Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts
- This is a past program
This program is presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series Archive Treasures.
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane partnered, through his Seth MacFarlane Foundation, with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation to fund the restoration of historically significant animated shorts from the 1920s to 1940s. MacFarlane is committed to saving and honoring the art form from its earliest days forward. He’s been fascinated by animation since childhood when he began drawing and is an animation alum of Rhode Island School of Design. This screening features all 12 animation restorations funded by The Seth MacFarlane Foundation.
Nine animated pictures from Max and Dave Fleischer, who created Betty Boop and Koko the Clown, are among the pieces that have been restored. MacFarlane is a jazz music aficionado, so the Fleischer brothers’ noted use of jazz in their soundtracks, including collaborations with Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Don Redman, are a big reason why the Fleischers’ work is represented in this restoration collection. Also restored were two stop-motion animation shorts directed by George Pal, known for his charming “Puppetoons,” and a Terrytoon, The Three Bears, produced by Paul Terry.
The films were selected and restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation, in collaboration with Paramount Pictures Archives. The 12 restorations funded by MacFarlane were completed using unique original pre-print elements and/or print sources, mostly nitrate, held at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Animated Shorts
Koko’s Tattoo (1928)
DCP, b&w, silent, 6 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
An Elephant Never Forgets (1935)
DCP, color, 7 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
Two-Gun Rusty (1944)
DCP, color, 8 min. Director: George Pal.
Little Nobody (1935)
DCP, b&w, 7 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
So Does an Automobile (1939)
DCP, b&w, 8 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
Wilbur the Lion (1947)
DCP, color, 9 min. Director: George Pal.
Greedy Humpty Dumpty (1936)
DCP, color, 7 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
Peeping Penguins (1937)
DCP, color, 6 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
The Three Bears (1939)
DCP, color, 7 min. Director: Mannie Davis.
You Can’t Shoe a Horsefly (1940)
DCP, color, 7 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
The Little Stranger (1936)
DCP, color, 8 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
The Fresh Vegetable Mystery (1939)
DCP, color, 7 min. Director: Dave Fleischer.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
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