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    Before Michey, Cap 2crafton PDF

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    Cecilia Traslaviña

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    of 14
    Before ckey The Animated Film 1898-1928 ‘With a new Afterword 22,1007: © 1627 ‘Me University of Chicago Press ‘Chicago and London ‘The University of Chioago Prese, Chicago 00857 ‘The University of Chieage Press, ta, London (© 1982, 1999 by Donald C. Crafton ‘Al rights egerved. Originally published 1962 ‘uveraity of Chong Prose Halton 1098 Printed it the United States of America Sroose oer eeesso0 es4ae1 ISBN 0226-11607-0 (pbk) Livrary of Congress Catsloging-in-Publication Data (craft, Donald. ‘Before Miokny : the nimated fm, 1899-5998 / Donald Gratiot with a new afterword. — ‘niveraty of Chicago Proes od pom Oniginaly published: Cembridge, Mass, : MIT Press, 03982 [holndse bibliographies! rfsrenoes tnd index. fr Animated fime—Bistory. Tie oivescr 1985. ‘Tat 810020 ee a9068 ‘@:The papor weed in thia publication meets the ‘Binimust raquiremente ofthe American Nesionsl Blandard for tsformation Selaoes—Permnanence of Poper for Printed Librery Matarial, ‘NSI 259.48-1084 sagas ener For Buse {In Memory of Marilyn Crafton From Comic Strip and Blackboard to Screen ‘The eal cinema in alt forms ad a craving for narrative, dramatic situations, visual mous, and tneonography (the use of recurent imagery to establish consistent meaning) that could ony be sisted by foraging in other media. The ‘early development of the western (to use a well-known feample) was an amalgam of structures and aesthetic codes borrowed from dime novels, gaslight melodramas, wild west shows, Curier and Ives Americana print, pop tla journal, and dlustston. Eventually these sources all melted into recognizable western movies. The station ‘vas similar with early animasion. Having no meds upen hich to base their flms (except the eric, which was rpldly approaching obsolescence), flmmakers looked 1 related media for inspiration. We can sense this "ying on" in the curious tile of Blackton= Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. Perhaps 1906 audiences were supposed © ‘sociale tt with the popular lantem-side projections ‘mown as “humorous transformations,” such as the mova: ble ones sold by the T. H. MeAliste Co, of New York. ‘These were operated by a lever and istrated visual one- liners. Many of their les seemed o antllpate the images ‘in Blackton’s lm: “Magie Porat” “Clown's Transfor mation,” “Clown with Moving Es” "Woman Smoking," ‘Circus Dog Jumping tough Hoop" Hven the simple ‘two-dimensional movements ofthe figures in Blackton’s ‘lm were similar tothe effects produced by these crude Thovale slides, The creative pessbflies that lantern pro Jodons offered tothe frst animators were mited indeed Teovas necessary to lok elsewhere fr fresh materia. ‘There isa wiespnead misconception that comic sips ‘yore somehow intimately related tothe inception of ani- ‘ation, fl begin by examining that possiblity tn deta ‘hen wil suggest that another popular amosement-—the vaudeville stege-—mae an important eat infiuence. Gomilgs aiid the Animated Cartoon By 1895, when the cinema was launched, the comic tip thas alfeady an old, soabished ar form In the ist half Urthe nineteenth century the Swiss Rodolphe Toplfer, she Gennan Wilhelm Busch, and the Frenchman Nadar gave stoi narrative is fundamental form, tn the 18808, 82> Ppnlzaly modern stripe were appearing in weekly humor magazines around the world, Including Puck, Punch, Lif, Judge, Flegende Blatter, Le Rre, La Carieature, and Le ‘Cat Noir, Most ofthese were simple gags, but some a: ready had casts of regulaly recursing characters, Dusing the Hearse Pulver circulation wars in New York i the 1900s, comic strips were ennexed by ist the weekly and then the daly newspaper and began attracting mass readership. “The popularity of the comics certainly edu not be ig nored by ealyfimmakers. although comic strips had de- “eloped diets own formal convention for eling stores in pictues, their Impact on the earliest fms was minimal, xcepe pethaps fr some crude attempts to simulate speech talleons ina couple of 1006 experiments Throughout the fist docade of cinema, fmmmakers prefered to cl stories 2 sowing te in one lng sts thn in a a Coupage of evel tus en fr the pec asco cong was ntedvced, one sn ete ay ni thet erp narrative ends "Te come spd however, make «primary conta Hon the emt by roving aes sited spey of gags and sty maul pect sled othe tw to freminste running tines ef he ne, Ti radonhip tts already estaba none of the tS naan, Thre’ famous Arooeur et era ales Turned on tie Gardeuer)® By 1065, when the lm wan oc the “cea was heady a coioatp any. Two ve ston ha appeared in 187, bt the defiance was dia by Frans leading com atip poner Choe {Gone Culm) in I858esfernee and fae 8) Sto flmmaterransprsod the carn urban ting 0 themore convelet eatin afte aml gude a Lem, tthe high fachground wal that atthe pace the comput was retained gure Inthe wip he mi hres bey sops the ow of watt by shuting af the tyne but tne fm he wands onthe howe withthe Sane res Te i-wied arene us nied. ews Satie of Lui Lire’ boarent standard thatthe toy, Insta of escaping ashe hal in Chistes, feta sund hating in the fn version Inthe Aenéan cna, co, cia wee an etna sate manna. The raneposton sen wan spe; {Sor impenrate! poplar comiostp chars in a uc oust permance Blckon and Sith fr x. Znple bal produced fr tht Viagoph company acaee ‘poy Holgate in 180, wh Buco paying the tle le” Euien copped «Henin Asse the Malt in 1000 an four ter adapts a 1008 The ‘mucan Matoeope and Blogaph eto ned tn of ‘rom Come Seip and niacourd Yo Berean thets own “Happy Hooligans” also in 1903 Happy Hoo! fan was a ematon of Frederick Bux Opper, who never ‘eeeived any royale from chase adaptations or from films Caploting two of his other characters, the stereotyped Frenchmen Alphonse and Gaston Tn 1902, Biograph also launched their ambitious series often Sls bosed on Cao! Schulize's "Foxy Grandpa" Ac tually, this ime the comics aived via Wiliam A. Brady's Broazway adgpaton, which, ike the films, stared Joseph Hat in the dle role. Mave dependent on comle-stip ma teva than the other eatly studios, Diograph also shot in 1903 two "Katzenjammer Kis" films and Trouble m He gar’ Alley, based on Outenlt’ stip. TNo comle-strip ast was excited about the prospects of cinema as mach as Richord Felton Outcault, Thomias El Son hinge had sponsored Outcaul's art study Pati, Sand the artist partially returned the favor wir sketches he Grew forthe Blecrical Word, including one of the “Black Marla" Edison's strange tarpaper shed which rotated 2 fallow the sun in otder to flm the fist Kinetwscope sub ects? In 1602, Oteault—now working forthe New York Herald launched "Buster Brown,” che stp that would fesure him fame and eam his farune. A canny business: than, be wat the originator of ten merchandising: he Teensed Buster and his dog Tig to advertise everything from eigars to shoes. Ie vat natural for Outeau t0 fook towand the movies as another publicity ote, and in 1903 fhe signed a contract with Edison for elght films based on his sp. Inthe one copyrighted in March 2804, the ast twas pictured drawing Buster at his easel In 1913, Out ‘aulfs fiend Theodore W. Wharton of Essanay produced Buster Brown and Tige with their Creator R. F, Outome fad sl another series Began in 1914, directed by Chars France for Edison (see seference 10 and figure 10) "The most spectacular film based on a comic stp was | Ric cfhrd FOuteuk, Ruth Haden, and Tommy Shey 2 uniy eh forthe 193 "Banter Brown” can ‘rom dome Strip and miacenourd to Soren igure 1. Mier on Winsor McCay, “Dreams ofthe Ractit Fiend (© 0, be di “Poet, The Drown of arebit Fn —<——— ee unquestionably Edwin 8, Pores 1906 Dream ofa Rarebit Fiend. It was adapted from Winsor MeCay's stip, which bad begun in the New Yerk Telegram the previous year (igure 11). Porters film, made without MeCays eallabo- zation, was freely adapted from ane of the episodes showing dreamer floating over the skyline in bed. Porter changed MeCay’s protagonist «male and “rationalized” the night mare by adding a prolog that showed the vitim stufing himself with marebit and ale. Signifcandy, in place of MeCay’s remarkable “snontage” of different viewpoints, Porer summoned up al the speclal effets the cinema had to offersave animation to rereste the dream asa seve of fantastic tableaux. The Nestor Company signed an agreement with cartoon {st Bud Fisher in 1911 to use his Mutt and Jeff characters. Even the novelty of "Tallang ictus” which accel were just superimposed captions, was not enough to save the first release, a flop called the Job. The producers hope that. with svecesding numbers ofthe series, the other characters in the pictures wll be along the line of the ‘retesque, and thus conserve the general idea of cartoon comedy." In May 1913 the Katzenjammer Kids of Rudolf Diks's strip made another delish appearance onthe screen, this time forthe Selig company * The essential fact to note is that all of these adaptations were live-action films. There vas no attempt to adapt come strips in animated drawing $m until the surprisingly late date of 1611, when McCay Ainished some tentative experiments with his "Litde Nemo ‘in Slumberland” characters. By then the technical know fig had existe for atleast half «decade. Why were there 30 eater efforts? Why had Blackton, for example, not included any comie-stp characters in his animated dra ing flms? The answer must go beyond the simple formid ably of the tase of rendering the hundreds of detaled ‘rom come Srp and mckoard to ravings that such « project would requ; Blackzon and ‘ters knew bow to use cutouts t0 save time. The eaty Sraducere were Just noe all hat interested Sn eomie-tip Raphi, They vowed the strips only a8 mine of Stony lateral and reedy-made characters with appeal for the Tame ge middleclass audience for which film producers svete competing, There was a strong, demand for comic ‘Loects in the period before the clase Sennett and Chap- {in fms, and these edapatons provided a quick and cheap "The stsation was the same In Europe. Alive Guy, for example, had freely borrowed from Guillaume’ peta so- ‘los when she was a Gaument dectr, and Jasset, wring In 1971, acknowledged the cinema's debt to Steinlen, WI Jot, Doée, Gullaume, and Caran Ache, whose picture ores appeared in Le Chat Noir and Le Git Blas iiustré.** Spine from the few identicble samples of these adap- vai chat survive, all except Porters were stat and agebound, profiting lite fom che lively visual arsenal fvaleble in ther comic-tuip prototypes. Tn addition to providing sree, the comic stip made another ral contribution fo the cinema sn the form of 1 Derwonnel. All the ploneers of the animated film had prev lous experience in the popular graphic ats, beginning with James SeoaxtBlackton himself ‘Horn in Sheed, England, in 1875, Blackion émms rated wo Ameria with his family when he was sla chi (Ghgure 12). In 1696 he wes working as a cub reporter and tattoonit forthe Nev York Evening World when his eo signed him to do a feature story on Ealion's new pto- Jecting machine, the Vitascope, which had just been dem ‘strated in public forthe fist ime. During an nterview srith Edison, the inventor asked the arst if he would Sketch him. As Blackton later reported, ‘rom come Sri end Mckound ta Screen | 1 old hm tat could and he sl, "You come out othe Black Manso we dd and he bad them got boards and wide white operand sme chal, snd ight then and dere he hal he Tema recrling your homile srvant drawing « picture of humas A. Buon Hes “Put your nam on that bard.” and “Th wil bet gon for you, wl go ll over the eounty ia Teh houses i and thal was my entrance int the motion Hose indy. fished a pare wi ow aers wih the pe of Blckon, Cartoons of the New York Bvening Wor erten ver he top of ha oar* Realizing instantly the potential of son's projector for profi as well as enferainment, Blackton ordered one and Farmed a partnership (which eventually became Vitagreph, ne of the most important pre-World War 1 producers, fuming outa variety of films including Blackton's anima tion subjects As the business grew, his administrative 10 fponsibides usurped the me he Tad for sndulging 19 ‘aperiments like Humorous Phases. He abandoned an ‘tion completely afer 1900. His later directorial efforts ‘Were infuenced by Guifith’s successes. He resigned from YVitagraph in 1917 to go into independent production £8 England, then resumed an executive postion with the com: ‘pany in 1923, eraining there two years un twas pute Chased by Warner Brothers. He died in Los Angeles tm 1941 Tlackton's role in the history of animation is curious ‘hough he had orginted so many animated techniques, {End although his work wes influential, he grew to disdain Garaons and al other tik effects. He neglected to wate Ge word about his eontabution tothe field is ls unpub {ished autobiography” but in 1917 he wrote Tn dhat ye fof 1905, [had not yet outgeown my fondness forall Kinds tick photography, genera of my ovm devising, What frie I cok in carping out all the weird happenings in The Foie Hott. Nowadays, ast ay yal len one pees engnes yan Tin esi he ‘ne, bt ear hav ogo my yi ens age a Sine et het te a ga fave rated pom where thy mat fave poe win hy a a ‘ih chon roped a wok wee cata” hi cae use tho pea cnr ith Whe Ss sma nos sey ae ary Por, ined bl araclte Engl ct cat hal tated wong fr En O12. et £"o1¢ acount that ker toe of hs calegues oe hes a ty ie en mag tes roving ed carat of wig sand ‘nce ed ov anda letnng and sing poser erties hn ny ose deme sp te hws, thats of rine were ed ny spe verse wtng a ng aesthetic ot wok hich ome vas «cnt ney, homeo me mote tray nd mote ese then myo! week he eer sie he oe ong atl ae Wh binges mesure dae oy wie pees ‘spheres of art 2 = Once the ats etmed th a wade, de lt value of thts cary taining varied greedy mh each ind ‘tua Wid Buc pape Soca fe moo oe, thenluone a is osalose tnckgrind despa e td wih oda oll oneal peat To sini a so ai ee rant arate ec or the itesrton ean, tha influence on fn fom and on te anated eau ‘aslo devon, ws oe inet anf ese Cay yous i cnctnn, as poy ea reed ‘rom Comic Strip ane iaciboar to ereen lighting sketches When the early cartoonists came othe cinema it was often by way of what Furniss bad called “popular enteral Tents” or performing lecture tours. Looking atthe old Timed fins, one realizes again how closely they were ‘Rlated tothe popular slage® More important than éhe {nfivence of come stnpe isa Unk between the frst ani nated cartoons and hye of graphic and performing a Known a "lighting sketches.” This was essentially a View fonlan parlor enterainment that took tothe vaudevii stage ‘Near the end of the nineteanth century, Here n a Sense, Tyas the birplace of the animated carton, because 28 Tohtning sketches made thei entry into ealy fms their teonogeaphy provided the mechanism by which selfs ‘ation fist occurred. ‘The artst Edwin G, Lutz has loft us a record of how tightning sketches were ypealy presented in 1897 (figure 15) CTweney years later, Lutz would eite & manual on fmation) The art would stand by his blank easel and Gelver am ilusrated monolog, Here, he fist draws & rine landscape, then aes details to transform it succes fvely ino a winter sunsot, a bicycle, and finally & scorcher”(cyclit), The noveley arose both from the us ‘expected alterations proivced by only afew lines and from the speed of the drawing, indicated by the sketcher's €y- Inamie poses. (If Luta’s figure is = porta of a specific tint, he has not been ented) Taberent in the lightning sketch acti ‘an archetypal formula for a mulitede of lms, out of which the first mated cartoons evolved, There were three treducible Component an artist, ostensibly the protagonist of the lm ‘End Invariably played bythe flmmaker himself a drawing ‘rface (sketch pad, blackboard, or canvas), always intially afore seve Edwin 6. Lute, “Te lighningsketcher" Le, April 15, 1897, blank; and the drawings, shown being executed by the faust with the appropise implements, such 0s pens, rushes, and chal There was alo a basic narrative struc- fare The ardst makes his drawings and they became em owed with the magle abiity to move, spontaneously Change hele shape, or become “zea” (hree

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