Summary
- Martin Scorsese & Seth MacFarlane collaborate to restore animated classics. Not about profits but preserving cinematic history.
- MacFarlane funded the restoration of forgotten animations from the 1920s-1940s. Scorsese was involved in the personal project.
- Restored animations debut at TCM Classic Film Festival.
Seth MacFarlane and legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese have teamed up for an unexpected reason; to restore a collection of early animated shorts to their former glory. The differences between the often crude and commercial comedy of MacFarlane and the Oscar-nominated dramas of Scorsese seem to be worlds apart, making any kind of collaboration between the pair very unlikely. However, they have found an unexpected middle ground that has seen them come together on a special preservation effort to restore several key animations from the 1920s through to the 1940s.
MacFarlane has always expressed his passion for animation, as along with producing shows like Family Guy and American Dad, he has also professed a love of classic animated series such as The Flintstones. Now he has gone even further back in time to bring to life some long-forgotten and neglected pieces of history by funding the restoration of these classic pieces of the genre through the Seth MacFarlane Foundation, as a joint collaborative effort with Scorsese’s Film Foundation.
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The project will focus on restoring a number of important pieces from what is often dubbed a golden era for animated shorts. This initiative marks the first curated restoration of its kind, specifically targeting influential works that helped shape the future of animation on film. The shorts selected for restoration include works by Max and Dave Fleischer, creators of iconic characters like Betty Boop and Koko the Clown, as well as George Pal’s Puppetoons, and one of Paul Terry’s Terrytoons.
As originally reported by Deadline, Scorsese revealed his personal involvement in the project, which will bring several pieces he originally saw as a child back to the world in “their full glory,” and also thanked MacFarlane for helping to make the project happen. He said:
“I’m so grateful to Seth MacFarlane for his enthusiasm and his support on these restorations. What an astonishing experience, to see these remarkable pictures that I experienced for the first time as a child brought back to their full glory. Imagine the reactions of children today! Because the films now seem as fresh as they did when they were newly made.”
In his own statement, MacFarlane added:
“The work Martin Scorsese and his Film Foundation have been doing is essential cinematic preservation. I’m honored to partner with them in restoring their first-ever collection of storied animation.”
The Newly Restored Animations Will Debut at TCM Classic Film Festival
The restoration work on this collection has already been completed, with 12 restorations in total being selected and restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation, with help from Paramount Pictures Archives. The new restorations were created using print sources and original pre-print elements being held at UCLA Film & Television Archive with the funding provided by MacFarlane and Scorsese.
MacFarlane will appear at the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 20, to personally introduce Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts. The program will include nine of the restored shorts which feature seven titles from the Fleischer catalog. These titles are Koko’s Tattoo (1928), Little Nobody (1935), The Little Stranger (1936), Greedy Humpty Dumpty (1936), Peeping Penguins (1937), The Fresh Vegetable Mystery (1939), and So Does An Automobile (1939). The remaining two shorts included in the presentation will be the 1939 Terrytoon The Three Bears, and 1944 George Pal Puppetoon Two-Gun Rusty.
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Currently, there is a lot of attention being given to characters, stories and movies that are falling into the public domain and being used in new and often controversial ways in horror movies such as Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. However, this effort by MacFarlane and Scorsese is not about profiting from out of date copyrights, but celebrating pieces of cinema history that provided a foundation that many modern forms of animation would not exist without.
