Out of the Inkwell Films

Koko The Clown continually interrupts an animator, who turns his attention to trapping the clown.

In 'Trapped', we see the cartoonist's hands as still photograph cut-outs, manipulated in front of the camera to look like live-action movie footage. The hands sketch a small black dot and ink it in. Then the dot proceeds to bounce across the cartoonist's easel, until the hands finally catch it and unfold it into Ko-Ko the Clown. There's a mouse in Max's studio, and Ko-Ko wants to catch him.

A man with a huge hooked nose enters the Fleischer studios to have his bust sculpted. Meanwhile, across the studio, Max is animating Koko. When he's called over to consult on the too-accurate bust, Koko gets mischievous and creates his own drawings. He then escapes and crawls inside the clay bust, eventually wriggling off like an inchworm. He gets into a fight with the man being modelled, both of them flinging wads of clay.

This fascinating series features Max himself, filmed in live action, sitting at a drawing board and concocting adventures for his star performer Ko-Ko the Clown. Max is supposedly the guy in charge, and he takes sadistic glee in putting Ko-Ko through various forms of hell, but the clown usually fights back and sometimes gets the best of his Uncle Max. FADEAWAY elevates this charged relationship to new heights (or depths?) of nightmarish surrealism; it's also one of the most enjoyable Inkwell cartoons I've seen to date, packing lots of imaginative, unpredictable twists and turns into an eight minute running time.

"The Einstein Theory of Relativity" is the short version (587 m) of the lost American long version (1219 m) of Hanns Walter Kornblum's original German feature "Die Grundlagen der Einsteinschen Relativitäts-Theorie" from 1922 that is also lost.

Max and Dave Fliescher are eating hot dogs in their animation studio and begin drawing. The hot dog becomes a "real" dog, and it and Ko-Ko the Clown alarmingly end up inside a Gas Chamber.

Out of the Inkwell Films delivers the song "Margie".

Koko the Clown discovers a machine that can make cartoons.

Max tricks Koko with a jumping bean. Koko finds a way to duplicate himself to get his revenge.

Dave Fleischer sends Koko to Mars.

Follow the bouncing ball sing-along

In this one, Max has run low on ink, so Ko-Ko finishes drawing himself and then heads over to the camera room, where he creates his own characters, a mechanical dancing Dresden doll with whom he falls in love and a couple of automaton musicians. He gets rid of the musicians, but, alas, the projectionist gets oil onto Ko-Ko's soon-to-be bride, melting her.

When a Native American artist sells a selection of his background drawings and original characters to Fleischer, Koko gives the new arrivals a cold reception.

“Tramp, Tramp, Tramp the Boys Are Marching” features a song that dates back to the Civil War, one which was still familiar to audiences of the 1920s. The cartoon begins as Koko the Clown emerges from an inkwell-- an iconic image for animation buffs --and then steps over to a chalkboard to draw an orchestra. The band, “Koko's Glee Club,” marches to a nearby cinema (accompanied by a dog who beats cymbals with his tail) where they lead the audience in the title song.

Max Fleischer and his wife or girlfriend have a cute little dog with them at the studio. Max decides to draw the dog but every time he does, the drawing changes into Koko the Clown. Finally, Max decides to give Koko a whip and an assignment: "Here's a dog (of your own) to train," he says.

The Inkwell Clown goes for a balloon ride. Later, Max's studio is filled with so many balloons that it floats away.

Artist Max Fleischer draws a spool of thread and a needle. The needle then penetrates a blank canvas and, stitch by stitch, we see Koko the Clown being "drawn." Very clever. There is always a new and innovative and method of introducing Koko in these old Fleischer brother Koko The Clown "Out of the Inkwell' silent animated shorts.

Max is too rushed to do a thorough job of drawing Koko this morning. Max is going fishing. However, to amuse the clown, he draws a fishing pole and a pond before he goes.

Koko is trying to rescue his sweetheart, who is trapped atop a rugged mountain. However, when Max Fleischer runs out of ink, how will he draw the ladder for Koko to climb?