MORE CASPER...

Here’s some more story ideas that were submitted by Studio staff for Casper films. I thought these really good examples of how ideas could be submitted in any form--- they didn’t need to be anything fancy… like typed! Also, they're fun to read since you can really hear the voice of the writer.

This first proposal is by George Germanetti, long time Fleisher and Famous Studios animator.

Click on any image to enlarge for reading

Here’s a story idea below by Myron Waldman, another long time Fleischer and Famous Studios animator. Myron likely held the record for having worked on the most Betty Boop cartoons and was responsible for animating many Casper films as well.

The story idea below was submitted by Jack Mercer—who  though he submitted many story ideas and was also an assistant animator, is best remembered as the voice of Popeye.

If you think the story idea below looks a bit more ‘professional’- it’s because the writer, Larz Bourne, was actually a member of the story department!

I love these story ideas because they show how staffers in the 30’s and 40’s could choose to be involved in many aspects of a film... from start to finish! 

All story idea scripts: Collection of Virginia Mahoney

CASPER…behind the scenes

Casper’s first film appearance was in The Friendly Ghost. Released in 1945 as part of the Paramount Famous Studios Noveltoon series Casper soon became so popular he earned a series of his own. He went on to star in 55 theatrical films for Famous Studios before that series ended in 1959. 

Casper, as his fans know, was a gentle ghost with no interest in scaring people. Real  ghosts mocked him for his mild manner, and humans were frightened by his translucent appearance.  But little children and animals quickly recognized that Casper only wanted to play and make friends.

Casper was unique among Famous Studios characters since he was an original creation and not based on another character (e.g Little Audrey was based on Little Lulu, and Herman and Katnip were similar to Tom and Jerry, etc.). 

In fact, there’s an interesting story about Casper’s origins (although a few details are a bit murky). Credit for Casper’s creation goes to both Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo. In 1939 Casper was featured in a children’s book they created together. Apparently Reit wrote the story and Oriolo illustrated the character.  The story generated no interest, so while Reit was away serving in the military, Oriolo- who at the time was working for Famous Studios-- sold the character and story to Famous Studios... for two hundred dollars!!! Who could have guessed that this character would eventually inspire a whole supporting cast of ghostly characters,  that it would generate over 55 theatrical cartoons, it’s own TV show, that the character would be sold to Harvey Brothers who then put Casper in comic books—and in 1995 Universal Studios would produce a highly successful computer generated Casper film! Neither Reit or Oriolo benefited beyond the initial $200 payment. In fact disagreement developed between the two over their respective roles in Casper’s development.

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Christmas Card from Harvey's. Date unknown. Collection: Virginia Mahoney

St. John’s publishing began producing Casper comics in 1949- and in 1952 the license for Casper comics was assumed by Harvey Comics. Harvey purchased Casper (as well as other Famous characters) outright in 1959 and all these characters soon appeared on the TV show Matty’s Funday Funnies. Some of the Casper films had previously been purchased in 1956 by TV distributor U.M.&M.T.V. Corp. When these films were packaged for television the original credits were often removed and replaced with new credits that included a reference to U.M.&M.T.V. Included below is a link to one such film A Hunting We Will Go, since it’s interesting that in the screen credit where it should have read Featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost, the ‘replaced’ credits instead read Featuring Caspers Friendly Ghost.

Interesting controversies among Casper fans have to do with whether Casper is actually a dead child! And if so…how did Casper die??  At some point the ‘dead child’ concept was replaced by the concept of Casper belonging to a particular class of supernatural beings…ghosts! However when Casper appeared in Harvey Comics in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s it appeared that Casper was a ghost because his parents were already ghosts when they married. It wasn’t until the 1995 Casper feature film that the ‘dead child’ idea was revived along with an account of how Casper had died…. of pneumonia at the age of twelve due to overindulging in a day of sledding! The film even disclosed Casper’s full name… Casper McFadden.

I’m including a few typed and hand-written Casper ‘story ideas.’ These are only a few of the over seventy five Casper story ideas I found among my dads things. Story ideas could be submitted by people who worked in the story department… or by anyone else in the Studio. If a story was used one could earn a few extra dollars. I love that often the stories submitted were totally hand-written— even the typed ones were pretty messy looking when measured against today’s standards. It didn’t seem to matter---

Click on any image to enlarge
The first 'story idea' below was written by one of Casper's creators, Seymour Reit. It's two pages long and was submitted together with three other stories. The note at the top indicates that all four were purchased for $100. and adds "additional sum if any used (to make up to $300)." Not dated. Collection: Virginia Mahoney

The story idea (and drawing) below were submitted by Dave Tendlar. Dave began working at Fleischer Studios in 1931, and worked there and at its successor, Famous Studios, until the mid 1950's. He worked as both an animator and Director. After Famous Studios he continued to work in animation for a number of other studios including Terrytoons and Hanna-Barbera. Note that both pages are on pegged animation paper, and that Casper is still looking chunky (later he became more sleek). Dated Sept. 12, 1949. Collection: Virginia Mahoney

This last story idea below is by my dad, Seymour Kneitel. As the boss he was always looking for ways to keep costs down-- he's titled this "Chisel angle for a Casper picture." It involves a clever re-use of old footage. Dated Nov. 12, 1956. (Thanks to the comments below from 'J. Lee' who points out this is likely the idea for the film Ghost Writers which was released in 1958- that films on-screen credit for direction is given to Seymour Kneitel, and for writing to Jack Mercer. I would guess that Mercer may have taken this brief premise and expanded it. Staff in those days were very versatile- in additional to writing stories, Jack Mercer was an assistant animator and the voice of Popeye!) Collection: Virginia Mahoney

PS: Seymour Kneitel directed many of the Casper films- next post will be more about some of the people behind the scenes who worked on Casper films.

A brief Autobiography....

In the mid-1950's Seymour wrote a short autobiography...

"I graduated P.S. 10 in Manhattan where I won a gold art medal, the results of a contest for graduates. I attended the High School of Commerce taking their commercial art course, and studied at the National Academy of Design, where I took evening classes.

"An annex of Commerce was close to the Bray Studios, and I worked there after school and Saturdays coloring drawings for, Colonel Hezaliar, an animated cartoon they were producing. On leaving school I worked for various commercial artists, but was anxious to do animated cartoons. I managed to find employment in a small company, L.F. Cornwell, producers of a series called Ebinizer Ebony, which was being made in color in a now extinct process called Kelly color. I worked there from 1924 to 1925. I started as an office boy and within the year was one of their three animators.

"About this time I heard of an opening for an Inbetweener at Max Fleischer's Out of The Inkwell Studios, which was one of the largest Studios. I was fortunate enough to be able to join their staff and work under animators who were the top men in the industry. I was there for two years when I was offered an opportunity to go to MGM Studios in California as a junior writer. I had been with Fleischer from 1925 to 1927. I spent six months at MGM writing sub-titles to silent pictures, but when sound arrived there was no longer a need for titles and I was let go, along with the other writers.

"Sound was a great shot in the arm to the animated cartoons. After leaving MGM, I came back East and worked with an outfit that produced cartoons based on a popular comic strip called Joe Jinks. The pictures, unfortunately, never got out of the projection room. From there I worked as an Inbetweener at Loucks & Norling, producers of industrial pictures and the famous characters, Mutt & Jeff. The pictures got to the screen but fell short of enough excitement to make a series. I was with this studio for 6 months, in 1928, when I left and returned to the Fleischer Studios.

“Due to my former experience with the Inkwell Studios, I was able to secure a position as an Inbetweener at the Fleischer Studios, where I remained for 14 years, from 1928 to 1942. I was at the studio for about six months when I became an animator. About a year later I was appointed a head animator, a position I enjoyed up to the time the studio embarked on its first feature length cartoon, Gulliver’s Travels, which was made in the Fleischer’s Florida Studios. With a group of writers I worked on the development of the screen adaptation, and when the picture went into production, I was made director of animation. When the second feature length cartoon, Mr. Bug Goes To Town, went into production, I worked in an advisory capacity and took over the direction of the shorts that were being produced concurrently with the feature. Included in the shorts were the tremendously popular Superman pictures.

“As a director I made Talkartoons, Bouncing Ball screen songs, Betty Boop, and commercial cartoons, and government animated pictures for the army and navy. The studio entered into an agreement with the King Features Syndicate to test their newspaper character, Popeye the Sailor, for an animated cartoon. I made the first Popeye which was incorporated into a Betty Boop picture. When it was screened in the theaters, it was a bomb-shell and overnight success. That was the start of the Popeye series which eventually resulted in over 300 pictures.

“When the Fleischer Studios closed, Sam Buchwald, Isidore Sparber and I formed the Famous Studios, which we ran from May, 1942 to May, 1953---11 years."

NOTES: After the death of Sam Buchwald in 1951, Famous Studios continued to be run by Seymour and Izzy. In 1956, Paramount Pictures assumed fuller control of the studio, renaming it Paramount Cartoon Studios, with Seymour and Izzy remaining in management positions. Izzy died August, 1958. Seymour was still working at Paramount Cartoon Studios when he died of a heart attack in 1964 at the age of 56.

Famous Studios entry hall display, circa 1950.

In 1943 the newly formed Famous Studios completed it's relocation to New York City. Virtually all of their staff, which consisted of many of the original Fleischer Studios New York staffers, made the return move with them.  Famous occupied space in two buildings in the heart of New York City, at 25 and 35 West 45th Street.

If you had walked into the offices of Famous Studios in the 1950's you would have been been greeted in the entry hall by these cells (shown in the post below) depicting their most well-known characters. These are scans of those actual cells.

Famous Studios character cells, circa 1950s

All character images are the copyright and trademarks of their respective owners.

Cells on background: Collection of Virginia Mahoney