The studio moved its operations from New York City to Miami, Florida in 1938, following union problems and the start of production on its first feature film, Gulliver's Travels (1939).

[2] While Gulliver was a success, the expense of the move and increased overhead costs created financial problems for the Fleischer Studios.

[6] Sammy Timberg served as musical director until he was succeeded in 1944 by Winston Sharples, who formerly worked with the Van Beuren Studios.

[7] The Noveltoons series introduced several popular characters such as Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey, and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

[6] In 1947, Paramount decided to stop paying Little Lulu creator Marge Buell licensing royalties, and created another "mischievous girl" character, Little Audrey, as a replacement.

[6] In 1951, the Screen Songs became "Kartune Musical Shorts," which ended in 1953 after Max Fleischer claimed ownership of the "bouncing ball" trademark.

[1] Many historians, including Leonard Maltin, derided the company style for being highly formulaic and largely oriented toward a children's audience, with none of the artistic ambition or sophistication that the management under the Fleischer brothers strove for.

[8] Seymour Kneitel and Isadore Sparber became the production heads of the studio shortly afterward, and Dave Tendlar was promoted to director in 1953.

Nonetheless, television animation production outsourced from King Features and Harvey Films brought the company additional income.

[8] The first of only two all-new Little Lulu cartoons after the character's 13-year hiatus off-screen, Alvin's Solo Flight, was released as part of the Noveltoons series in 1961, while twelve of the King Features Trilogy cartoons, starring characters such as Krazy Kat, Little Lulu, Beetle Bailey, and Snuffy Smith, were released theatrically by Paramount in 1962 under the title Comic Kings.

[17] Seymour Kneitel died of a heart attack in 1964, and Paramount brought in comic-book veteran Howard Post to run the cartoon studio.

[18] Under Post's supervision, Paramount began new cartoon series and characters such as Swifty and Shorty and Honey Halfwitch (the latter having originated from the Modern Madcaps series in the 1965 short Poor Little Witch Girl), and allowed comic strip artist Jack Mendelsohn to direct two well-received cartoons based upon children's imaginations and drawing styles: The Story of George Washington and A Leak in the Dike (both 1965).

[20] In 1967, Culhane directed another short based on children's art, My Daddy, the Astronaut,[16] which became Paramount's first film to be shown at an animation festival.

[20] However, when Paramount's board of directors rejected a proposal to produce episodes for a second Grantray-Lawrence series, Spider-Man, Culhane quit the studio, and was succeeded by former Terrytoons animator Ralph Bakshi in mid-1967.

The studio retired the Noveltoons and Modern Madcaps series, replacing them with Go Go Toons, Merry Makers, and Fractured Fables.

[21] Ralph Bakshi quickly put several shorts into production, experimenting with new characters and ideas, but by late 1968 Paramount's new owners, Gulf+Western, had decided to shut down the animation studio, a task completed in December.

[22] Despite the reputation of the studio in recent years, the Famous shorts have since gained a cult following on both public-domain home media and in animation circles.

In June 1956, Paramount sold the entirety of the Fleischer/Famous Studios Popeye cartoons from 1933 to 1957 to Associated Artists Productions (which had also recently purchased much of the Warner Bros. back catalog) for $1.25 million.

However, the contract also stipulates that Harvey (and by extension, DreamWorks and NBCUniversal) are allowed to access the original film elements from Paramount whenever they feel the need to update their prints.

Many of the cartoons are in the public domain and widely available (albeit usually in poor quality) in several low-budget DVDs and Blu-Rays sold in supermarkets and department stores.

In 2018, Warner Archive released Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 1 which continued where the previous set left off and contained the first 14 Technicolor Famous Studio cartoons from 1943 to 1945.

During the 1990s, Harvey Entertainment produced The Harveytoons Show, which collected most of the Harvey-owned Famous cartoons, first aired in syndication with the series being consulted by animation historian Jerry Beck.

[31][32] In 2006, Classic Media released 52 of the show's 78 episodes on a four-disc DVD set titled Harvey Toons – The Complete Collection.

On November 2, 2021, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (through Studio Distribution Services joint venture label) released a three-disc DVD boxset titled The Best of the Harveytoons Show.