06/06/2026
🎹 Silent Cinema : Out of the Inkwell
CINEMATEK is delighted to breathe new life into the films of the Fleischer brothers, the brilliant creators of Betty Boop and Popeye, and invites you to discover Out of the Inkwell, their remarkable debut series, in new 4K restorations this summer. For this retrospective, CINEMATEK has contributed to the restoration of two films that were preserved in its collection.
Max Fleischer (1883–1972) was a pioneer of animation in the early 20th century. Among his numerous contributions to the animation industry was his invention of the rotoscope in 1915, which revolutionized animation by allowing animators to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce more realistic action. While developing this technique, Max filmed his brother Dave jumping around, dressed as a clown. In 1916, Max was hired by John Randolph Bray to produce more of this new kind of animation, which became the basis for the first series that Max developed with Bray Productions: Out of the Inkwell (1918–1927). The series featured an animated clown together with a live-action Max, who interacted, breaking the imaginary “Fourth Wall” separating the fictional world and the real world, and pretty much teasing and tormenting each other, causing all kinds of chaos. In 1923 animator Dick Huemer joined Max and his merry cohort of animators, and gave the clown his name: Koko.
