Previous generations associated the name “Fleischer” with Ari’s relative, legendary animator Max Fleischer, most famous for his surreal Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons. Max Fleischer was Walt Disney’s closest competitor until his studio went under (Disney had better financing). For younger readers who’ve never experienced a Fleischer cartoon (it cannot be confused with Hanna Barbera or South Park) here’s Betty Boop M.D.:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.