This Friday will see the first public screening of a Fleischer Studio cartoon in almost eight decades in New York. The previously thought lost short “Ace Of Spades” will screen as a part of animation historian Tom Stathes program of silent-era and early talkie cartoons at Attic Studios in Long Island City.
There’s not much info on the short floating around out there. It was released in January 1931 as part of Fleischer’s Talkartoon series. Bimbo had recently been given a girlfriend in the form of Betty Boop, and “Ace Of Spades” is one of the small number of solo outings he would have left before Betty’s popularity would eclipse his own.
From the short compilation of clips below, the cartoon certainly looks like a classic mix of all the familiar Fleischer Studio elements – rubber hose animation, crazy character design and bouncy music with rhyming dialogue.
You can find more information on the screening here.
Please contact the Paramount legal department (as I have) and report Tom Stathes for publicly exhibiting a copyrighted film (Ace Of Spades) for profit without permission. Since he refuses to share the film in a legal manner, without profiting from it, on youtube or by trading and yet he turns around and flagrantly profits from a copyrighted film in a public exhibition which is completely illegal. You may contact Paramount legal department at: (323) 956-5000 or clip_licensing@paramount.com