Brothers Max and Dave Fleischer founded Out of the Inkwell Studios in 1921.
Moving Picture World, 29-October-1921
Rialto Productions released Winsor McKay's animated "The Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend," and the disturbing Funny Face Comedies, which appeared to feature either marionettes or animated dolls.
Exhibitors Herald, 22-October-1921
Pioneering animator Paul Terry produced Aesop's Fables from 1921 to 1933.
100 years ago this month, in July, 1918, Jewel Productions, a subsidiary of Universal, released Winsor McCay's animated documentary, "The Sinking of the Lusitania."
After a year of war, Germany was not in a good position. The British had established a fairly tight blockade of imports, and the army had failed to take Paris and had settled into static positions on the Western Front. In order to disrupt vital shipping to Britain, Germany had decided to adopt a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. U-Boats would no longer warn civilian vessels before sinking them. On 07-May-1915, U-20 torpedoed and sank RMS Lusitania near the coast of Ireland. A number of Americans died and this nearly drove the country into the war on the side of the Allies, Britain, France and Russia. Germany promised to stop unrestricted submarine warfare and America stayed out until they resumed it again.
Lusitania carried 1,962 passengers. 1,191 died. 128 of the dead were Americans.
Pioneering animator Winsor McCay devoted his own time and money to make a film of the sinking. This was his first animated movie to use the cel method which is still used today for hand-drawn animation. Despite the time saved with cels, the movie took nearly two years to complete.
It is an effective piece of anti-German propaganda.
Moving Picture World, 27-July-1918
Motion Picture News, 06-July-1918
"One would never imagine that the time would come when the more serious things in life would be told most realistically by animated cartoon drawings."
Cartoonist Winsor McCay, famous for Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, was a pioneer animator. 100 years ago he made "Gertie the Dinosaur." He toured with it in vaudeville, then released a version to theaters. In the framing story, McCay bets his friend George McManus, creator of Bringing Up Father, that he can bring a dinosaur to life in drawings. "Gertie" was not the first animated film and it was not McCay's first animated film.
