Editing Fleischer Studios (section)

=== Fall of Fleischer ===
The personal relationship between Max and Dave Fleischer deteriorated during the Miami period due to complications associated with the pressures of finishing the studio's first feature film and Dave's very public adulterous affair with his secretary, Mae Schwartz. Max and Dave stopped speaking to each other altogether by the end of 1939, communicating solely by memo.<ref name="Beck">{{cite web
 | last = Beck
 | first = Jerry
 | title = Fleischer Becomes Famous Studios
 | work = Cartoon Research
 | url = http://www.cartoonresearch.com/paramount.html
 | access-date = June 21, 2007
| archive-date = June 26, 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150626172737/http://www.cartoonresearch.com/paramount.html
 | url-status = dead
 }}</ref>

Dave gained total control of production in 1940, relegating Max to business affairs and research. The studio was in need of new products going into the new decade, but the new shorts series that debuted in 1939 and 1940, ''[[Gabby (film series)|Gabby]]'', ''[[Stone Age Cartoons]]'', and ''[[Animated Antics]]'', were unsuccessful. Theater operators complained, with the ''Popeye'' cartoons having the only value.

Paramount acquired the rights to [[comic book]] [[superhero]] ''[[Superman (1940s animated film series)|Superman]]'' in 1941, and the Fleischers were assigned to work on a series of animated ''Superman'' shorts.<ref name="Supes" /> The first entry, ''Superman'', had a budget of $50,000,<ref name="Supes">Barrier, Michael (1999). ''Hollywood Cartoons''. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg. 304.</ref> the highest ever for a Fleischer theatrical short, and was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film|Academy Award]].

The animated ''Superman'' series, with its action-adventure and science fiction fantasy content, was a huge success, but that did not help the studio out of its financial trouble. It was penalized $350,000 for going over budget on ''Gulliver's Travels'', and the revenues earned from the rentals of the ''Popeye'' cartoons had to be used to offset the loss of $250,000 incurred by the rejection of cartoons in 1940.