Amedee J. Van Beuren
More actions
Amedee J. Van Beuren was a businessman with experience producing live-action shorts who acquired Fables Pictures in 1928, transforming the company into sound production and renaming it after himself.[1]
Van Beuren Studios
Located in New York across from Fleischer Studios, Van Beuren Studios produced cartoons distributed by RKO Radio Pictures; for a few years in the early 1930s its output nearly rivaled that of Disney and Fleischer.[1] Van Beuren transitioned the studio to all-sound production in 1928 and later invested in color cartoons, hiring acclaimed director Burt Gillett—who had directed Disney's The Three Little Pigs—in 1934 to help compete with rivals.[1]
Closure
The studio shut down swiftly after RKO signed a distribution deal with Walt Disney Studios in 1936, leaving Van Beuren without a distributor. Its cartoons found second lives through school distribution and television in subsequent decades.[1]