History Creator / FamousStudios

* AnimationBump: The studio began with very lush animation in the mid-forties, followed by a gradual decline through the fiftes and a sharp drop off into an extremely crudely-drawn limited style by 1957-58, with slight improvements during Culhane's and Bakshi's tenures.

* AnimationBump: The studio began with very lush animation in the mid-forties, followed by a gradual decline through the fiftes and a sharp drop off by the turn of the sixties, with slight improvements during Culhane's and Bakshi's tenures.

** Any scene animated by John Gentilella (Johnny Gent), a mainstay on the 1945-55 Popeye shorts, or Marty Taras, a major animator on the Herman and Katnip and Baby Huey shorts circa 1947-56, also qualifies, given both animators' recurring ability to create fluid and characterful work within the confines of the oft-uninspired material and stultifying timing of much of the studio's post-1947 work.

* ComicStrip/LittleLulu (1943 – 1948); character rights owned by Universal through [=DreamWorks=] Classics, though Paramount retains control of the shorts

* WesternAnimation/ScreenSongs (1947 – 1951; originally produced by Fleischer Studios 1929 – 1938); last seven shorts owned by Universal through [=DreamWorks=] Classics. Many from 1947-October 1950 in the public domain.
* WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost (Initially appeared in three Noveltoons short subjects, graduated to a standalone series from 1950 – 1959); character rights and all standalone cartoons owned by Universal through [=DreamWorks=] Classics, while the first three shorts are in the public domain

* ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} the Sailor (inherited from Creator/FleischerStudios, 1942 – 1957); shorts now owned by Creator/WarnerBros through Turner Entertainment (some in the public domain)

* ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} the Sailor (inherited from Creator/FleischerStudios, 1942 – 1957); shorts now owned by Creator/WarnerBros through Turner Entertainment

With that, Paramount's involvement in animation came to a close until they became the distributor of Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2006 who soon [[GrowingTheBeard hit its artistic stride]] with great new animated feature films like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''. Then in 2011, Paramount distributed the Oscar winning hit, ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'', with [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic ILM]] producing and Paramount decided to reenter the animation game once again, with their first project being ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'', a sequel to ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''.

* Raggedy Ann: Appeared in two shorts made by the studio: "Suddenly It's Spring" (1944), and "WesternAnimation/TheEnchantedSquare" (1947).
* WesternAnimation/ScreenSongs (1947 – 1951; originally produced by Fleischer Studios 1929 – 1938); last seven shorts owned by Universal through [=DreamWorks=] Classics

* StrictlyFormula: The studios cartoons are notorious for how formula-driven they were, although part of this was the result of Paramount's frugal budgets and explicit forbidding of the studio taking artistic risks--this was an attempt to prevent the studio from going through another financial meltdown like what had happened with the two Fleischer Studios features. Lee Mishkin, an inbetweener for the studio, even has a quote about it:

Unlike the Fleischer Brothers, this studio proved to be a mere shadow creatively to their work as the films produced gradually declined into largely formulaic kiddie stuff. This especially applied after their original characters like Casper were sold to Creator/HarveyComics (along with their October 1950 - March 1962 cartoons) and production budgets were slashed. There was a momentary ray of hope in 1964 when comic book veteran Howard Post assumed control with some creative films along with ShamusCulhane, but they soon left after internal conflicts. Eventually, Creator/RalphBakshi was hired in 1967, but he barely got going with his vision when Paramount's new corporate owners, Gulf+Western, began shutting the shorts department down.

** It is important to note that by the 60's, when Howie Post (and later, ShamusCulhane) got on board with the studio, they deliberately started leading the studio in a more anti-formulaic, experimental direction, with shorts like "My Daddy The Astronaut" (notably designed to [[StylisticSuck look like a child drew the whole film]], with a kid narrating it and the soundtrack all done by harmonica), "The Plumber" and "WesternAnimation/TheOperaCaper", but by then it was too little, too late.

* WesternAnimation/LittleAudrey (1947-1958); character rights and shorts produced from October 1950 to 1958 owned by Universal through [=DreamWorks=] Classics, though all cartoons prior to that are still owned by Paramount

* WesternAnimation/ScreenSongs (1947 – 1951; originally produced by Fleischer Studios 1929 – 1938)

* WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} (1943 – 1967); characters, trademarks and cartoons produced from October 1950 to March 1962 owned by Creator/{{Universal}} Studios through [[Creator/DreamWorksAnimation [=DreamWorks=] Classics]] though all other shorts remain with Paramount

* Segments of ''Popeye'' (1960 – 1962; outsourced from King Features)

* Segments of ''King Features Trilogy'' (1963 – 1965; outsourced from King Features)

Unlike the Fleischer Brothers, this studio proved to be a mere shadow creatively to their work as the films produced gradually declined into largely formulaic kiddie stuff. This especially applied after their original characters like Casper were sold to Creator/HarveyComics and production budgets were slashed. There was a momentary ray of hope in 1964 when comic book veteran Howard Post assumed control with some creative films along with ShamusCulhane, but they soon left after internal conflicts. Eventually, Creator/RalphBakshi was hired in 1967, but he barely got going with his vision when Paramount's new corporate owners, Gulf+Western, began shutting the shorts department down.

* ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} the Sailor (inherited from Creator/FleischerStudios, 1942 – 1957)
* [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Superman]] (inherited from Creator/FleischerStudios, 1942 – 1943)
* WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} (1943 – 1967)
* ComicStrip/LittleLulu (1943 – 1948)
* WesternAnimation/LittleAudrey (1947-1958)

* WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost (Initially appeared in three Noveltoons short subjects, graduated to a standalone series from 1950 – 1959)
* WesternAnimation/BabyHuey (1950-1959)
* Kartunes (1951 – 1953)
* WesternAnimation/HermanAndKatnip (1952 – 1959)
* Modern Madcaps (1958 – 1967)
* Jeepers and Creepers (1960)
* The Cat (1961)
* Swifty and Shorty (1964 – 1965; originated in 1963 as Ralph and Percy)
* Honey Halfwitch (1965 – 1967)
* Merry Makers (1967)
* Go Go Toons (1967)
* Fractured Fables (1967)

* Segments of ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' (1958 – 1961; outsourced from King Features and Trans-Lux)
* ''The New Casper Cartoon Show'' (1962 – 1963, produced for Harvey Films)

* The Mighty Thor segments of ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelSuperHeroes'' (1966; outsourced from Grantray-Lawrence Animation)

* SomethingElseAlsoRises: In "Sheep Shape", when the wolf sees the singing senorita, he does a WildTake, and has two soda bottles he was holding [[FreudWasRight erupt in a mountain of fizz.]]

** It is important to note that by the 60's, when ShamusCulhane got on board with the studio, they deliberately started leading the studio in a more anti-formulaic, experimental direction, with shorts like "My Daddy The Astronaut" (notably designed to [[StylisticSuck look like a child drew the whole film]], with a kid narrating it and the soundtrack all done by harmonica), "The Plumber" and "WesternAnimation/TheOperaCaper", but by then it was too little, too late.

Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the animation division of the film studio Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures from [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1942]] to [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation 1967]]. Famous was founded as a successor company to Creator/FleischerStudios, after Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941. The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischers—[[ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} Popeye the Sailor]], [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Superman]], and Screen Songs—as well as ComicStrip/LittleLulu, WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost, WesternAnimation/HermanAndKatnip, WesternAnimation/BabyHuey, WesternAnimation/LittleAudrey, and the anthology WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series.

With that, Paramount's involvement in animation came to a close until they became the distributor of Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2006 who soon [[GrowingTheBeard hit its artistic stride]] with great new animated feature films like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''. Then in 2011, Paramount distributed the Oscar winning hit, ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'', with [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic ILM]] producing and Paramount decided to reenter the animation game once again, with their first project to be a sequel to ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''.

* Raggedy Ann: Appeared in two shorts made by the studio: "Suddenly It's Spring" (1944), and "The Enchanted Square" (1947).

Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the animation division of the film studio Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures from [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1942]] to [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation 1967]]. Famous was founded as a successor company to Creator/FleischerStudios, after Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941. The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischers—ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} the Sailor, WesternAnimation/[[SupermanTheatricalCartoons Superman]], and Screen Songs—as well as ComicStrip/LittleLulu, WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost, WesternAnimation/HermanAndKatnip, WesternAnimation/BabyHuey, WesternAnimation/LittleAudrey, and the anthology WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series.

Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the animation division of the film studio Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures from [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1942]] to [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation 1967]]. Famous was founded as a successor company to FleischerStudios, after Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941. The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischers—{{Popeye}} the Sailor, [[SupermanTheatricalCartoons Superman]], and Screen Songs—as well as LittleLulu, CasperTheFriendlyGhost, HermanAndKatnip, BabyHuey, LittleAudrey, and the anthology {{Noveltoons}} series.

With that, Paramount's involvement in animation came to a close until they became the distributor of Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2006 who soon [[GrowingTheBeard hit its artistic stride]] with great new animated feature films like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''. Then in 2011, Paramount distributed the Oscar winning hit, ''{{Rango}}'', with [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic ILM]] producing and Paramount decided to reenter the animation game once again, with their first project to be a sequel to ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''.

* {{Popeye}} the Sailor (inherited from FleischerStudios, 1942 – 1957)
* [[SupermanTheatricalCartoons Superman]] (inherited from FleischerStudios, 1942 – 1943)
* {{Noveltoons}} (1943 – 1967)
* LittleLulu (1943 – 1948)
* LittleAudrey (1947-1958)

* ScreenSongs (1947 – 1951; originally produced by Fleischer Studios 1929 – 1938)
* CasperTheFriendlyGhost (Initially appeared in three Noveltoons short subjects, graduated to a standalone series from 1950 – 1959)
* BabyHuey (1950-1959)

* HermanAndKatnip (1952 – 1959)

* Segments of ''FelixTheCat'' (1958 – 1961; outsourced from King Features and Trans-Lux)

* BlackComedy: When their shorts aren't being lighthearted and sentimental, they can be downright mean spirited and nasty in their humor, which in turn is aided by how violently the gags in shorts like HermanAndKatnip are played out.

* LimitedAnimation: The "Modern Madcaps" series, an attempt by Famous to transition into the then-hot {{UPA}} style of animation.

** It is important to note that by the 60's, when ShamusCulhane got on board with the studio, they deliberately started leading the studio in a more anti-formulaic, experimental direction, with shorts like "My Daddy The Astronaut" (notably designed to [[StylisticSuck look like a child drew the whole film]], with a kid narrating it and the soundtrack all done by harmonica), "The Plumber" and "TheOperaCaper", but by then it was too little, too late.

With that, Paramount's involvement in animation came to a close until they became the distributor of Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2006 who soon [[GrowingTheBeard hit its artistic stride]] with great new animated feature films like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''. Then in 2011, Paramount distributed the Oscar winning hit, ''{{Rango}}'', with {{ILM}} producing and Paramount decided to reenter the animation game once again, with their first project to be a sequel to ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''.

* EndlessWinter: The cartoon ''Suddenly It's Spring'' from 28 April 1944 features Raggedy Ann pleading with Old Man Winter to relent, so that the sun may shine upon her owner, who lies abed dying from lack of sunlight.

* PublicDomainAnimation: a decent number of their cartoons (especially Popeye) have entered the Public Domain and are free to view online.