These standout clips are from two of the finest Popeye cartoons – Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936) and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves (1937), both from the unparalleled Fleischer Animation Studio. A striking effect in these cartoons is the uncanny three dimensional backgrounds behind the cartoon character, achieved by the Fleisher Studio’s exclusive Rotograph device.
Max Fleischer was the technical genius behind the Fleischer Studio (his brother Dave directed their classic Popeye, Betty Boop, and Superman cartoons, among many others). Some of Max’s innovations became mainstays of the special effects toolbox, like the Rotoscope, which has a digital equivalent still in use today. One of his most unique inventions was the Rotograph, a device capable of stunning depth effects in animated cartoons.
Imagine that you are the passenger of a car driving along a straight country road. Looking out the side window, you’ll notice that objects seem to pass at different rates, depending on their distance: Mailboxes next to the road flash by, trees in the middleground pass by more slowly, and distant mountains hardly seem to move at all. This parallax effect is precisely what Max Fleisher sought to replicate with the Rotograph.
A Rotograph is essentially a miniature set, built in forced perspective, and placed on a circular platform that can be rotated incrementally as each frame is photographed. For each shot, an animation cell is mounted between the camera and Rotograph, integrating the cartoon character into the set. This patent drawing illustrates the Rotograph’s main components:
The camera (1), supported by lights (2), photographs an animation cell (3) mounted on a glass “bed” in front of the pivoted platform (4). For each shot, the animation cell is replaced, and if background motion is required (for a walk cycle, for example), the platform is incrementally rotated.
The Rotograph achieved shots not possible with other attempts to introduce dimensionality in animated cartoons, like Disney’s multiplane animation stand. The Rotograph set could be dressed with models and sculpted landscapes for a unique blending of 2D animation with 3D environments. Lighting effects that would be impossible to reproduce accurately through drawing alone were easily acheived on the Rotograph set.
The Fleischer Studio utilized the Rotograph for special episodes of their most popular cartoons. By the end of the 1940’s, the studio abandoned the Rotograph, bowing to its expense and changes in the film industry. Regardless, the Rotograph produced animation that is visually arresting even today.