On February 8 , 1914 , far-famed cartoonist Winsor McCay demonstrated before a live audience his considerable gift “ controlling ” Gertie , the “ only dinosaur in captivity . ” A painstaking blend of onstage carrying into action and hand drawn vivification , McCay made his creation saltation , call on the carpet her , feed her and then got carried aside by her . He was n’t the only one . The audience in Chicago ’s Palace Theatre loved it . A theatrical outlet followed , with new scene filmed to replace McCay ’s resilient interactions . It is the well known film of a pioneering creative person and illustrator — but he made others .
1. Little Nemo (1911)
McCay ’s Sunday funnies featuring thedream - woolly boy , Nemo , was his longest - pass continuous work and the only strip to move with McCay to William Randolph Hearst ’s newspaper imperium . The intricate item and hand painted panels provided McCay a large flying field to work with perspective and experiment with just how fine a line he could disembowel .
All of the film ’s characters anddesign elements , include thecartoon malleability , come from the funnies , though it has little of the strip ’s intricate nature . Four thousand rice report drawings provided all the action , done by McCay himself in about a calendar month . Much of the plastic film is just McCay draw and getting express joy at by his friends . Featured is a ready to hand glass gimmick for quickly flipping finished pages to check their persistence . For the invigorate portion , Nemo mostly flex his friend Flip and ( the now deeply nauseous ) Impie out of figure . The character is the artist ’s revenge .
2. and 3. Dream of the Rarebit Fiend series –The Pet;The Flying House(1921)
McCay ’s other pop dreamscape strip , Dream of the Rarebit Fiend , trade on the notion Malva sylvestris on goner make you incubus .
The Pet strike off an actual Rarebit strip where acouple ’s puppy growsto grievous size , admit the attempts to kill it . McCay ’s predilection for prominent mouthed fauna eating everything is again on display , as is his love forflying machines .
" The Flying House " was drawn by McCay ’s son Robert under dad ’s superintendence ; word balloons replaced received dialogue skeleton . McCay make special reference that the flyover of the Earth and Moon is astronomically correct — until the Moon giant shows up with a fly swatter . Well , it was a good dream .
4.How A Mosquito Operates(1912)
McCay ’s firstRarebitshort was based on an actualstrip from 1907 . The creative person really liked gargantuan mosquitos , putting them into severalRarebitstrips , as well as his editorial workplace andLittle Nemo in Slumberland .
5. Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)
McCay completed this celluloid , his most ambitious , on his own time . A prolific and sought - after editorial cartoonist , McCay had been prevented by Hearst from honour the 1915 U - boat attack on the rider lining Lusitania .
Twenty - five thousand drawings done by a squad of artists produce a poetic delineation of a tragedy . The wafture arrive at for the liner ’s deck of cards while it steams powerfully along . A theatrical mantle pulls across the ship after we are order all aboard ignore warnings for their safety . In a technical detail , the pic put forward the first piece of work was capture “ the moving sea . ” Even there , the uranium - boat is hunting , seen only briefly by its periscope .
6. Flip’s Circus (1918-1921)
Probably McCay ’s best recur persona from theNemostrip , Flip get top billing failing to do what McCay had done — tame the cartoon savage . Unreleased in McCay ’s lifetime , Flip ’s Circusgives a glimpse of his film process . Chalk slate stand in for interstitial cards and serve well as redaction annotation , monitor of where to cut down to the single drawing . Pause at the 1:00 mark for a grand McCay beast menagerie .
In the clipping above , Flip ’s Circusis followed by a third Rarebit Fiend , Bug Vaudeville . It has technical prowess but it ’s a small boring . The potato bug packing is fun though , and it all comes together in the end .
7. The Centaurs (1921)
McCay imbues his centaurs with their expect grace , poise , and ability to pour down a bird with a stone for no understanding . Poor storage damaged much of this film , so only this fragment survives . The argument tone of its chief reference and watercolour nuance of its scenery show a virtuoso touch years before Disney’sBambiorSnow White . That said , as imaginative as McCay was , he also went too easily for caricature . Grandma Centaur ’s spectacles and Victorian bob take us right out of the picture .
8. and 9.Gertie(1914) andGertie on Tour(1921)
McCay took several months in 1913 fill out 10,000 drawings for Gertie , again on Elmer Rice paper . About the only individual who did n’t like Gertie was McCay ’s boss , Hearst . McCay was allowed to proceed theNemostrip on social occasion , but take time off to animate a dinosaur went a stint too far , and Hearst curtailed him . The movie household reading , above , wasproduced to dodge Hearstand keep McCay ’s name in Christ Within . Gertie ’s 1921 continuation , Gertie on Tour , stay on unreleased .
One of the twentieth one C ’s most fecund illustrator , McCay thought his animation was his greatest workplace , but he produced no more films for the last 13 years of his life . His brio technique , however , initiate the innovative industry . Walt Disney sleep together that . In the 1950s , in heed to the mammoth Disney life studio apartment , Disney said privately to McCay ’s son Robert , “ Bob , all this should be your male parent ’s . ”
