Comments on: 10 Landmark Moments in Animation History

By: Brian Phillips

Brian Phillips — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:17:50 +0000

I concur, a great list. Here is something to add to the McCay entry. Why was Gertie drawn? Well, McCay made a cartoon of Little Nemo and audiences said, “Why that’s a little boy on the screen!”, so he (as one of the responses mentioned) drew the Mosquito cartoon and then people accused him of attaching a real mosquito to a wire and calling it animation.

When he drew a dinosaur, people FINALLY realized they were looking at a series of drawings. I know this sounds incredible, but remember, the audiences of that era were dealing with a technolgy that had very little history, which is to say film, let alone animation.

There is a DVD of Winsor McCay’s work and it is nothing short of amazing and very well-preserved.

By: Richard Y

Richard Y — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:30:42 +0000

Some other landmark moments could include the premieres of South Park (the best satire on TV, imho) and Beavis & Butt-Head on the show AEON FLUX on MTV back in the 1990s, plus the Ren & Stimpy Show (and all other nickelodeon shows — Nickelodeon network shows may warrant an article in and of themselves).

By: Araxie

Araxie — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:58:24 +0000

Some other fascinating, very early successes in animation include:

J. Stuart Blackton was possibly the first American filmmaker to use the techniques of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation. Introduced to filmmaking by Edison, he pioneered these concepts at the turn of the 20th century, with his first copyrighted work dated 1900. Several of his films, among them The Enchanted Drawing (1900) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe7HSnZotbU and Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGh6maN4l2I&feature=channel were film versions of Blackton’s “lightning artist” routine, and utilized modified versions of MÃ©liÃ¨s’ early stop-motion techniques to make a series of blackboard drawings appear to move and reshape themselves. ‘Humorous Phases of Funny Faces’ is regularly cited as the first true animated film, and Blackton is considered the first true animator. (SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)

McCay also experimented quite a bit before Gertie the Dinosaur graced the screen: the first I found of him was this very creative short of an anthropomorphic mosquito. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvzAJouHh7k The fluidity of this animation, for the period, is pretty damn incredible. Remarkale.

Before animation became primarily a childrens’ medium of entertainment, early animators of the turn of the century penned numerous oddball (and often truly bizarre or disturbing) shorts. Some other examples of note:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FQCESiyqaM&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfOmxAtI00Q&feature=related

By: Tex

Tex — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:05:01 +0000

Gotta love Tex Avery!

By: Valerie

Valerie — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:45:50 +0000

@barf & @ACtualWizard

They have GREAT stuff on DVD through Something Weird Video.

Google it.

By: REally?didn't kno that

REally?didn't kno that — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:37:21 +0000

If you want to learn more about all the artists mentioned, I know a great book called OF MICE AND MAGIC…just great…

By: shirleyfeeney

shirleyfeeney — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:38:07 +0000

I am old enough to remember my parents getting a babysitter to go to the movies one night. Of course they didn’t tell me then what they went to see, but I found out later that it was “Fritz the Cat”. They ran into my aunt and uncle…I also remember “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home”. Both of these weren’t on your list, but maybe should have been. Great article though!

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:13:01 +0000

You forgot to mention Robert Clampett, who probably made some of the most creative work coming out of Warner Bros. in the 1930s and ’40s. Great Piggy Bank Robbery and Porky In Wackyland are landmark cartoons…and funny as (w)hell.

By: something

something — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:14:31 +0000

No love for Terry Gilliam’s animation influence?

By: Lynn

Lynn — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:32:57 +0000

Concerning Betty Boop: I’m sure that as a kid, I once saw a split-second scene in one of her cartoons where she had a Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction”! I mean, her bodice fell down and she flashed! I know I didn’t imagine it, and I also remember that the TV screen went blank for a minute or so afterwards. I think I was watching on the old Channel 13, KTRK in Houston, early 60s. Had they inadvertently gotten hold of one of those early, risque B.B. cartoons that hadn’t yet been scrubbed thoroughly and got bounced off the air by the censors? I don’t know, but I remember my sister and I laughing our butts off over it and running to tell our mom, who also thought it was funny.