Famous Studios

Background
Famous Studios was an animation production arm of Paramount Pictures, active from 1942 to 1967. Formerly known as "The Fleischer Studios", Famous produced every animated Paramount cartoon series. Among them were Popeye, Superman, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Lulu, Little Audrey, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, the Screen Songs series, and the Noveltoons series. Television rights to the Famous Studios film backlog was divided into 3 main distributors. The pre-1950s library was licensed to U.M.&M. Television Corporation in 1956 and later National Telefilm Associates (now "CBS Television Distribution") through a buyout of the former in the 1960s. The Superman cartoons were licensed to National Periodicals while Associated Artists Productions (later known as "United Artists Associated" and "United Artists Television Distribution" now "MGM Television") obtained the rights to the Popeye cartoons in 1956. Harvey Films acquired the TV rights to Casper and other 1950s cartoon series in 1959. Famous Studios was renamed "Paramount Cartoon Studios" in 1956, which continued to release shorts until 1967, when Gulf+Western Industries, Inc. shut it down. Current rights to the Popeye and Superman cartoons are owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment and DC Comics for the latter while the Harveytoon collection is controlled by DreamWorks Classics.

1st Logo (October 16, 1942-September 27, 1946, 1956-1958)


Logo: An in-credit text that reads:

Paramount PRESENTS

[CARTOON NAME]

A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION

Sometimes, the backdrop is the Paramount mountain with 24 stars. "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION" is in a font that looks like carved wood.

Variants:
 * On color cartoons, it says "in" with "TECHNICOLOR" below in the same font as "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION". Examples include Superman, the 1943-1945 Popeye cartoons and Noveltoons.
 * For the A.A.P. Popeye re-releases, it was placed on a cream background with the text in peach for the 1942-1943 shorts and for the 1943-1955 shorts, it was placed on a grainy light blue background with the text in ivory.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the cartoon.

Availability: Rare. Seen on pre-1946 Popeye and Superman cartoons on Boomerang and the Noveltoons series on DVD releases.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (December 24, 1943-February 8, 1957)
Nickname: "The Paramount/Famous Studios Mountain"

Logo: We see the red Paramount mountain on a blue sky with white clouds and over the mountain is the text:

A FAMOUS Studios PRODUCTION

In the early years, the text "A Famous Studios Production" is different, and in script. Several variations are used.

Little Lulu Variants:


 * Original Variant: After the title screen was shown (which reads "Paramount PRESENTS: LITTLE LULU by Marge from THE SATURDAY EVENING POST in TECHNICOLOR"), the title fades away, and the logo on the mountain now reads "A Famous Studios Production", in the same script font used for the Paramount script logo. The backdrop is the red Paramount mountain and stars on a blue sky (the mountain is colored dark blue on a navy blue sky until 1945), after which we get the regular credits and the cartoon title, or vice versa.
 * U.M.&M. Variant: The Paramount logo is replaced by the U.M.&M. logo and the original Paramount titles were replaced by the U.M.&M. titles (the U.M.&M. titles were custom-made for the Little Lulu shorts "Lulu's Indoor Outing" and "Super Lulu"), and the background is red (or green for "Lulu's Indoor Outing" and "Super Lulu").

Popeye Variants:
 * Original Variant: After the title screen was shown (which reads "Paramount PRESENTS POPEYE The Sailor, etc., etc.), the title fades away, and the logo on the mountain background now reads "A FAMOUS Studios PRODUCTION" in the Famous Studios corporate font, after which we get the regular credits and the cartoon title, or vice versa. However, Popeye cartoons didn't have the Famous Studios logo until 1946, just the title screen consisting of the words "Paramount PRESENTS" at the top of the screen, followed by "POPEYE" in its own printed, pre-1963 Popeye corporate title logo font updated for the 1960's Popeye cartoons from King Features Syndicate. Below "POPEYE" we see "The Sailor" in script, then "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION" printed out below "The Sailor". Below it we see the word "in" written out, and then in large block lettering, the word "TECHNICOLOR". The words "BY AGREEMENT WITH KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC." are printed out in small letters, after which we get the regular credits and cartoon title, or vice versa. The variant is the same as the Little Lulu star spin.
 * A.A.P. Variant: The Paramount logo is replaced by the A.A.P. logo, and a bit of the Famous Studios logo appears after the title screen.

Variants:
 * Starting in 1954, the titles were re-adjusted for widescreen and the Paramount titles became smaller (with a smaller Famous Studios script).
 * There is an early variation with no clouds surrounding the mountain. This was seen from 1943 to 1948.
 * Until 1946, Popeye cartoons didn't have the Famous Studios logo, just the text "A FAMOUS STUDIOS PRODUCTION''.
 * This logo sometimes is superimposed on a special background on some cartoons.
 * Another has a reddish mountain on a navy blue sky with clouds. This was seen from 1954 to 1957.
 * On the Popeye cartoon "Popeye, the Ace of Space" and the Casper cartoon "Boo Moon", the logo is in 3D.
 * There's a variant used on cartoons re-printed by U.M.&M. Television Corporation where the background is red and the script is yellow and in a similar font used on Little Lulu cartoons.

Variants used for other cartoon series:
 * Casper the Friendly Ghost: This has two variants. The first variant (1950-1955) has the logo on a brown background of a drawing of a black forest with cream-colored outlines with Casper on the left skipping around. The second variant (1955-1956) has the logo on a pink background with a tree branch above the script.
 * Herman and Katnip: This also has two variants. The first variant (1952-1955) has the logo on a yellow background (later changed to blue starting in 1953) with Herman the Mouse in the upper-left corner and Herman's cousins in the bottom-right corner. The second variant (1955-1956) has the logo on a simple green background.
 * Noveltoons: The logo is on a simple blue background from 1946-1952 and changed to red from 1952-1955.
 * Screen Songs and Kartunes: The logo is on a water blue background with a shadow of a concert behind the script. This variant also appeared on the 1948 Noveltoon cartoon "The Bored Cuckoo" and probably also on the 1954 Noveltoon cartoon "Candy Cabaret".

Variants used for selected cartoons only:
 * "The Friendly Ghost": The logo is on a cloudy background with orange sky.
 * "Cheese Burglar": Same as the original variant, but the script is in the same font as for the Little Lulu cartoons.
 * "The Enchanted Square": The logo is on a behind-the-block-of-flats background. Also the copyright disclaimer appears below.
 * "Madhattan Island": The logo appears on a banner above a block of flats in the night.
 * "The Wee Men" and "Leprechauns Gold": The logo is seen on a mountain in a shot of a village background.
 * "The Mild West": The words "A", "FAMOUS STUDIOS" and "PRODUCTION" are seen on sticks of a fence.
 * "Santa's Surprise": The logo is seen on a Christmas tree on an orange background.
 * "There's Good Boos To-Night" and "A Haunting We Will Go": The logo is on a wood banner on a night background.
 * "The Land of the Lost", "Land of the Lost Jewels", and "Land of Lost Watches": The logo is on an underwater background.
 * Little Audrey cartoons: This also has two variants. The first variant (1948-1953) has the logo on a pink background. The second variant (1954-1955) has the logo on a upsdell green background. The first variant was also seen on "The Mite Makes Right".
 * "Boo Moon": The logo is on a city-at-night background scrolling from right to left.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening of the cartoon series' theme.

Availability:
 * Appears on Popeye and Little Lulu cartoons.
 * The superimposed variant was seen on Little Audrey cartoons, Noveltoons, Screen Songs, and the 1945 Noveltoon cartoon "The Friendly Ghost".
 * The Popeye variant is ultra common and can be seen when the cartoons are rerun on Boomerang and DVD releases under Warner Archive.
 * The Little Lulu variant is rare since most of the cartoons were reissued by U.M.&M. Television Corporation while some cartoons had it's original titles intact on VHS, DVDs outside United States and Blu-Ray discs.
 * The Noveltoons variant is common and can be seen on numerous public domain tapes of the cartoons.
 * The Casper variant is ultra rare since the cartoons were edited by Harvey Films.
 * The Herman and Katnip variant is also very rare but fortunately "Rail-Rodents" has kept its original titles intact on recent tapes.
 * The Screen Songs and Kartunes variant is common and appears on numerous public domain tapes of the cartoons.
 * The other variants are extinct as they are considered one-shot cartoons. However, it only remained on Popeye cartoons while the other series began using the next logo below.
 * The logo made its final appearance on the Popeye cartoon "Nearlyweds", released on February 8, 1957.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (March 23, 1956-January 4, 1957)
Nicknames: "Modern Famous Studios Logo"

Logo: We see a yellow vertical line and a horizontal one. Between these lines are the words:

a--- Famous Studios production---

The background is red for Noveltoon cartoons, green for Herman and Katnip cartoons and pink for Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons.

FX/SFX: None. Its a still logo.

Music/Sounds: The theme of the cartoon.

Availability: Rare, since the cartoons were reissued by Harvey Films.
 * It was only used for a very short period since Famous Studios would be renamed "Paramount Cartoon Studios" in 1956.
 * The Herman and Katnip cartoon "Hide and Peak", however, has kept its original titles intact on recent tapes.
 * It premiered on the Noveltoon cartoon "Sleuth But Sure", released on March 23, 1956 and made its final appearance on the Casper cartoon "Spooking About Africa", released on January 4, 1957.

Editor's Note: The design is quite an outlier for its time.