popular, and in 1921 Max and Dave Fleischer formed their own studio, Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. Their films were distributed through the States Rights method through Warner Brothers, Winkler Pictures, Standard, and finally The Red Seal Pictures Corporation. The "Clown" was named Ko-Ko in 1924 when Dick Huemer came to the studio as their animation supervisor, having animated on the Mutt and Jeff series for eight years. He redesigned the "Clown" for more efficient animation production and moved the Fleischers away from their dependency upon the Rotoscope for fluid animation. Huemer created Ko-Ko's canine companion, Fitz. Most importantly, Huemer set the drawing style that gave the series its distinctive look. The illustration at the heading is an example by Huemer. In the films produced from 1924 to 1927, the clown's name was hyphenated, "Ko-Ko". The hyphen was dropped due to legal issues associated with the bankruptcy of the Fleischer's partnership company, The Red Seal Pictures Corporation. Alfred Weiss presented the Fleischers with a new Paramount contract beginning in mid-1927, and "Out of the Inkwell" was retitled as "The Inkwell Imps". The series continued for two years until July 1929, ending with "Chemical Koko." Due to alleged mismanagement under Alfred Weiss, the Inkwell Studios filed bankruptcy in January 1929, and Koko was put into retirement for two years. In 1931, the legal entanglements regarding Koko were resolved, and he returned to the screen beginning with "The Herring Murder Case" (1931) and became a regular in the new Fleischer Talkartoons series with costars, Betty Boop and Bimbo. Koko's last theatrical appearance was in the "Betty Boop" cartoon, "Ha! Ha! Ha!" (1934), a remake of an "Out of the Inkwell" silent, "The Cure" (1924). Koko in "Kolor" Koko's first color appearance was a cameo in the cartoon "Toys Will Be Toys" (1949), one of the revived Screen Songs series produced by Famous Studios. In 1958, Max Fleischer set out to revive Out of the Inkwell for television, and a series of 100 color episodes were produced in 1960–1961 by Hal Seeger using the voice talents of Larry Storch. Only two episodes have surfaced. See also Song Car-Tunes Animation in the United States during the silent era Golden age of American animation References Further reading Crafton, Donald (1993): Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898–1928. University of Chicago Press. Maltin, Leonard (1987): Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Penguin