Paramount Cartoon Studios

Paramount Cartoon Studios
Founded	May 25, 1942 (as Famous Studios)
Dissolved	December 1967
President
Notable Works	Popeye the Sailor (contributing studio) The New Casper Cartoon Show Felix the Cat (contributing studio) The Marvel Superheroes (contributing studio) King Features Trilogy (contributing studio)

Paramount Cartoon Studios (PCS) was the original animation division of Paramount Pictures.

History

PCS was the production company behind several animated TV series, including Felix the Cat, Popeye the Sailor (as one of five contributing studios), The New Casper Cartoon Show, The Marvel Superheroes (as a contributor of the segment The Mighty Thor) and King Features Trilogy (as one of four contributing studios).

The company was founded on May 25, 1942 as Famous Studios after Paramount acquired the assets of the Fleischer Studios animation company from its founders, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer. Under Paramount ownership (though it continued as a separately managed company), Famous Studios continued production of its theatrical cartoon shorts, including Popeye, Superman and Casper the Friendly Ghost. In 1955, Paramount sold most of Famous' output to U.M. & M. TV Corporation (and its later successor company National Telefilm Associates), while its Popeye shorts were purchased by Associated Artists Productions (which was later absorbed into United Artists Television) and its Superman shorts went to Motion Pictures for Television.

Famous Studios developed series titles for their cartoons, which included Noveltoons, Screen Songs (which later became Kartoon Musical Shorts), Go-Go Toons, Merry Makers, Fractured Fables and Modern Madcaps.

In October 1956, Paramount assumed full control of Famous Studios, renamed it as Paramount Cartoon Studios and made it a division of the film studio. In 1959, Paramount sold their remaining cartoon film library and the rights to their established characters (including Casper, Baby Huey and Herman and Katnip) to Harvey Comics (now part of NBCUniversal via DreamWorks Classics). Paramount (including PCS) was purchased in 1966 by Gulf+Western, which shut down PCS in December 1967.

List of Famous Studios/Paramount Cartoon Studios stars

Popeye the Sailor (1942-57 theatrical, 1960-63 made-for-TV)1
Superman (1942-43)1
Little Lulu (1943-48 theatrical, 1962 made-for-TV)
Spunky Donkey (1944-58)
Casper the Friendly Ghost (1945-59 theatrical, 1963-64 made-for-TV)
Buzzy the Crow (1947-54)
Herman and Katnip (1947-59; Herman appeared in stand-alone cartoons 1944-53)
Little Audrey (1948-58)
Baby Huey (1951-59)
Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare (1953-57)
Felix the Cat (1958; contributing studio)
Jeepers and Creepers (1960)
Krazy Kat (1961, 1963; contributing studio)
Goodie the Gremlin (1962-63)
The Mighty Hercules (1963-66; contributing studio)
The Cat (1963)
Muggy-Doo, Boy Cat (1963 short "Boy Pest With Osh"; redeveloped in 1965 by Hal Seeger as Muggy-Doo, Boy Fox for The Milton The Monster Show)
Snuffy Smith (1963, contributing studio)
Beetle Bailey (1963, contributing studio)
Swifty and Shorty (1962-65, billed as Ralph and Percy in their first three cartoons)
Nudnik (1965-67)
Honey Halfwitch (1965-67)
Marvel Superheroes (1965; Mighty Thor segments)

1--Inherited from Fleischer Studios.

External links

• Famous Studios/Paramount Cartoon Studios at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Famous Studios/Paramount Cartoon Studios at the Internet Movie Database