The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer by Ray Pointer

Author:Ray Pointer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2017-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

Max felt betrayed by his employees, causing him to enter into a state of depression. This mental state seemed to contribute to his questionable business decisions from this point on. He saw the success of Popeye as the cause of the strike, and off-handedly remarked to Dave that he looked forward ceasing their production once their license with King Features expired in 1942. In their place, he was in favor of making “serious films” without being clear about what he meant. Dave found this ironic. He argued that it was the comedy cartoons that should continue, especially since they made Max rich. Disgusted by this, Dave scoffed at the thought of throwing it all away on the assumption that Max wanted to make “boring” educational films. This was the beginning of the disintegrating relationship between the two brothers, the seeds of it planted during the strike.

Max and Dave had several discussions about the future of the studio. Although Dave was against labor being controlled by the Union, he was sympathetic to the plight of strikers and their right to fairer wages. It was at this time he started reappraising his worth to Fleischer Studios. According to Dave, Max was earning $750 per week while he received only $500. This seems to conflict with what the books indicated at the time of the strike since they revealed equal annual salaries at $33,000 each, or $634.62 per week. It should be understood that this did not constitute their entire income. As the major stockholders of Fleischer Studios, they received annual dividends from the corporate profits.

It was at this time that Dave asked Max for a raise, feeling just as valuable to the studio. Max argued that he was the one deserving the higher salary since the studio was built upon his concepts, beginning with the Rotoscope. Dave reminded him that the Rotoscope was a collaborative effort involving all of the brothers, and specifically that he was “The Clown” that was the foundation of their initial success, Out of the Inkwell. By this logic, Dave argued that he was the actual origin of the studio. Max argued that he was the one with the credentials, having the education and artistic accomplishments that led to the forming of the organization, much of which was built upon his intellectual input, mainly his inventions. Based on this, Max refused Dave’s request for a raise in spite of the mounting pressures created by the continued production of the Popeye cartoons and preparations for their first animated feature. These pressures seemed to have had an effect on Dave’s marriage and continued to fester as the studio resumed activity.

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