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- Animation work, especially in Los Angeles, has been drying up due to job cuts and the growing threat of AI.
- While those in the industry navigate the situation, one nonprofit hopes to still celebrate the joy of cartoons.
- Saturday Morning Cartoons United also provides fundraising support for industry folks in need and grants for emerging artists, among other donations.
It’s getting tougher and tougher to make a living in animation, especially in Los Angeles.
For years, animation work has moved overseas, major players have slashed jobs and AI has been a growing threat.
Amid the gloom, one local nonprofit group is working to celebrate iconic cartoons to support the animators of today — and remind people of the joy of animation.
With screenings, pop-ups and panels, Saturday Morning Cartoons United raises money to support those in need in the animation industry through groups like AnimAID and Legends Animated and emerging artists through grants it distributes via Silver Lake Shorts. It also works with other charities, like the Birthday Party Project, which helps families experiencing homelessness with supplies to give their children birthday parties.
Caro Buermann, who’s worked in animation marketing for years, launched the group in the wake of the Eaton and Palisades fires, when it became clear that dozens of animators had either lost their homes or been displaced.
“Saturday Morning Cartoons United just came out of the love for this community that’s wanting to come together right now because people are having a hard time,” Buermann says, citing unemployment within the industry. “I’m not on the front lines of what’s going on in animation, but every day there’s a headline. ... It’s crazy what’s going on right now but we’re doing what we can.”
The creators behind five animated series for adult audiences explain how they use the form to explore challenging subject matter (and sometimes get big laughs to boot).
At the group’s most recent event in early August — a 96th birthday party for the beloved cartoon diva Betty Boop — 1,400 toon lovers filled Glendale’s Alex Theatre to watch restored big-screen Boop cartoons played amid performances from the Bob Baker Marionette Theater and the indie rock act Dressy Bessy. Comic, actor and voice artist Kate Micucci acted as MC while Sandy Fox — the voice of Boop from 1991 to 2022 — popped on and off stage alongside someone in a mascot-like Betty Boop costume.
“We need community in animation right now for artists, for voice actors, and for all performers,” said Miss Mae Marlowe, a Boop-inspired drag queen and animator who posed for photos with fans before the show in a coiffed black wig and spectator pumps. She attended the event because she loves Betty Boop, but also because of the burdens the animation industry faces. “It’s important to celebrate animation and so any excuse we have seems pretty relevant at the moment.”
After one of the first Saturday Morning Cartoons United events — a December 2025 presentation of the “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” Christmas special — raised almost $50,000, Buermann knew that both the audience and the need were there to do more. She’s since featured Care Bears, “Fern Gully” and the Pink Panther at events, and has plans for at least three more this year: a screening of “The Real Ghostbusters” cartoon at Dynasty Typewriter Oct. 3, a “Hey Arnold!” reunion at the Los Feliz 3 on Oct. 17, and a large-scale Powerpuff Girls tribute on Nov. 7 at the Alex Theatre.
“We’re trying to go big or go home,” Buermann says, though she notes she’s also the charity’s only full-time staffer. Every dollar the group nets from events after expenses goes to the charities it supports. “We’re trying to raise as much as we can for the community and to make sure that our events are for everybody,” she said, noting that fans of featured animated works and voice actors show up, sometimes with their kids and dogs.
Emmy winner Quinta Brunson is taking a bet on “Betty Boop.” The comedian-actor is developing a film about the animated icon and will star as the doe-eyed flapper.
Buermann says she tries to curate each event so that it’s as much an experience or a celebration as it is a screening. There are photo ops and merch on-site, and often meet-and-greets with a cartoon’s creators or voice actors at a higher price point.
“The question is always ‘When you have access to everything from your couch, why go anywhere?,’ and I get it. It takes effort,” Buermann says. “But making that effort especially matters when it’s directly benefiting people in our community.”
Buermann licenses cartoons and shorts shown at each event, to check the boxes but also to gain industry respect and help with financial support. It’s a challenging process, though, depending on the studio and if ownership of the property has changed hands since the cartoon first aired.
“Some of the studios just don’t value these things,” Buermann says of the events. “Strawberry Shortcake is a perfect example. We were really excited to do something with them but they just didn’t have the cartoons in the right resolution because they were so old. We’ve also tried to show old, ‘80s and ‘90s toy and cereal commercials at our events and that’s hard because they were never intended to be shown at that scale or they just don’t exist in their original formats. And even if they do, it can be hard to find out who or what owns the rights to them.”
With something like “Muppet Babies,” around which Saturday Morning Cartoons United has been trying to do an event, there can also be additional challenges based on the show’s content. “Just the opening of that show alone has references to both ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ so screening it in a theater can be very complicated,” she explains.
But when an adult audience can connect with animation they loved as a kid or when a family can come and enjoy a show together on a big screen, in a way they never have before, Buermann says it can feel extremely special. At the Boop event, for instance, not only were there kids experiencing the cartoon for the first time but Buermann also heard from several parents that, with the Dressy Bessy performance, it was their kids’ first concert.
For Jane Fleischer Reid, granddaughter of Betty Boop co-creator Max Fleischer and creator of Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored, working with Buermann on Boop’s birthday party was “delightful” and edifying.
“It’s heartwarming to me to see my grandfather’s work enjoyed by new audiences,” says Fleischer Reid. “For me and for many people, animation isn’t just fun, silly stuff. It’s art. As an adult, when I started looking at my grandfather’s work and understanding how much artistic consideration went into those cartoons, it was kind of mind-blowing. Art speaks to every individual in a different way, and that’s something we desperately need right now.”
The experiential art firm has entered into a creative partnership with Titmouse, the studio behind popular series such as “Big Mouth” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”
Tammy Ealom, who fronts Dressy Bessy, says when she was a kid, she’d sing Betty Boop songs in the car with her grandmother, who, like Boop, tended to wear high heels that looked like they were a size too small.
“I remember going to the mall and having to buy every single oversized sweatshirt with Betty Boop’s image when I was younger, but I also see her now as a sort of gracious feminist,” Ealom says. “She’ll let you be you, but if you cross a line with her, you’re going to get a heel up your ass. She’s like this tough, no-nonsense woman who’s not afraid to be herself and to not apologize for it and I can relate to that.”
Motivating a new generation of animators and storytellers also fuels Buermann. Looney Tunes inspired “The Flintstones,” which in turn inspired “The Simpsons,” which inspired “Rick and Morty,” and so on.
“Not to share a lady’s age, but Betty Boop’s 96 and we’re still talking about her,” Buermann says. “So what is it about these characters that stand the test of time? I think it’s because cartoons and characters can emotionally resonate through generations, and that’s why I think that the creators that they inspire now are going to be responsible for the future of entertainment.”
