1929 animation movie prèmiere in Rotterdam!
The 15th of October we will screen the fully restored “Bouncin’ Buddy” from 1929 by Raoul Deleo Sr. in the Aanschouw.
Cartoon character Rufus was a success in the 1930’s but for unknown reasons all of the episodes were lost except for the first two. The second episode, titled “Bouncin’ Buddy” was quite controversial at the time. Now, 75 years later, it is still fun to watch and also represents a timeless theme: friendship.
Rufus’ creator Raoul Deleo started his career as a commercial artist in 1923. He made illustrations for a large number of respected newspapers. In 1925 he was asked by the Boston Daily Courant to develop a comic strip. Dinky Dog was Deleo’s first cartoon character. The comic strip was animated and transferred to the screen in 1927.
Allthough Dinky Dog didn’t stand out from the crowd, Deleo learned a lot and immediately started working on his next animated cartoon. This time the leading character was a Kangaroo-like figure, who he called Rufus.
After a year of hard work the first Rufus cartoon was screened in 1928. The audience loved it and so in 1929 Deleo created a second episode with Rufus, entitled “Bouncin’ Buddy”. Deleo managed to convince the director of a New York theater to show his work and the response from the audiences was phenomenal. From that moment on Deleo’s star was rising. He founded the Visual Impulse studio and production company. During a period of five years the studio produced an output of 26 episodes of Rufus, which was amazing for that time. Unfortunately, most of them have been lost. Only the first two episodes have been recovered and restored. To make sure that these two episodes will remain preserved for viewing by future audiences, a trust has been founded by Deleo’s grandson, aptly named Raoul after his famous grandfather. This way the legacy of Deleo will always stay alive to inspire others.
The Deleo Animation Trust: www.rufus.tv
