A GOAT Conversation

By Nick Baldwin

What we have here is a goat conversation.

G.O.A.T.

For the uninitiated: the Greatest of All Time.

Once Upon a Time, back before the Kubrickian monolith that is Walt Disney Studios of the modern age, there was a competitor— a rival. A studio that not only matched Disney in originality and creativity but was often outpaced Disney in its form.

Fleischer Studios was founded in 1921 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who weren’t just producers—they were pioneering inventors. Max’s creation of the rotoscope—a device that allowed animators to trace live‑action movement for smoother, more realistic motion—changed how cartoons were made and influenced animation for decades to come.

They created some of the most beloved characters in animation history, including Popeye the Sailor Man and Betty Boop, while adapting others, including the Man of Steel himself, Superman. However, their combined success was not meant to last, as the brothers famously stopped speaking to each other directly in the later years of the studio and communicated only via memo.

In another chapter of Max Fleischer’s career, he found himself far from New York’s cartoon corridors, working in Detroit with the Jam Handy Organization. Handy’s studio was an industrial powerhouse producing training, educational, and promotional films—including early animated work—largely for General Motors and the U.S. military during World War II. Max brought decades of animation experience to Handy’s team, helping shape animated training films and even supervising an early animated adaptation of Rudolph the Red‑Nosed Reindeer in 1948.

LeBron vs. Jordan. The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? Mickey Mouse or Popeye the Sailor Man?

There’s an argument to be made in each debate.

Either way, Fleischer Studios’ impact on the history of cinema is unprecedented and incalculable, which is why audiences still enjoy their stories today.