Could Anyone Have Stopped Disney? The Fleischer Collapse - Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)

The Fleischers survived Gulliver's Travels. The contract that paid for it was a different story. In this breakdown, we pick up where Part 1 left off. With Paramount still holding the purse strings, the Fleischers bet on a second feature, Mr. Bug Goes to Town. Behind the scenes, Max and Dave Fleischer were barely speaking. Then the film's release ran straight into Pearl Harbor. By the time Paramount dropped the film, the studio was no longer theirs. This is how the trap from Part 1 finally closed. This is Part 2 of the Fleischer Double Feature. If you missed Part 1, start with Gulliver's Travels and the 18-month deadline:    • Could Anyone Have Stopped Disney? The Flei...   CHAPTERS 00:00 - Disney Raises the Bar with Pinocchio 01:08 - The Fleischers' Second Feature Gamble 02:32 - Inside Mr. Bug Goes to Town 03:39 - The Fleischer Brothers' Falling Out 05:19 - Pearl Harbor and Paramount's Betrayal 06:45 - The End of Fleischer Studios FEATURED FILMS Mr. Bug Goes to Town / Hoppity Goes to Town (1941/1942), Gulliver's Travels (1939), Dumbo (1941), Sullivan's Travels (1941/1942), She-Sick Sailors (1944) SOURCES & FURTHER READING Fleischer, Richard. Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution (University Press of Kentucky, 2005), Ch. 14 Barrier, Michael. Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age (Oxford University Press, 1999), Ch. 9: "Fleischer: The Miami Disaster" Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (Plume, 1987) Archival Press: Variety (Dec 3, 1941; Jan 23, 1942 – "Fleischer Drops Feature Cartoons"), The New York Sun (Feb 20, 1942 – review by Eileen Creelman; Loew's State billings), Paramount / Fanchon & Marco double-feature ad (1942), The Film Daily & Motion Picture Daily (May 25–28, 1942 – formation of Famous Studios) Databases: Media History Digital Library (lantern.mediahist.org); Cartoon Research (cartoonresearch.com) – Fleischer Animated News and production documentation curated by Jerry Beck More animation history every week: documentaries and Looney Tunes Breakdowns. Membership and Patreon are there if you want to support the archive and get early access to the Year in Review vault. No pressure. #FleischerStudios #MrBugGoesToTown #AnimationHistory