Seth MacFarlane partners with Martin Scorsese on ambitious animated shorts restoration project

Ray Richmond
·3 min read
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Seth MacFarlane of “Family Guy” and “Ted” fame is partnering through his Seth MacFarlane Foundation with filmmaker Martin Scorsese to fund The Film Foundation’s (led by Scorsese) first-ever restoration of a curated selection of a dozen historically significant animated shorts from the 1920s through the 1940s. The announcement was made today. Among the lot are nine short animated films from the legendary team of brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who created Betty Boop and Koko the Clown among many other memorable characters.

The films were selected and restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and The Film Foundation, in collaboration with Paramount Studio Archives. They were funded by MacFarlane and completed using unique original pre-print elements and/or print sources, mostly nitrate.

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“I’m so grateful to Seth MacFarlane for his enthusiasm and his support on these restorations,” Scorsese said on Thursday. “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.”

Added MacFarlane: “The work Martin Scorsese and his Film Foundation have been doing is essential cinematic preservation. I’m honored to partner with them in restoring their first-ever collection of stories animation.”

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Nine of those restored shorts will premiere in a program titled “Back From the Ink: Restored Animation Shorts” at the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival on Saturday April 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Chinese Multiplex House 6 in Hollywood, with an in-person introduction by MacFarlane. Seven shorts directed by Dave Fleischer will be screened: “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). Also premiering are Terrytoon’s “The Three Bears” (1939( and the George Pal Puppetoon “Two-Gun Rusty” from 1944.

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