Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy) is teaming up with famed filmmaker Martin Scorsese to fund the restoration of historically significant animated shorts from the 1920s to 1940s, through their Seth MacFarlane Foundation and Film Foundation respectively. This includes works from Max and Dave Fleischer (creators of “Betty Boop” and “Koko the Clown”), George Pal (creator of the stop-motion “Puppetoons”), and Paul Terry (of “Terrytoons”).

Currently twelve such animated films have been restored, using unique original pre-print elements and/or print sources, mostly nitrate, held at UCLA Film & Television Archive. The films were selected by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation, in collaboration with Paramount Pictures Archives. The Fleischer movies in particular, were selected both because of use of jazz in their soundtracks, and because of their humor and distinctive style, which are a few of MacFarlane’s favorite things. A sample of how such a restored cartoon can look like, is featured below in the article.

Comments from MacFarlane and Scorsese follow: “The work Martin Scorsese and his Film Foundation have been doing is essential cinematic preservation,” said MacFarlane. “I’m honored to partner with them in restoring their first-ever collection of storied animation.” “I’m so grateful to Seth MacFarlane for his enthusiasm and his support on these restorations,” said Martin Scorsese in a statement. “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.”

A program of nine restorations, Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts, will premiere at the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival on Saturday, April 20 at 6:30 p.m., with an in-person introduction by MacFarlane. The program will include seven shorts by Dave Fleischer: 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 Terrytoon The Three Bears (1939) by Mannie Davis; and the Puppetoon Two-Gun Rusty (1944) by George Pal.

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