I must correct a mistake that I made and widespread. On the 1996 Spring issue of Animation Journal I published an essay entitled The Italians Who Invented the Drawn-On-Film Technique. The brothers Bruno and Arnaldo Ginanni Corradini, from Ravenna, had…
Media “archaeologies” often emphasize the technical similarities between nineteenth-century optical devices and the basic mechanism of film animation: both create the illusion of movement by deploying series images stroboscopically. The designation of such instruments as “pre-cinematic,” however, can be misleading.…
Among the many recent commemorations of the centenary of First World War, its implications for animation history have received scant attention. In Britain the war stimulated considerable production of animated cartoons between 1914 and 1918, as explored in my recent…
I will begin with the observation that there is no standardized name with a widely accepted currency to describe the prevailing style which began with the inception of studio animation. The emergence of Bray Productions in 1914 marks the beginning…
Krazy first became animated during the second age of Krazy Kat, between 1916 and 1925—initially by Hearst-Vitagraph and Hearst’s International Film Service, then by John Randolph Bray, then by Margaret Winkler and Charles Mintz. Of all of these, the Hearst…
This is a post about the 3 Ages of Krazy Kat in Two Movements. Part I considers the underpinnings of criticism of the comic strip and its animated version, and the importance of race to that criticism. Part II will…
Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo (1911), How a Mosquito Operates (1912), and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are regularly singled out as the most significant achievements in American animation of the early 1910s, often in comparison to the apparent deficiencies of other…
Not long ago I happened upon an original Reynaud praxinoscope for sale in a shop in Paris. Unable to justify its asking price, I began to research more affordable alternatives to share with animation students with whom I have made…
I like to start my animation history class by telling the students that I am going to show them the very first animated film ever made. I then proceed by showing Pauvre Pierrot (1892, by Émile Reynaud) without further comments.…
Imagine an evening with everyone sitting together, the room darkening; the first picture appears on the hanging sheet and the narrator starts his or her story. The form and content of the tale are always a little different – it…
