Bray and International Film Service
by David Gerstein, ©2011
"WHEREAS on August 28, 1919 this corporation entered into an agreement in writing with the International Film Service Co., Inc. agreeing to accept weekly three new series of motion picture animated cartoons... and WHEREAS this corporation under said agreement is now indebted to the International Film Service Co. Inc. in the sum of $341,370.52..."
In the late 1910s the Bray Studios appeared to be moving from strength to strength. In August 1919, Bray split from Paramount - hitherto the distributors of Bray's Pictograph variety reels - and reincorporated itself as Bray Pictures Corporation. The motion involved new investment from the Goldwyn Company, who would now take over from Paramount as Bray's release engine. The former Paramount-Bray Pictograph was now the Goldwyn-Bray Pictograph. Goldwyn wanted to put out more Pictographs faster than Bray had previously produced them. Where would Bray get these films?
The answer involved a conquered rival. More than one year prior, Hearst's International Film Service had been making short cartoons starring Hearst-owned comic strip characters - Krazy Kat, the Katzenjammer Kids, and the Joys and Glooms among others. The series had launched in 1916, but lasted less than two years before petering out - a victim of competition with Bray, amongst others. Now, in 1919, IFS would reopen as a Bray production unit, managed by animator Frank Moser.
The IFS cartoons of 1916 had been primitive affairs, often featuring one-joke plots and crude character drawing. The IFS cartoons of 1919 - comprising three series, Krazy Kat, the Shenanigan Kids (a renamed Katzenjammer Kids), and Jerry on the Job - were of far better quality; to modern eyes, they are clever and elaborate for their day. Alas, they were relatively unsuccessful for Bray. As a result, by late 1920, Bray - having contracted with IFS to produce the shorts - was delinquent in reimbursing IFS for their costs. The IFS-Bray agreement broke off; Krazy and Shenanigan production ended, with the final few cartoons released in early 1921.
Ironically, the situation worked out well for IFS. In lieu of reimbursing IFS directly, Goldwyn now agreed to "make" and distribute more IFS character cartoons itself, while Bray - returning the favor of Goldwyn's 1919 investment - handled the hands-on production. The initial agreement established that this production would center around two new series: Judge Rummy and Happy Hooligan, initially released in a split-reel series called Lampoons. Eventually, Jerry on the Job resumed production for the Pictograph as before.
While some research has yet to be done, it appears that Hearst was rewarded for the unpopularity of his brands with a guarantee that more of them would be animated! Luckily for us, many IFS/Bray films stand up remarkably well, and many feature early work by animation legend Walter Lantz.
For some background information, the author is indebted to Mark Langer's "John Randolph Bray: Pioneering Animator" in American silent film: discovering marginalized voices (Gregg Bachman and Thomas J. Slater, eds.; Southern Illinois University Press, 2002).
In the late 1910s the Bray Studios appeared to be moving from strength to strength. In August 1919, Bray split from Paramount - hitherto the distributors of Bray's Pictograph variety reels - and reincorporated itself as Bray Pictures Corporation. The motion involved new investment from the Goldwyn Company, who would now take over from Paramount as Bray's release engine. The former Paramount-Bray Pictograph was now the Goldwyn-Bray Pictograph. Goldwyn wanted to put out more Pictographs faster than Bray had previously produced them. Where would Bray get these films?
The answer involved a conquered rival. More than one year prior, Hearst's International Film Service had been making short cartoons starring Hearst-owned comic strip characters - Krazy Kat, the Katzenjammer Kids, and the Joys and Glooms among others. The series had launched in 1916, but lasted less than two years before petering out - a victim of competition with Bray, amongst others. Now, in 1919, IFS would reopen as a Bray production unit, managed by animator Frank Moser.
The IFS cartoons of 1916 had been primitive affairs, often featuring one-joke plots and crude character drawing. The IFS cartoons of 1919 - comprising three series, Krazy Kat, the Shenanigan Kids (a renamed Katzenjammer Kids), and Jerry on the Job - were of far better quality; to modern eyes, they are clever and elaborate for their day. Alas, they were relatively unsuccessful for Bray. As a result, by late 1920, Bray - having contracted with IFS to produce the shorts - was delinquent in reimbursing IFS for their costs. The IFS-Bray agreement broke off; Krazy and Shenanigan production ended, with the final few cartoons released in early 1921.
Ironically, the situation worked out well for IFS. In lieu of reimbursing IFS directly, Goldwyn now agreed to "make" and distribute more IFS character cartoons itself, while Bray - returning the favor of Goldwyn's 1919 investment - handled the hands-on production. The initial agreement established that this production would center around two new series: Judge Rummy and Happy Hooligan, initially released in a split-reel series called Lampoons. Eventually, Jerry on the Job resumed production for the Pictograph as before.
While some research has yet to be done, it appears that Hearst was rewarded for the unpopularity of his brands with a guarantee that more of them would be animated! Luckily for us, many IFS/Bray films stand up remarkably well, and many feature early work by animation legend Walter Lantz.
For some background information, the author is indebted to Mark Langer's "John Randolph Bray: Pioneering Animator" in American silent film: discovering marginalized voices (Gregg Bachman and Thomas J. Slater, eds.; Southern Illinois University Press, 2002).