Animation in the United States during the silent era

Animated films in the United States date back to at least 1906 when Vitagraph released "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces". Jeff Lenburg 1991 The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons ISBN 0-8160-2252-6] Although early animations were rudimentary they rapidly became more sophisticated with such classics as "Gertie the Dinosaur" in 1916 and Koko the Clown.

Originally a novelty, some early animated silents depicted magic acts or were strongly influenced by the comic strip. Later, they were distributed along with newsreels. Early animation films, like their live-action silent cousins, would come with a musical score to be played by an organist or even an orchestra in larger theatres. [cite news
url=http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2005-01/savingsilents.html
title=Saving the silents
author=Janis Johnson
date=January/February 2005
work=Humanities magazine
publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities
accessdate=2008-03-17]

List of animated silents

* J. Stuart Blackton, "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces", 1906 claimed to be the first animated film in the US Jeff Lenburg 1991 The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons ISBN 0-8160-2252-6]
* Winsor McCay, "Gertie the Dinosaur",1914, "The Sinking of the Lusitania", 1918, "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend", 1921
* John Randolph Bray who later claimed to have invented some of McCay's techniques
* Willis O'Brien, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, 1915, "The Lost World", 1925 (stop-motion animation)
* Otto Messmer and the first cartoon superstar "Felix the Cat", 1919
* Max Fleischer and "Koko the Clown", 1919 and the invention of the rotoscope
* Paul Terry and "Aesop's Film Fables", 1921-1929
* Van Beuren Studios which released Paul Terry's films before Terry set up his own studio in 1929
* Walt Disney's first cartoons: "Laugh-o-Grams", "Alice Comedies" , "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" and "Mickey Mouse"
* Other significant series: "Heeza Liar", "Mutt and Jeff", "Krazy Kat", "Bobby Bumps"
* Other significant studios: Barré Studio, Bray Productions, Barré-Bowers Studio, International Film Service
* Significant distributors of animated films: Margaret J. Winkler, Charles Mintz, Educational Pictures, Red Seal Pictures, Bijou Films
*Also, Charles Bowers was a comedian and animator who made many bizarre films in the 1920s combining stop-motion animation and comedy. Many of them have been lost, but some have been recently released on DVD.

ee also

*History of animation
*List of animated feature films

Further reading

*cite book | title = American Animated Films: The Silent Era, 1897-1929 | author = Denis Gifford | year = 1990 | publisher = Mcfarland & Co | isbn = 0899504604
*cite book | title = Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution | author = Richard Fleischer | year = 2005 | publisher = University Press of Kentucky | isbn = 0-8131-2355-0
*cite book | title = Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898-1928 | author = Donald Crafton | year = 1993 | publisher = University of Chicago Press

References

External links

* [http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9906/animate.html The Library of Congress: Origins of American Animation]