The more I see of these "Koko the clown" silent cartoons, the more I shake my head in amazement how good they were, especially for something in the very early days of film- making.
Every time artist Max Fleischer tips his fountain pen in his magic inkwell (my description), he loses the tip. It turns out his pal "Koko The Clown," who resides inside, is playing with him and stealing the tips. Max finally yanks him out and tells him, "Come on, let me finish my drawing. Go back where you came from." Koko gives him a hard time, jumping on his favorite place - the canvas - and refusing to go away, even when Max erases him. He always finds a way to come back through the canvas. You have to see this "skits" to appreciate them. They are very inventive and different from most things people saw from the "talkies" to the present. There is no sound, not even sound-effects, but the creativity in these stories is so good that it still keeps your attention.
Later, Max uses "invisible ink" to try to torment Koko, and drawn him back inside the inkwell, but the clown always has the last laugh and turns the tables on the artist. Both these main characters are "rascals," as Max calls Koko. Great stuff!
This was one of the "From the vault" extra features from disc 3 on the "Popeye The Sailor Man Volume One DVD set Don't pass it up.