Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution

2. Two years after joining the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Richard Fleischer 9 2 Two years after joining the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Max Fleischer was probably the youngest major-newspaper staff cartoonist in the country. Not only was he drawing editorial cartoons for the paper, but he had two regular comic strips of his own, Algy and E. K. Sposher, the Camera Fiend. Almost all his work is signed “Mack.” Algy was the earlier of the two strips and, not surprisingly , seems influenced by the Brownsville environment: unpaved , muddy streets; wooden picket fences; and tough street gangs. It was, after all, the streets of Brownsville that later gave birth to the Mafia banker Meyer Lansky and Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro, of Murder, Inc., fame. No wonder all the characters in Max’s strip spoke in “dees, dem, and does” terms. Algy himself was a sort of numbskull, but romantic, loser, trying in vain to attract the attention of a bland young girl named May McGinnis. Algy’s well-laid plans are always undone by Swipsey, a tough, young gang leader, and end with Algy’s humiliation. In a strip 10 Out of the Inkwell titled Algy as Sir Walter Raleigh, Jr., Algy finds May unable to cross a street because of a large mud puddle. He immediately throws his jacket over the puddle, saying: “Yer kin use me coat fer er mat.” May graciously says to herself: “Aint he de kind chump.” Unfortunately, the coat isn’t long enough to reach across the whole puddle. Along comes Swipsey, who fills in the gap with his own jacket. May crosses the puddle, but when Algy goes after her and steps on Swipsey’s coat, Swipsey jerks it away, saying: “Git yer muddy hoofs off’n me coat.” Algy lands on his face in the mud. E. K. Sposher, the Camera Fiend is a great improvement in style and content. The character of Sposher is drawn with grace and is a classier gent all around. Tall, balding, well dressed, and living in upper-class surroundings, he is a fool nonetheless. As the strip announces, he is a camera nut and always appears equipped with a bellows camera with a frosted glass back and a tall, rickety tripod. In one strip, he decides to take a picture of himself by photographing his reflected image in a full-length mirror. The problem that he confronts is that his image appears upside down in the frosted glass in the back of the camera. His solution is to turn the camera upside down on the floor, with the tripod sticking straight up in the air, then standing on his head to look through the lens. When he reaches for the rubber air bulb that operates the camera shutter, he loses his balance, and he and the camera fall over, smashing the mirror. Max spent four creative, priceless years at the Eagle, learning , growing, maturing. But it was his last year, 1904, that eventually proved to be the most important, the most fateful of his entire career. A new member joined the Art Department staff, not as a cartoonist, although he was one, but as a decorator, Richard Fleischer 11 someone who drew decorations around the framework of the pictures in the Sunday paper, as was the style in those days. He was a bit older than Max, had been around, and was an experienced professional. As the newest members of the Art Department , he and Max gravitated toward each other and became friends. This newcomer—John Randolph Bray—was destined to become one of the most important figures in the history of animated cartoons. He would, one day, hold my father’s career in his hands. In the meantime, Max was getting restless at the Eagle. Having started there at two dollars a week, four years later he wasn’t pulling down very much more. It was time to move on to a more lucrative job. So, late in 1905, he left the Eagle and went to work as an engraver at the Electro-Light Engraving Company in Boston. Besides earning more money in his new job, Max picked up new skills like layout, design, lettering, reproduction, color work, and airbrush. All this expertise would prove invaluable for the career that lay ahead. Also, with the prospect of a better-paying job, he was able to marry Essie Goldstein. The ceremony took place at the American Star Hall in Brooklyn, at 6:00 P.M...