbo
Bimbo is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized, naive, and unintelligent woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man.
As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypic ...
in the
Betty Boop cartoons.
History
The character originated when Max Fleischer invented the
rotoscope
Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced o ...
, a device that allowed for animation to be more lifelike by tracing motion picture footage of human movement. The use of the clown character came after two previous tests and a search for an original character. Fleischer filmed his brother
Dave Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
in a clown costume. After tracing the film footage amounting to some 2,500 drawings and a year's work, the character that would eventually become Koko the Clown was born, although he did not have a name until 1924. "The Clown"'s appearance owes much to
The Yama Yama Man
"The Yama Yama Man" was a comical song for the Broadway show ''The Three Twins'', published in 1908 by M. Witmark & Sons with music by Karl Hoschna and lyrics by Collin Davis. It became popular after Bessie McCoy's animated performance in a sati ...
.
Dave's clown costume was clearly inspired by one worn by
Bessie McCoy
Bessie McCoy (1888 – August 16, 1931) was an Irish-American Vaudeville star best known for her 1908 hit song and dance routine "The Yama Yama Man", for which she became known as "The Yama Yama Girl". Her husband was the war correspondent Richa ...
, with the additions of a black ruffled collar replacing the big white bow, three pom-pom front buttons, and a prominent cone-shaped cap also with three pom-poms. The white face with slit eyes was a design common among German circus clowns. Both costumes have white gloves with long fingers, white foot coverings, and a hat with the same white pom-pom as in front.
[ A 1922 sheet music drawing makes the connection more explicit, saying "Out of the Inkwell, the New Yama Yama Clown", with a picture of Koko.][
Because of the realistic effects displayed in his sample films, the result of Fleischer's Rotoscope, and a past relationship with John R. Bray, he was hired as production manager for John R. Bray Studios, and in 1918 they began '']Out of the Inkwell
''Out of the Inkwell'' is an American major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929.
History
The series was the result of three short experimental films that Max Fleischer independently produced from 191 ...
'' as an entry in the ''Bray Pictograph Screen Magazine'' released through Paramount (1918), and later Goldwyn (1919-1921). Aside from the novelty of the Rotoscoped animation, this series combined live-action and animation centered on Max Fleischer as the creative cartoonist and "Master" of "The Clown." "The Clown" would often slip from Max's eye and go on an adventure, pull a prank on his creator. Fleischer wrote, and animated the early shorts along with Roland Crandall
Roland Dimon "Doc" Crandall (August 29, 1892 - August 14, 1972) was an American animator. He is best known for his work at Fleischer Studio, especially on the Betty Boop version of ''Snow White'' and as lead animator with Seymour Kneitel on the ...
, with Dave directing the live action filming, performing on camera as "The Clown" for Rotoscoping, and assisted with the animation and Roto tracings.
The series was very popular, and in 1921 Max and Dave Fleischer formed their own studio, Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. Their films were distributed through the States Rights method through Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
, Winkler Pictures, Standard, and finally The Red Seal Pictures Corporation. The "Clown" was named Ko-Ko in 1924 when Dick Huemer
Richard Huemer (January 2, 1898 – November 30, 1979) was an American animator in the Golden Age of American animation, Golden Age of Animation.
Career
While as an artist-illustrator living in the Bronx, New York City, Huemer first began his ...
came to the studio as their animation supervisor, having animated on the ''Mutt and Jeff
''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newspape ...
'' series for eight years. He redesigned the "Clown" for more efficient animation production and moved the Fleischers away from their dependency upon the Rotoscope for fluid animation. Huemer created Ko-Ko's canine companion, Fitz. Most importantly, Huemer set the drawing style that gave the series its distinctive look. The illustration at the heading is an example by Huemer.
In the films produced from 1924 to 1927, the clown's name was hyphenated, "Ko-Ko". The hyphen was dropped due to legal issues associated with the bankruptcy of the Fleischer's partnership company, The Red Seal Pictures Corporation. Alfred Weiss presented the Fleischers with a new Paramount contract beginning in mid-1927, and "Out of the Inkwell" was retitled as "The Inkwell Imps". The series continued for two years until July 1929, ending with "Chemical Koko." Due to alleged mismanagement under Alfred Weiss, the Inkwell Studios filed bankruptcy in January 1929, and Koko was put into retirement for two years. In 1931, the legal entanglements regarding Koko were resolved, and he returned to the screen beginning with "The Herring Murder Case" (1931) and became a regular in the new Fleischer ''Talkartoons
''Talkartoons'' is a series of 42 animated cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1932.
History
For the Fleischer brothers, the transition to sound was relatively easy. With the new contract ...
'' series with costars, Betty Boop and Bimbo
Bimbo is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized, naive, and unintelligent woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man.
As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypic ...
. Koko's last theatrical appearance was in the "Betty Boop" cartoon, "Ha! Ha! Ha!
''Ha!-Ha!-Ha!'' is the second album by British pop group Ultravox, at that time known as "Ultravox!", with an exclamation mark, as a nod to Neu!. Although the group would later achieve fame and commercial success with lead singer Midge Ure th ...
" (1934), a remake of an "Out of the Inkwell" silent, "The Cure" (1924).
Koko in "Kolor"
Koko's first color appearance was a cameo in the cartoon "Toys Will Be Toys" (1949), one of the revived ''Screen Songs
''Screen Songs'', formerly known as KoKo Song Car-Tunes, are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 1945, n ...
'' series produced by Famous Studios. In 1958, Max Fleischer set out to revive ''Out of the Inkwell
''Out of the Inkwell'' is an American major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929.
History
The series was the result of three short experimental films that Max Fleischer independently produced from 191 ...
'' for television, and a series of 100 color episodes were produced in 1960–1961 by Hal Seeger
Harold Seeger (May 16, 1917 – March 13, 2005) was an American animated cartoon producer and director who owned his own studio the Hal Seeger Studio (Hal Seeger Productions). He is most famous as the creator of the 1960s animated series '' Batfi ...
using the voice talents of Larry Storch
Lawrence Samuel Storch (January 8, 1923 – July 8, 2022) was an American actor and comedian best known for his comic television roles, including voice-over work for cartoon shows such as Mr. Whoopee on ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' and hi ...
. Only two episodes have surfaced.Out of the Inkwell (1961)
/ref>
See also
*''Song Car-Tunes
'' Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes'', ''Song Car-Tunes'', or (some sources erroneously say) ''Sound Car-Tunes'', is a series of short three-minute animated films produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer between May 1924 and September 1927, pioneering t ...
''
*Animation in the United States during the silent era
Animated films in the United States date back to at least 1906 when Vitagraph released '' Humorous Phases of Funny Faces''.Jeff Lenburg 1991 The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons Although early animations were rudimentary, they rapidly became mor ...
* Golden age of American animation
References
{{Reflist
Further reading
*Crafton, Donald (1993): ''Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898–1928''. University of Chicago Press.
*Maltin, Leonard (1987): ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. Penguin Books.
*Pointer, Ray (2000/2002): ''Max Fleischer's Famous Out of the Inkwell'' DVD
Inkwell Images
*Pointer, Ray (2014) "The Search for Ko-Ko" http://www.traditionalanimation.com/2014/the-search-for-koko-the-clown/
*Pointer, Ray (2016): ''The Art and Invention of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer''. McFarland & Co. Publishers.
History of animation
Fleischer Studios series and characters
Fictional clowns
Television series by U.M. & M. TV Corporation
Film characters introduced in 1919
Animated film series
Comedy films about clowns
Television shows about clowns
Animated human characters
Male characters in animation
Comedy film characters
Comedy franchises
Animated characters introduced in 1919