Cartoon Roots a history lesson on silent animation

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Cartoon Roots a history lesson on

silent animation

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" March 20, 2015 | ! G. Michael Dobbs

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Im always amazed when I encounter young lm fans and they have little idea that lms
existed interesting, compelling lms prior to 1980.
When I taught lm classes at Western New England University in the 1990s, I was always
surprised when otherwise open-minded students were aghast and agog at the thought of
watching old movies. Their reactions to silent movies were magnied.
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Cartoon Roots a history lesson on silent animation

4/10/15, 2:46 PM

Silent lms were where so much of the language of cinema was created camera and editing
techniques. It was also the period in which story archetypes were developed. What might be
considered hackneyed in a newer lm was original during the 1920s.
A new compilation of silent cartoons shows just how much was developed for that medium
during the period from 1907 to 1926. Cartoon Roots is an education in silent animation.
Archivist Tommy Jose Stathes presents a carefully archived selection of his extensive collection
of silent animation.
By the way, Stathes is a young man in his 20s.
Sold as a Blu-ray and DVD combination, the discs include a great selection of extras including
galleries of production materials such as scripts as well as vintage promotional items. It is a
great package.
Serious animation fans and some attentive Baby Boomers should recognize names such as
Max Fleischer (the producer of Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons among others); Walter Lantz
(best known for Woody Woodpecker); animator and writer Dick Heumer (a major gure at
Disney); and Paul Terry (the head of Terrytoons, the home of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and
Jeckle).
The early work of these artists is presented along with some of the earliest American
animation by J. Stuart Blackton, Raoul Barre, Earl Hurd and John Bray.
The result is a mini-course in the development of animation. The discs come with an insightful
booklet and Stathes includes three early sound cartoons, none of which this animation fan has
had the opportunity of seeing before. I was impressed.
Three of these shorts feature a combination of live action with animation that shows just how
early that technique originated. As Im a Fleischer loyalist, Im partial to how the technique was
used in The Circus (1920) with Ko-Ko the Clown attempting to train a horse. Fleischers
invention of the rotoscope is on display here as the technique allowed an animator to use live
action footage as the reference for a cartoon character. The device also assisted in the
blending of live action and animation.
Silent animation can be very surprising in its content. In the 1923 short The Jolly Rounder by
Terry, a married hippo is in trouble with his wife. His buddy decides the way to cure that is for
him to dress in drag and appear with his married friend to make the wife jealous and forget
why she is angry with her husband really.
Silent animation reected as did live action cinema of the time the use of politically
incorrect ethnic humor. Although the collection is not dominated by such material, it is there
and should be considered within the context of the cartoons and the time in which they were
produced.
The wonderful design of Felix the Cat, superbly directed by animator Otto Messmer, is seen in
the 1922 short Felix Comes Back. Messmer, one of the animations great talents worked
anonymously while his producer Pat Sullivan, who owned the character, took all the public
credit. Felix has been cited by some animation historians as an example of the humor coming
out of the established personality of the character rather than just a series of gags.

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Cartoon Roots is available from Amazon.

***
Stathes told Reminder Publications that his interest in animation rst came through his
exposure at a young age to classic cartoons of the 1930s and 40s on home video. It was
through his interest in history, though, and reading several books about animation that he
learned about silent era cartoons. When he was able to see some silent animation he said they
fascinated him. They intrigued his intellectual curiosity and he was drawn to their visuals.

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His collection of prints started in a roundabout way. He had been given some 8mm home
movie prints of cartoons, but being a child of the VHS era, he really didnt know what they
were. His godfather had a projector and showed him the lms.
I was instantly hooked, he said. He recognized immediately a dierence between looking at a
projected lm and one on videotape.
He began to seek out prints of lms and before the advent of the Internet went to antique
shops and ea markets looking for lms. Now, Stathes works with other collectors and has
assembled an impressive catalog of movies in a variety of gauges: 8mm, 9.5mm, 28 mm,
16mm and 35mm.
Stathes also started an in-depth research project on the John R. Bray Studio, the rst
successful animation studio. Bray was the producer who began breaking down the animation
process into an assembly line, which made producing cartoons aordable.

https://www.thereminder.com/dining/movieguide/cartoonrootsahisto/

Page 2 of 3

Cartoon Roots a history lesson on silent animation

4/10/15, 2:46 PM

Bray and animator Earl Hurd also developed the clear cel on which characters were drawn, a
means that also saved time and money.
Bray always fascinated me, he said.
Stathes said he doesnt have a favorite producer or studio, I love a lot of it, he said.
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