I dig me some Fleischer Bros. I’m old enough to have been weaned on the classics during after-school TV shows aimed at kids like me that would feature mishmash segments full of unregulated cartoons from decades previous which were originally created for theatrical releases before TV even existed. They were presented sort of the same way Pee-Wee Herman’s “King of Cartoons” did it, which hit the boob-tube many years later. Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Tom & Jerry, et al would all make appearances, but the stuff that haunted me most were the somber B&W Fleischer Bros cartoons like pre-code Betty Boop & early Popeyes. The 1930’s background cityscapes always featured run down parts of town, vacant lots, & cramped, shabby apartments with cracks in the walls, & the jazzy scores & cameos were something else too; a whole unknown universe for a tot growing up in sheltered suburbia. Gulliver’s Travels is somewhat vanilla in comparison but still irresistibly, unmistakably Fleischeresque. The heading for this Motion Picture Purgatory which originally appeared in a 2003 issue of The Montreal Mirror was “Satire? Well whatever satire remains in our version is thickly sugarcoated” -Dave Fleisher. (To see image full-sized, click on it to open in a new window & use the magnify function).
Original art for sale for $100.00 CAD. Includes three items total: The pencil art preliminaries, the original finished B&W inks (signed & dated by author/artist Rick Trembles in pencil on the back), & a color newsprint tear-sheet (or B&W gray tones, depending on when it came out) from where it was originally published. Postage & framing not included. Motion Picture Purgatory Volumes One & Two available at FAB Press. For original art info, contact Rick Trembles @ ricktrembles (at) hotmail (dot) com.
