Originally conceived as a part of his vaudeville act, Winsor McCay created an animated film that would allow him, on stage, to interact with the cartoon dinosaur being projected on the screen. McCay’s best known film was Gertie the Trained Dinosaur (1914). It is the first of McCay’s animated films that attempts a story narrative and characterization. McCay’s second film, How a Mosquito Operates (1912), follows the attack of the persistent mosquito on a sleeping man. Characters from McCay’s popular weekly strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland, then tumble and cavort on-screen in America’s first sustained animated film. McCay’s month is up (compressed from the real-life year) and shows the results of his work to his friends. McCay wagers that he can, in one month, make drawings that will move.
The animation section was bracketed by live-action footage of McCay, fellow cartoonist George McManus and Vitagraph comedy star John Bunny. For nearly a year McCay worked around his newspaper reponsibilities and his vaudeville obligations, producing the sequential drawings that would make up his first animated film Winsor McCay and His Moving Comics (1911).
Inspired by small advertising flip books brought to his attention by his son, Winsor McCay began experimenting with applying animation to motion pictures. With this collection of animation works, modern audiences can rediscover another aspect of Winsor McCay - the pioneering master of animation. McCay also became a successful live performer, drawing amusing ‘lightning sketches’ with chalk on blackboard in just a few moments before vaudeville audiences. McCay’s superlative command of detail and perspective combined with his fantastical imagination made him one of the most popular illustrators of his time and one of the most influential of this century’s artists. To those who know his work, Winsor McCay represents the pinnacle in early 20th century newspaper comics illustrators. Reviews of silent film releases on home video.Ĭontents: Winsor McCay and His Moving Comics (1911), How a Mosquito Operates (1912), Gertie the Trained Dinosaur (1914), The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), The Centaurs (circa 1918-1921), Gertie on Tour (circa 1918-1921), Flip’s Circus (circa 1918-1921), Bug Vaudeville (1921), The Pet (1921) and The Flying House (1921).
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