The bouncing ball is a device used in motion pictures that was invented by which American animator?

The bouncing ball technique was invented by Max Fleischer originally for the "'Ko-Ko' Song Car-Tunes" (1924–1927) and revised in 1929 as "Screen Songs" (1929–1938) for Paramount. It was introduced in March 1924 with the film "Come Take a Trip in my Airship".

The bouncing ball is a device specifically used in movies/films and video recordings to visually indicate the rhythm of a song, helping audiences to sing along with live or prerecorded music. As the song's lyrics are displayed on the screen in a lower third of projected or character-generated text, an animated ball bounces across the top of the words, landing on each syllable when it is to be sung.

Max Fleischer (1883-1972) was a professional cartoonist and a pioneer of film animation. He created cartoon characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye. He is well remembered for his more than 20 motion picture production inventions, particularly the rotoscope.

Fleischer was born into a family of inventors in July 1883, in Vienna, Austria. His mother immigrated with him to the United States when he was four years old. He was raised on the Lower East Side of New York City. Fleischer was one of five sons. Animator Dave Fleischer was his younger brother.

Fleischer didn't finish high school, but attended numerous trade schools. As an adult, he worked for the 'Brooklyn Daily Eagle' before becoming art director for the 'Popular Science' magazine. Fleischer's animation career truly began at Joseph Randolph Bray's studio.