Famous Studios

Background

Famous Studios was an animation production arm of Paramount Pictures, active from 1942 to 1967. Formerly known as "The Fleischer Studios", Famous produced every animated Paramount cartoon series. Among them were Popeye, Superman, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Lulu, Little Audrey, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, the Screen Songs series, and the Noveltoons series. Television rights to the Famous Studios film backlog was divided into 3 main distributors. The pre-1950s library was licensed to U.M.&M. Television Corporation in 1956 and later National Telefilm Associates (now "CBS Television Distribution") through a buyout of the former in the 1960s. The Superman cartoons were licensed to National Periodicals while Associated Artists Productions (later known as "United Artists Associated" and "United Artists Television Distribution" now "MGM Television") obtained the rights to the Popeye cartoons in 1956. Harvey Films acquired the TV rights to Casper and other 1950s cartoon series in 1959. Famous Studios was renamed "Paramount Cartoon Studios" in 1956, which continued to release shorts until 1967, when Gulf+Western Industries, Inc. shut it down. Current rights to the Popeye and Superman cartoons are owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment and DC Comics for the latter while the Harveytoon collection is controlled by DreamWorks Classics.

1st Logo (October 16, 1942-August 24, 1945; September 27, 1946; 1956-1958)

File:Famous Studios (Noveltoons, 1943-1945).png

Variations edited for TV airings

Logo: Basically an in-credit title card, which has the following in the centerː

Paramount P R E S E N T S

the series name, in very big letters and varying font (depending on which series it is), being placed below all of it, also centered, while more beneath there isː

A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION

"Paramount" is either in a doodly hand-written font (for Popeye The Sailor shorts), or in a more stylised hand-written font which is also used for the Paramount mountain logos at that time (for Noveltoons and Superman). "PRESENTS" and "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION" are both written in crawly letters, looking like they were made out of painted wood sticks, though both words' fonts are sligthly different each ("PRESENTS" has the letters being considerably spaced out between them).

Variants:

Color cartoons would have the following additional text on the bottom, below everythingː inTECHNICOLOR Meanwhile, "Paramount" and "in" are colored either in gold or sky blue, "PRESENTS" in sea blue or white, "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION" in yellow or white, while "TECHNICOLOR" is colored in rainbow letters. The series' name logo depends on the color and style.
Popeye The Sailor cartoons have the following info added on the very bottom, written in very small lettersː "BY ARRANGEMENT WITH KING FEATURES SYNDICATE" (changed to "KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC." on color shorts).
Two cartoons, "Gabriel Churchkitten" (1944) and "Goal Rush" (1946), have unique opening sequences made specifically for them. As such, the Noveltoons/Famous Studios cards look like thisː
- "Gabriel Churchkitten" has the whole intro in the form of a stop-motion animated book, which opens and flips its pages. The Famous Studios title card is presented as one of these pages, where the text is crawled on the right of it while on the left is a light blue rectangle, in front of which Peter Churchmouse is staying on the top of a ink bottle holding the pencil feather. Below the usual text info we also see "From the book BY MARGOT AUSTIN", "BY" being considerably small and being sandwiched in-between "From the book" and "MARGOT AUSTIN".
- "Goal Rush" has the title set open field, written over in a score board. The whole text is in Arial Narrow, while "IN TECHNICOLOR" and "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION" switch places.

Made-for-TV edited variationsː

Associated Artists Productions (Popeye The Sailor)ː
- Black-and-white shorts (1942-1943) have a simple, grey background. The following text hangs from the near top, written in very huge lettersː Popeye THE SAILOR "Popeye" being written a bit wiggly. Below, on the very bottom, readsː A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION by arrangement with KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, Inc. A small, white dot is centered between these two text elements. On the 80s redrawn versions made by Turner for Cartoon Network, the colors of the background and text alternate between each other and vary for each short, while the dot is missing.
- Color cartoons (1943-1956) have the same-looking card, except that the background is grainy light blue while the text and the dot are ivory. Also, everything is smaller and more centered, while the text now has a shadow effect.
- The redrawn of "A Jolly Good Furlough" (1943) has a slightly unusual take on the card, where "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION" is almost as big as the series' name logo, being moved way above, still below it, and being written in Arial.
- For some reason, the redrawn of "Cartoons Ain't Human" (1943) incorrectly uses the Max Fleischer title card for the series, hence being incorrectly billed as such.
National Telefilm Associates (Noveltoons)ː NTA had a not-so-professional mean of plastering the Paramount logos and references, by just pasting their logo over the original negative with no transition and whatsoever, while black banners were there to cover the rest of the titles where was the case. The Noveltoons/Famous Studios card has black banners that cover up the "Paramount PRESENTS" and "in TECHNICOLOR", on some prints even going as far as covering "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION". Besides, most of these prints were very red-tinted, losing its colors, due to them being processed in Eastmancolor.

FX/SFX: None. On "Gabriel Churchkitten" and "Goal Rush", just the animated transition between each opening card.

Music/Sounds: A tiny part of the cartoon's opening theme. A.A.P, meanwhile, changed the opening music over their logo on the color Popeye shorts to the one from "Olive Oyl for President" (1948).

Availability:

Rare. It can still occasionally be seen on Popeye shorts when aired on MeTV, plus it can be found on purchased episodes on iTunes and Amazon Video. It can also be spotted on Blu-ray and DVD releases of Popeye, Superman and Noveltoons shorts from Warner Archive and Thunderbean respectively.
Public domain home video releases of Superman cartoons also retain this logo.
The A.A.P. card from the 1943-1956 Popeye shorts can still be seen on the Boomerang streaming service, while these shorts currently air on weekend mornings on TCM.
While the first offical Famous Studios short was "You're a Sap, Mr. Jap" on 7th August 1942, the studio brand wasn't mentioned in the titles until "Showdown" and "A Hull of a Mess", both released on 16th October on the same year.
The final short to bear this united card was "Mess Production", released on 24th August 1945, although they would return using it for one time in 27th September 1946 on "Goal Rush" as the short had its own special opening sequence.
Little Lulu was the only series to use its own separate Famous Studios logo card from the start, from 1943, that is the 2nd logo below.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (December 14, 1943-June 22, 1945; March 15, 1946; February 22, 1946)

U.M.&.M. edited-for-TV variation

3nd Logo (November 16, 1945-February 8, 1957)

Logo: We see the red Paramount mountain on a blue sky with white clouds and over the mountain is the text:

A

FAMOUS

Studios

PRODUCTION

In the early years, the text "A Famous Studios Production" is different, and in script. Several variations are used.

Little Lulu Variants:

Original Variant: After the title screen was shown (which reads "Paramount PRESENTS: LITTLE LULU by Marge from THE SATURDAY EVENING POST in TECHNICOLOR"), the title fades away, and the logo on the mountain now reads "A Famous Studios Production", in the same script font used for the Paramount script logo. The backdrop is the red Paramount mountain and stars on a blue sky (the mountain is colored dark blue on a navy blue sky until 1945), after which we get the regular credits and the cartoon title, or vice versa.
U.M.&M. Variant: The Paramount logo is replaced by the U.M.&M. logo and the original Paramount titles were replaced by the U.M.&M. titles (the U.M.&M. titles were custom-made for the Little Lulu shorts "Lulu's Indoor Outing" and "Super Lulu"), and the background is red (or green for "Lulu's Indoor Outing" and "Super Lulu").

Popeye Variants:

Original Variant: After the title screen was shown (which reads "Paramount PRESENTS POPEYE The Sailor, etc., etc.), the title fades away, and the logo on the mountain background now reads "A FAMOUS Studios PRODUCTION" in the Famous Studios corporate font, after which we get the regular credits and the cartoon title, or vice versa. However, Popeye cartoons didn't have the Famous Studios logo until 1946, just the title screen consisting of the words "Paramount PRESENTS" at the top of the screen, followed by "POPEYE" in its own printed, pre-1963 Popeye corporate title logo font updated for the 1960's Popeye cartoons from King Features Syndicate. Below "POPEYE" we see "The Sailor" in script, then "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION" printed out below "The Sailor". Below it we see the word "in" written out, and then in large block lettering, the word "TECHNICOLOR". The words "BY AGREEMENT WITH KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC." are printed out in small letters, after which we get the regular credits and cartoon title, or vice versa. The variant is the same as the Little Lulu star spin.
A.A.P. Variant: The Paramount logo is replaced by the A.A.P. logo, and a bit of the Famous Studios logo appears after the title screen.

Variants:

Starting in 1954, the titles were re-adjusted for widescreen and the Paramount titles became smaller (with a smaller Famous Studios script).
There is an early variation with no clouds surrounding the mountain. This was seen from 1943 to 1948.
Until 1946, Popeye cartoons didn't have the Famous Studios logo, just the text "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION.
This logo sometimes is superimposed on a special background on some cartoons.
Another has a reddish mountain on a navy blue sky with clouds. This was seen from 1954 to 1957.
On the Popeye cartoon "Popeye, the Ace of Space" and the Casper cartoon "Boo Moon", the logo is in 3D.
There's a variant used on cartoons re-printed by U.M.&M. Television Corporation where the background is red and the script is yellow and in a similar font used on Little Lulu cartoons.

Variants used for other cartoon series:

Casper the Friendly Ghost: This has two variants. The first variant (1950-1955) has the logo on a brown background of a drawing of a black forest with cream-colored outlines with Casper on the left skipping around. The second variant (1955-1956) has the logo on a pink background with a tree branch above the script.
Herman and Katnip: This also has two variants. The first variant (1952-1955) has the logo on a yellow background (later changed to blue starting in 1953) with Herman the Mouse in the upper-left corner and Herman's cousins in the bottom-right corner. The second variant (1955-1956) has the logo on a simple green background.
Noveltoons: The logo is on a simple blue background from 1946-1952 and changed to red from 1952-1955.
Screen Songs and Kartunes: The logo is on a water blue background with a shadow of a concert behind the script. This variant also appeared on the 1948 Noveltoon cartoon "The Bored Cuckoo" and probably also on the 1954 Noveltoon cartoon "Candy Cabaret".

Variants used for selected cartoons only:

"The Friendly Ghost": The logo is on a cloudy background with orange sky.
"Cheese Burglar": Same as the original variant, but the script is in the same font as for the Little Lulu cartoons.
"The Enchanted Square": The logo is on a behind-the-block-of-flats background. Also the copyright disclaimer appears below.
"Madhattan Island": The logo appears on a banner above a block of flats in the night.
"The Wee Men" and "Leprechauns Gold": The logo is seen on a mountain in a shot of a village background.
"The Mild West": The words "A", "FAMOUS STUDIOS" and "PRODUCTION" are seen on sticks of a fence.
"Santa's Surprise": The logo is seen on a Christmas tree on an orange background.
"There's Good Boos To-Night" and "A Haunting We Will Go": The logo is on a wood banner on a night background.
"The Land of the Lost", "Land of the Lost Jewels", and "Land of Lost Watches": The logo is on an underwater background.
Little Audrey cartoons: This also has two variants. The first variant (1948-1953) has the logo on a pink background. The second variant (1954-1955) has the logo on a upsdell green background. The first variant was also seen on "The Mite Makes Right".
"Boo Moon": The logo is on a city-at-night background scrolling from right to left.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening of the cartoon series' theme.

Availability:

Appears on Popeye and Little Lulu cartoons.
The superimposed variant was seen on Little Audrey cartoons, Noveltoons, Screen Songs, and the 1945 Noveltoon cartoon "The Friendly Ghost".
The Popeye variant is ultra common and can be seen when the cartoons are rerun on Boomerang, Me-TV, HBO Max and on DVD and Blu-ray releases under Warner Archive.
The Little Lulu variant is rare since most of the cartoons were reissued by U.M.&M. Television Corporation while some cartoons had it's original titles intact on VHS, DVDs outside United States and Blu-ray discs.
The Noveltoons variant is common and can be seen on numerous public domain tapes, DVDs and Blu-rays of the cartoons.
The Casper variant is ultra rare since the cartoons were edited by Harvey Films.
The Herman and Katnip variant is also very rare but fortunately "Rail-Rodents" has kept its original titles intact on recent tapes.
The Screen Songs and Kartunes variant is common and appears on numerous public domain tapes of the cartoons.
The other variants are extinct as they are considered one-shot cartoons. However, it only remained on Popeye cartoons while the other series began using the next logo below.
The logo made its final appearance on the Popeye cartoon "Nearlyweds", released on February 8, 1957.

Editor's Note: None.

4rd Logo (March 23, 1956-January 4, 1957)

Nicknames: "Modern Famous Studios Logo"

Logo: We see a yellow vertical line and a horizontal one. Between these lines are the words:

a----------------------------------------------- Famous Studios production-------------------

The background is red for Noveltoon cartoons, green for Herman and Katnip cartoons and pink for Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons.

FX/SFX: None. Its a still logo.

Music/Sounds: The theme of the cartoon.

Availability: Rare, since the cartoons were reissued by Harvey Films.

It was only used for a very short period since Famous Studios would be renamed "Paramount Cartoon Studios" in 1956.
The Herman and Katnip cartoon "Hide and Peak", however, has kept its original titles intact on recent tapes.
It premiered on the Noveltoon cartoon "Sleuth But Sure", released on March 23, 1956 and made its final appearance on the Casper cartoon "Spooking About Africa", released on January 4, 1957.

Editor's Note: The design is quite an outlier for its time.