Awaiting the Tommy Stathes Cartoon Carnival online program tomorrow and The Silent Comedy Watch Party on Sunday, we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog begin the Memorial Day Weekend - after a respectful nod to the doctors, nurses, EMTs, ambulance drivers and other essential workers who have been the brave American heroes through this COVID-19 outbreak - by remembering the pioneering animators of yore, starting with the great Otto Messmer.
To begin whetting our appetites for early animation, Earl Hurd's Bobby Bumps series is always a great place to start.
Earl Hurd (1880-1940) could be considered the first to create, in Bobby Bumps, a character that inspires the approach to personality animation that would be seen decades later with Disney.
The animation of Earl Hurd was quite innovative in its day and the Bobby Bumps series retains its considerable charm and appeal over 100 years after the cartoons were produced.
We'll continue the compendium with a few of the artists who started it all. One of the first exhibitors to experiment with animation was Charles-Émile Reynaud (1844-1918), inventor of the Théâtre Optique film system, patented in 1888. Reynaud, pre-dating the Lumiere brothers and Alice Guy Blache, premiered his innovative predecessors of animated film at the Musée Grévin in Paris on October 28, 1892.
This history was not lost upon Walt Disney, who devoted an episode of his television series to the years of animation, starting with the zeotrope.
At the turn of the 20th century, Thomas Edison's studio and J. Stuart Blackton produced the first U.S. cartoons.
Filmmaker Émile Cohl was breaking new ground in France in the early 20th century.
Nobody in animation, before or since, was more innovative than the great comics artist/raconteur/animator/filmmaker Winsor McCay.
Returning yet again to the Daily Motion channel of Cartoon Research historian Devon Baxter, as he has posted several prime examples of the Fleischer Studio's terrific and highly imaginative work from the silent era.
Closing today's post: the wild and apocalyptic Ko-Ko's Earth Control, backed by a weirdly incongruous "Movie Wonderland" soundtrack.
We wish all of you reading this a happy Memorial Day Weekend; stay safe and, as the memorable Max Fleischer Color Classic cartoon insists, Play Safe. Kudos, bravos and huzzahs to all who are doing YouTube presentations, watch parties and other types of public service to help their fellow citizens through a stressful time.
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