History Of Animation

The Silent Era

The text's first chapter presents some very interesting facts regarding the beginnings of animation. I, like many others according to Leonard Maltin, always thought Gertie the Dinosaur was the first animated cartoon. I was surprised to learn otherwise. I particularly enjoyed the described evolution of the animation process itself. By today's standards the process seems simple enough, but many people contributed their innovation and efforts to eventually perfect the system.

The only characters I was actually familiar with were Getrie the Dinosaur, Mutt and Jeff and of course Felix the Cat. However, I had never realized that the Felix series was so groundbreaking in its day, which seems to be attributed as much to the creators' infinite imaginations as their artistic talent. Having only seen Felix comic strips myself, I am looking forward to screening the pictures next week.