The Animated Cartoon Factory - History of Animation Timeline



		History of Animation 15,000 B.C. - 1899
			c. 15,000 - 13,000 B.C. Discoveries/Creation of... • Cave paintings in Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain. Cave artists used charcoal to outline thousands of images of mostly animals. They then used red and yellow ochre to create tonal shading. The images were drawn randomly in two dimensional profile with no hint of background surroundings. Clear acetate cels would not come into use for another 17,000 years or so. c. 5000 B.C. .Discoveries/Creation of... • Sumerians begin to write using picture language. Egyptians evolve this into heiroglyphics and also invent a type of paper made from the papyrus reed. Animation punches for registration are not invented for a few thousand years. c. 2350 B.C. Discoveries/Creation of... • Egyptian tombs are adorned with thousands of hieroglyphics illustrating the life, death and afterlife of their kings. This art form was built on rigid drawing formulas which left the artwork very static. These artists would probably have benifitted from some extra life drawing classes. c. 1250 B.C. Inventions • Stonehenge is built. The first Zoetrope. It's overwhelming size and lack of rotation make it very difficult to spin, so early druids ran around the outside circumference to view the animation posted on the interior stones. c. 1200 B.C. Creation of... • A great poem tells of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian King who lives forever. (One day Reg Hart will produce this as a never ending animated feaure film.) c. 650 B.C. Creation of... • Aesop begins writing his fables for animation. Eventually cuts a deal with Jay Ward. c. 600 B.C. Discoveries/Creation of... • Mesopotamia's predominant art form of bas-relief sculpture. These elaborate wall carvings depict scene after scene of the king's military exploits. An early form of storyboarding. c. 350 B.C. Discoveries • Aristotle describes image projection in terms of the camera obscura. c. 65 B.C. Discoveries •Titus Lucretius Carus, a Roman poet and philosopher, (98 - 55 BC) -- first reference to persistence of vision 1 A.D. Births • Jesus Christ is born. 79 A.D. News • Mt. Vesuvius erupts. 105 A.D. Inventions • Tsai Lun, an official of the Han Dynasty in China develops a process for converting vegetable fibers to sheets of paper.paper. 130 Discoveries • Ptolomy of Alexandria discovers the phenomenon of persistence of vision. (Probably because he had a bad blinking problem.) 336 Milestones • The earliest historical mention of Christmas being celebrated in Rome on Dec. 25th is found in a book written by Furius Dionysius Philocalus in 354 A.D. 618 -907 Inventions/Creation of... • During the Tang Dynasty in China the shadow puppet shows prove to be a very popular form of entertainment. 868 Inventions • A printed book, The Diamond Sutra, is made in China using wood blocks for printing. By 932, the Chinese are mass producing books using the wood block printing method. 1067 Creation of... • The Bayeux Tapestry, 70 metres long, illustrates the events of 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy, came to England with his army and overthrew Harold, the King of England. The tapestry shows quite vividly in a sequential series of "panels" similar to an animation storyboard the events from beginning to end. 1223 Inventions/Creation of... • St Francis of Assisi creates what may be the first "Christmas Crib" the forerunner of the nativity scene in the town of Greccio, Italy to allow the community to better picture the miracle of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. 1250 Inventions • Leon Battista Alberti invents the forerunner of the camera obscura. 1283 Inventions • The Italians construct a paper mill at Fabriano. 1350 Creation of... • The beginning of the legend of Robin Hood. 1450's Inventions • Johann Gutenburg invents the movable type. Within 50 years printing presses are set up in over 200 places across Europe ushering in the reformation and the renaissance.. 1452 Birthdays • Leonardo Da Vinci, artist and inventor is born (1452 - 1519). Had he been born during the 1900’s he would definitely have been an animator. 1458 Deaths • Johann Gutenberg of Germany dies (1400 - 1458). 1475 Birthdays • Michelangelo Buonarrotti is born, Italian painter and sculptor (1475 - 1564). 1483 News • 1st Mass is celebrated in Rome's Sistine Chapel. Birthdays • Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) is born, Italian painter. 1492 News • Columbus sets sail on his 1st voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. • Columbus lands on the Bahamas. 1497 News • John Cabot, a wealthy Italian merchant lands at Cape Bretton Island in north Newfoundland and claims it for England. c. 1500 Creation of... Italian statesman Niccolo Machiavelli writes his famous guide to using political power. (Still employed by many animation studio big-wigs.) c. 1517 Discoveries • Coffee made from South American beans is drunk in Europe for the first time. When it is eventually exported to North America it helps to drive the animation industry further into the nights. 1519 Deaths • Leonardo Da Vinci dies at age 67 (1452 - 1519) 1544 Inventions • Dutch astronomer Reinerus Gemma-Frisius uses a Camera Obscura to view a solar eclipse and later publishes the 1st illustrations of the method. 1550 Inventions • Geronimo Cardano makes the first camera lens. 1553 Inventions Gemma Frisius constructs a functional 'Camera Obscura' 1558 Milestones • Elizabeth I begins her reign in England, ushering in the English Renaissance and the Elizabethan Age. 1564 Birthdays • William Shakespeare, playwrite is born (1564 - 1610). He wrote his stories with animation in mind but had to settle for actors instead. Deaths • Michelangelo Buonarroti dies in Rome at 89 years of age. c. 1565 Inventions • The first pencil with graphite lead and a wooden cover is designed in Switzerland. Late 1500’s Discoveries Grinding of lenses and prisms is refined. Study of light and motion is greatly improved. 1582 News • Pope Gregory XIII proclaims the New Style or Gregorian Calendar which goes into effect with a 10 day adjustment. The day after Oct. 4th was Oct. 15th but it took centuries for most of the world to recognize the change. 1590 Inventions • Dutch spectacle maker, Zacharias Janssen, invents the microscope. 1605 Creation of... • Cervantes, a Spaniard, writes Don Quixote, the first proper novel. 1606 Birthdays • Rembrandt (Van Rijn) born (Dutch painter). 1608 Inventions • Dutchman Hans Lippershey, invents the first telescope. 1610 Deaths • After a night of drinking with Francis Bacon and other buds, William Shakespeare dies on his 46th birthday. Many animators still perform this ritual of going out for drinks with their co-workers... they skip the part about dying though. Shakespeare's plays are published for the first time in book form in 1623, 13 years after his death. 1617 Deaths • Rebecca Rolfe (Pocahontas) dies in England. 1620 News • On Sept 16th, the Mayflower leaves England for Virginia but they sail off course ind on No. 21st, they land in Massachusetts.. 1626 News • Dutch colonist Peter Minuit buys the island of Manhattan from the resident indians for $24.00.. 1637 Discoveries • Galileo Galilei, a brilliant Italian matematician, astronomer and physicist, discovers how the pendulum works. The pendulum swing is one of the primary animation assignments in most animation schools today. 1642 Birthdays • Sir Isaac Newton is born. 1645 Creation of... • Athanasius Kircher publishes his Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow) in Rome. • European scientists experiment with lanterns and their potential for entertainment. • A written description of a new invention called the magic lantern. 1651 News • The General Court of Boston, Mass. makes it a crime to observe Christmas and levies a 5 shilling fine on anyone caught doing so. 1656 News • The world's oldest present day newspaper, the "Haarlems Dagblad" begins publication in Holland. 1662 Creation of... • Punch and Judy puppet shows are shown for the first time in London, England. 1666 News • The Great fire of London. Discoveries • Samuel Pepys buys a “lanthorn with pictures in glasse to make strange things to appear on a wall” from optician Richard Reeves. 1671 Creation of... • Kircher creates a series of slides depicting scenes from the life of Christ and presents them to audiences. 1681 Deaths • The Dodo becomes extinct, contrary to the time period shown in the movie, Ice Age. 1685 Creation of... • In the Netherlands, Johannes Zahn publishes instructions for making a lantern into a projecting clock. 1687 Discoveries • Sir Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727) writes the Principia. The Law of Gravity is defined and is the basis for most of the animation principles used today 1702 Creation of... • The first Russian newspaper, 1703 Creation of... • The first British newspaper, The daily Courant, is published in London. 1704 Creation of... • The first American newspaper, Boston Newsletter 1706 Birthdays • Benjamin Franklin is born 1727 Deaths • Sir Issac Newton Dies (1642 - 1727) 1732 News • Pierre De Beaumarchais is born, French dramatist -"The Barber of Seville" and "The Marriage of Figaro". 1736 Creation of... • Dutchman Pieter van Musschenbroeck shows visions of a windmill with revolving arms, a man raising his hat and a woman bowing. 1741 Creation of... • Anders Celsius creates centigrade, the temperature scale in which the freezing point of water is set at zero and the boiling point at 100. 1744 Creation of... • In London, England Samuel Baker holds his 1st auction of books from a private library, thus establishing the Sotheby's Auction business. 1752 Discoveries • Benjamin Franklin announces his most important invention, the lightning conductor, which proves the existance of electricity, which we now use to power our animation light tables and electric pencil sharpeners, by golly! • England and the American colonies discard the old Julian calendar and begin using the Gregorian 170 years after the change was announced in 1582. 11 days vanish (Sept. 3 - 13th inclusive) as the calendar was adjusted so that Sept 14th followed Sept. 2nd. 1770 Creation of... Sir Thomas Wedgewood recordes light images in an early photography experiment. 1772 Creation of... • Dominique Seraphin presents “shadow puppet” shows at Versailles. Popular since the Tang Dynasty in China (618 -907 A.D.) They were known as “Omres Chinoises” or “Chinese Shadows” 1774 Creation of... The 1st newspaper cartoon. In his Pennsylvainia Gazette, Ben Franklin prints a drawing of a segmented snake representing the colonies, with the caption: “Join or Die”. 1775 Inventions • U.S. Postal system is established. Benjamin Franklin becomes the 1st postmaster. 1776 News • July 4th - America becomes a country. The Declaration of Independance is signed. • July 4th - King George III writes in his diary, “Nothing important happened today.” 1777 Birthdays Nicholas Conte, inventor of Conte crayons is born 1781 Discoveries • German astrologer, Frederick Herschel, discovers the planet Uranus and is promptly punched in the mouth by his wife as he exclaims to her, "I can see Uranus!" 1783 Birthdays • Washington Irving is born, American writer of "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". 1785 News • The London Daily Universal Register newspaper is 1st published on Jan 1st. Later changes it's name to "The Times" in 1788. • Congress names U.S. currency the "Dollar" and adopts a decimal coinage system. Birthdays • Jacob Ludwig Grimm is born, writer of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. 1786 Birthdays • Wilhelm Carl Grimm is born, writer of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. 1789 News • Bastille Day - the beginning of the French Revolution. Birthdays • Louis Deguerre, photography pioneer is born. 1792 Birthdays • Gioacchino Rossini is born, Italian operatic composer of the "Barber of Seville". 1794 Creation of... • Etienne Gaspard Robert of Liege opens his eerie “Fantasmagorie” in Paris. Showing lantern slide portraits of recent dead heroes of the French Revolution. His show ends with a slide of the Grim Reaper... “the fate that awaits us all.” 1800 Birthdays • William Henry Fox Talbot is born, photography pioneer. 1801 Creation of... • Paul De Philipstahl show the “Phantasmagoria” to Londoners. Similar to the French version, London children steal money and stay out late to see the show. Inventions • Richard Trevithick drives a 3 wheeled steam powered vehicle carrying 7 passengers in Camborne, Cornwall, England. It was one of the 1st automobiles in history. 1802 Birthdays • Victor Hugo born, French author of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Les Miserables".. 1803 Creation of... • “Phantasmagoria” opens in New York. Later, several shows open in many other American cities. 1805 Birthdays • Hans Christian Anderson, author is born 1806 News • German Emperor Francis II officially dissolves the Holy Roman Empire which was founded in 962. 1808 News • The Spanish Inquisition is banished by Napoleon Bonaparte. 1809 Birthdays • Edgar Allan Poe is born, author of "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Raven". 1813 News • The term "Uncle Sam" the personification of the U.S. government is born as a newspaper in Troy, N.Y. uses the term for the 1st time in print. 1818 Publishing • "Frankenstein" is first published by 21 year old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. 1820 News • Scientists disprove the popular belief that the tomato is poisonous. Birthdays • Sir John Tenniel is born, English Cartoonist who did the illustrations for "Alice in Wonderland".. 1822 Birthdays • Rev. Hannibal Goodwin, inventor of the use of celluloid as an emulsion base is born 1824 Creation of... • Peter Mark Roget (of Thesaurus fame) publishes “Persistence of Vision with Regard to Moving Objects” 1825 Inventions • Thaumatrope is invented 1826 Creation of... • French chemist, Nicephore Niepce (1765 - 1833) makes the first surviving photographic image on a polished pewter plate, exposed for 8 hours. 1827 Deaths • Ludwig Van Beethoven dies in Vienna, German music composer. 1828 Inventions • Simon Von Stampher an Austrian Geologist invents the Stroboscope. Birthdays • Jules Verne is born, French author of "From the Earth to the Moon" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". 1829 Inventions • William Austin Burt of Michigan patents the 1st typewriter. 1830 Inventions • American Issac Adams patents the 1st motorized book printing press. Birthdays • Edweard Muybridge is born 1830’s Inventions • Louis Daguerre (1789 - 1851) and Joseph Niepce (1765 - 1833) are successful in their experiments with photography. 1831 News • Victor Hugo finishes writing "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". 1832 Inventions • Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1801-1883) invents the phenakistoscope ("spindle viewer") (also called a fantoscope or phantasmascope). A large disc with a series of drawings around the circumference is attached on a spindle to another disc made of metal with slots in it. Both are made to rotate. When the drawings are viewed through the slots in the metal disc they appear to move. Birthdays • Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) is born, author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". 1833 Inventions • Walter Hunt invents the first lock-stitch sewing machine, but loses interest and does not patent his invention. Later, Elias Howe secures patent on an original lock-stitch machine, but fails to manufacture and sell it. Still later, Isaac Singer infringes on Howe's patent to make his own machine, which makes Singer rich. Hunt also invents the safety pin, which he sells outright for $400. 1834 Inventions • William Horner invents the Daedalum (Wheel of the Devil). • William Henry Fox Talbot begins his potographic investigations. Birthdays • Phillip Reis is born, German inventor of the 1st telephone in 1860 - 16 years before Bell's patent. 1835 Birthdays • Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) is born. 1836 Inventions • Safety matches are invented. 1837 News • Queen Victoria assumes the throne after the death of her Uncle, William III ushering in the period known as the "Victorian Age". Inventions • Thomas Davenport patents the 1st workable electric motor. 1838 Inventions • Wheatstone invents the Stereoscope showing the viewer 3D images. • Morse invents the Telegraph. 1839 Inventions • Louis Daguerre announces the birth of photography. Takes the 1st picture of the moon. (William Fox Talbot (1800 - 1877) says that Daguerre is full of pate and that he actually invented photography first. Actually, Sir Thomas Wedgewood says he recorded light images as early as 1770.) • Fox Talbot develops negative photographic images on glass then turns them into positive images on paper. • At the Royal Institution, English Scientist, Michael Faraday announces the development of photography. Birthdays • Paul Cezanne is born, French Impressionist painter. 1840 News • The world's 1st commercial photography studio opens in New York city offering to make Daguerreotype portraits.. 1841 Comics • Punch Magazine, a magazine that featured satirical articles and cartoons makes it"s debut. The magazine quickly gains a reputation as "a defender of the oppressed and a radical scorge of all authority." with it"s viciousl ridicule politicians and business men who exploited poor. Punch Magazine is obviously a forerunner to some of todays humor magazines like Mad Magazine, National Lampoon, & Spy. 1843 Publishing • English author Charles Dicken's classic "A Christmas Carol" is published. 1844 Inventions • Thomas Eakins (1844 - 1916) along with Eadweard Muybridge are the first to take a rapid, multiple exposure photograph of a pole-vaulter named George Reynolds. Muybridge would go on to persue this study of human movement further, creating a series of photo studies that are still used by animators today. • Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrates his telegraph by sending a message to Baltimore from the chambers of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC. The message, "What hath God wrought?," marks the beginning of a new era in communication. Birthdays • Emile Reynaud 1845 Literary • Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem "The Raven", beginning "Once upon a midnight dreary..." is published in the New York Evening mirror. Inventions Englishman Stephen Perry patents the rubber band. The device was later used to propell a paperclip projectile at animator Tex Avery, hitting him in the eye and causing him to lose his vision. 1847 Birthdays • Thomas Edison is born (1847 - 1931). • Alexander Graham Bell is born, Scottish inventor. 1848 News • King Louis Philippe is overthrown. Year of Revolutions in France begins. 1850 News • 1st U.S. patent for Magic Lantern slides made of glass plates is issued to Frederick Langenheim. • DuBois Parmelee of New Paltz, N.Y. patents the 1st depressible key adding machine, which he called a "calculator". The impractical design proved unpopular. 1851 News • The 1st American YMCA is organized in Boston, Mass. 1852 Birthdays • Uncle Sam is born. The faniliar image first appeared as a cartoon in the New York Lantern. The name derived from that of a customs agent named Sam Wilson who stamped “U.S.” on goods moving from Canada to the U.S. Publishing • Harriet Beecher Stowe's book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published. 1853 Inventions • Austrian Franz Von Uchatius devises an early version of the Zoopraxinoscope, perfected by Eadweard Muybridge in 1879, 16 years later. 1854 Birthdays • George Eastman, inventor is born (Eastman-Kodak) Innovations • The 1st useful process for making paper from wood fiber is patented in the U.S. by Hugh Burgess and Charles Watt. Most paper was made primarily of rag pulp, which had become increasingly expensive. 1857 Birthdays • Animator Emile Cohl born 1858 News • H. L. Lipman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania patents the concept of attaching an eraser to a lead pencil. 1861 News • U.S. Civil War begins. (1861 - 1865) • U.S. Congress authorizes the printing of paper money. Inventions • Coleman Sellers patents the Kinematoscope. 1860's News • The golden age of children's books. Fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Louisa May Alcott writes, Little Women. , 1862 Inventions • The Bowling Ball is invented. • Abraham Lincoln issues his Emancipation Proclomation which would free slaves in Confederate controlled territory as of Jan. 1st 1863. • Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents the "Chronograph" (also known as the "Stopwatch") News • Lewis Carroll writes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Birthdays • Auguste Lumiere (brother of Louis Jean Lumiere) film pioneer is born. 1863 News • Abraham Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address. Inventions • John Henry Pepper and Henry Dircks patent “Projecting Images of Living Persons in the Air” 1864 Birthdays • Louis Jean Lumiere (brother of Auguste Lumiere) film pioneer is born. 1865 Deaths Abraham Lincoln is assassinated. Publishing • 1st edition of Alice in Wonderland is published. Inventions • The U.S. patent for a coffee perculator is issued to James H. Mason of Franklin, Mass. Birthdays • Konstantin Stanislavski, credited with creating "Method acting", teacher and author is born. 1866 News • John and Simon Reno stage the 1st train robbery in American history making off with $13,000.00. Trains had previously been robbed but these were of stationary trains sitting in depots or freight yards. The Reno Brothers stopped the moving train in a sparsely populated region where they could carry out the crime without interference from the law or curious bystanders. Birthdays • Beatrix (Helen) Potter born (English author of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit") 1867 News • Canada becomes a country. (Not as a result of Lincoln being assasinated). • Cartoon drawings first appear in Vanity Fair. Birthdays • Windsor McKay is born Sept. 26th in Spring Lake, Michigan (1867 - 1934) (he later reports that he was born in 1871) Inventions • William Lincoln of Providence, R.I. patents the Zoetrope. The Daedalum (Wheel of the Devil) invented in 1834 is renamed the Zoetrope (Wheel of Life) and becomes a popular toy. • Other names were tried and discarded before settling on the Zoetrope, such as the Pooposcope, Drumascope, Phenetakistocloposcope and of course, the ill fated Spinalottatimestoseethemovementium-O-Scopum 1868 News • 7 members of the "Reno Gang" get away with $98,000.00 in the "Great Train Robbery" near Marsfield, Indiana. Inventions • The Kineograph is invented A.K.A. The “Flipbook” It is used as giveaway advertisements and merchandise bonuses. • Christopher Latham Sholes is granted a patent for a device he calls a "Typewriter". Comics • Uncle Sam character makes his 1st appearance in a Thomas Nast illustration for Harper's Weekly. 1869 Milestones • Transcontinental railway line is completed in the U.S.. • Charles Hires sells "Root Beer" for the 1st time in Philadelphia, PA. 1870 Inventions • A patent is taken out on celluloid, the basis of movie film and animation cels. The inventor had been trying to invent a substitute for ivory billiard balls. 1871 News • The Great Chicago fire. 1872 News • Leland Stanford hires Eadweard Muybridge to find out if a trotting horse has all 4 feet off the ground. He shoots 25 sequential photo’s per second to find out. (They do all come off the ground) 1873 Inventions • Remington Co. mass produces the first modern typewriter. Inspired by a Scientific American article featuring a British attempt at a typing machine, Christopher Latham Sholes invents his own. In 1873 he sells an improved prototype to Remington and Sons, gunsmiths, of Ilion, New York, who begin to mass produce the machines. Among the first works to be produced on a typewriter is Mark Twain's "Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Birthdays • The Northwest Mounted Police Force of Canada (A.K.A. The Mounties) is established. 1874 Birthdays • Raoul Barre is born (1874 - 1932) • Arthur Melbourne-Cooper is born (director, animator, producer) • Houdini is born 1875 Birthdays • J. Stuart Blackton born (1875 - 1941) • Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars is born. • D.W. Griffith is born, Film director of "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance". 1876 Inventions • Alexander Graham Bell invents the Telephone. Alexander Graham Bell patents his telephone, built with the assistance of young self-trained engineer Thomas A. Watson. Elisha Gray, who developed a similar device at about the same time, will unsuccessfully challenge Bell's patent. • Thomas Edison receives a patent for the mimeograph machine for duplicating documents. Comics • Joseph Keppler, a cartoonist, establishes Puck Magazine. A humor mad which features both text articles and cartoons much in the manner of Punch Magazine but with a more consevative stance. Puck starts out as a German language weekly. 1877 Inventions • Emil Reynaud invents the Praxinoscope. • Thomas Edison invents the Phonograph. Working with a team of engineers at his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratories, Thomas Alva Edison perfects a system of sound recording and transmission. The first recording replayed is a voice saying "Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow." • Muybridge perfects and constructs the Zoopraxinoscope. Comics An English language verion of Puck Magazine begins circulation. The magazine would lose money in it"s first year, being subsidized by the successful German, version however by the 1880"s circulation would increase to 80,000 copies a week. The magazine would feature well known artists of the day such as Fredrick Burr Opper (who would later go on to create Happy Hooligan), James Wales, Livingston Hopkins, Eugene Zimmerman, & Bernard Gillam. 1878 News • An anarchist tries unsuccessfully to assasinate the Kaiser of Germany. The anarchists believed that freedom could only happen when the rules of scociety were broken down. European politicians feared the mysterious men in trenchcoats with bombs that looked like bowling balls with fuses. (see MAD magazine's "Spy v.s. Spy") 1879 Birthdays • John Randolph Bray born (1879 - 1978) • Albert Einstein is born Inventions • Backed by $30,000 in research funds provided by investors including J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilts, Thomas Edison perfects an incandescent light bulb. The first commercial incandescent system will be installed at the New York printing firm of Hinds and Ketcham in January, 1881. Inventor Joseph Swan demonstrated his lightbulb earlier in January of this year but Edison was the 1st to bring it to market. 1880 Birthdays • Earl Hurd born (1879 -?) • W.C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield) is born, American commedian and actor. Inventions • Thomas Edison patents an incandescent electric light. • Thomas Edison opens the 1st light bulb factory in Menlo Park, N.J. • Electricity is used for the 1st time to light Broadway St. in New York, N.Y. 1881 Inventions • The Zoopraxiscope is invented. 1882 Inventions • Reynaud combines the Praxinoscope with a projector, drawing animated stories on long strips of paper then later on strips of celluloid. Birthdays • Ladislas Starewicz (Wladyslaw Starewicz) is born (animator, director, producer) • A.A. (Alan Alexander) Milne is born, author of Winne the Pooh 1883 News • The volcanic island of Krakatoa erupts and is heard 2000 miles away. The explosion throws 5 cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air, creates tidal waves 120 feet high and kills 36,000 people. Birthdays • Max Fleischer born. (1883 - 1972) • Leon Schlesenger born (1883 - ) • Frank King, cartoonist - Gasoline alley is born 1884 News • Delegates from 25 nations agree to adopt the Greenwich Meridian as the Prime Meridian. • Vol. 1 of the Oxford Dictionary is published. "A to Ant". It took another 43 years to publish the remaining volumes up to "Z". 1885 News • Harvy Wilcox names his new ranch north of L.A. “Hollywood”. • Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in Rochester, N.Y. begins manufacturing movie film. • Dr. John Pemberton brews up the 1st batch of his "brain tonic" and "Intellectual Beverage", the cocane containing Coca-Cola. • The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York city Birthdays • Pat Sullivan is born (producer, director, animator) 1886 Birthdays • Willis O’Brien animator of King Kong is born. • Edward Everett Horton is born, American actor and voice talent, most notably for Jay Ward cartoons. • !st Coca-Cola goes on sale at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, GA. Inventions • German manufacturer Karl Benz earns a patent for his 3 wheeled "Motorwagen", the 1st practical internal-combustion vehicle ever constructed. 1887 News • William Randolph Hearst buys the San Francisco Examiner and begins his publishing empire. Birthdays • Paul Terry born (Terrytoons) (1887 - 1971) Inventions • Etienne - Jules Marley experiments with the movement of abstract shapes photographed in color onto glass plates. • Friese - Greene and Mortimer Evans develop the “Box Projector” • Edison's tube recording system produces distorted sound because of gravity's pressure on the playing stylus. Emile Berliner, a German immigrant living in Washington, DC, invents a process for recording sound on a horizontal disc. The "platter" record is born. • Hannibal W. Goodwin of Newark, N.J. applies for a patent for celluloid photographic film. 1888 News • Emile Reynaud demonstrates a device (later called a theatre optique) that projected animated images that were painted on long strips of celluloid. This allowed for animated films long enough to be have a story rather than just be a demonstration of a moving object. The first film that was created was called Un bon bock ("A Good Beer"). • The 1st of 5 victims of the infamous "Jack the Ripper" are found. Birthdays • Carl Stalling is born (song writer) Inventions • Louis Le Prince claims a patent on cinema camera, predating Edison and Lumiere. He boards a train to Dijon and is never seen or heard from again. • In Rochester, New York, George Eastman introduces a hand-held box camera for portable use. The camera is pre-loaded with 100 exposure film; after shooting the photographer returns the whole camera to the manufacturer for development and a reload. 1889 News • The Eiffel tower is dedicated in Paris, France. Inventions • Dickson demonstrates the Kinetophone to Edison. • Herman Holerith receives a U.S. patent for his Electric Tabulating Machine. Birthdays • Charlie Chaplin is born • Charles Bowers is born (producer, director, writer, animator) • Joe Fleischer is born (1889 - 1979) 1890 News • French aviation pioneer Clement Ader takes off in a steam powered airplane and flies approximately 160 feet in the world's 1st powered "hop". Birthdays • Billy DeBeck, cartoonist is born creator of Barney Google • Charles Thorson (character designer) • Grim Natwick (Myron Natwick) (animator, director, character designer) • Gregory La Cava (director, producer, writer, animator) 1891 Inventions • Edison manufactures the Kinetoscope as a private viewer. • Edison is granted a patent for wireless radio. Birthdays • Lou Fleischer is born (1891 - 1985) • Burt Gillett is born (director) 1892 News • Emile Reynaud opens his Theatre Optique at the Musee Grevin in Paris. His films: “Poor Pierrot”, 15 min. “A good Glass of Beer”, 15 min. “A Clown and His Dogs”, 10 min. are accompanied with music and electronically triggered sound effects. He gives aproximately 500,000 performances between 1892 and 1900. Birthdays • Wladyslaw Starewicz, puppet animator is born • Otto Messmer, animator is born (Felix the Cat) (1892 - 1983) • Pinto Colvig (Vance Colvig) is born (voice actor, writer, director) • J.R.R. Tolkien is born (author of the Ring Trilogy) • Hal Roach is born (American film producer "Laurel & Hardy" and "Our Gang" films. 1893 News • Edison builds the first motion picture studio in New Jersey. The black paper covered shed is nicknamed “The Black Maria” because it resembles a police van. • The 1st motion picture close-up using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope of a comedian sneezing .• America's 1st automobile is built by bicycle makers Charles and Frank Duruea in Springfield, Mass. Birthdays • Roy O. Disney, co-founder The Walt Disney Company is born 1894 News • Ronald Reader, James Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith form “The International Novelty Company” performing magic and lightning drawings. • The 1st Magic Lantern feature presentation, a precursor to cinema using slides and imitated motion is shown in New York city. The show "Miss Jerry" featured a plot, characters and titles. • W.K. Dickson is granted a patent for motion picture film. • Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope debut's in a New York city arcade. Birthdays • Dave Fleischer is born (1894 - 1979) • Bill Nolan (William C. Nolan) (director, animator) Comics The First Color newspaper page is printed in The New York Recorder. One year later, The New York World, headed by Joseph Pulitzer, publishes it"s first color page. 1895 News • Augustine and Luis Lumieres have their first public showing of cinematographe films at the Grand Cafe in Paris. • Woodville Latham and his sons, Otway and Gray, demonstrate the 1st projected movie in the U.S. The demonstration on Franklin St. in New York city used a projector that rolled perforated film in front of a lantern. Although movies had been shown using Edison's Kinetoscope, the films could only be viewed one at a time in a peep show box. Comics Richard Felton Outcault's The Yellow Kid makes his debut in Pulitzer's New York World newspaper. Birthdays • Ben Sharpsteen is born (director, producer, animator) Inventions • Edison invents the Mutoscope, a mechanical version of the flip book. It is a machine that becomes popular at amusement parks, (not a machine used for mutating people.). • Max Skananowsky completes the Bioskop projector. • Emil Berliner founds the Berliner Gramophone Company to produce gramophones and flat gramophone records of his own invention. 1896 News • Reader, Smith and Blackton form the Vitagraph Company. • Edison’s first show in New York. • Robert Paul demonstrates a Kinetograph to the Royal Institute, and British cinema is born. • Hermann Hollerith incorporates his tabulating machine company which would eventually become IBM. • A projected movie is shown as a commercial attraction for the 1st time at Koster and Bail's Music Hall, a vaudeville theater in New York city, using a Vitascope projector. Comics • "The Yellow Kid" begins publication as a weekly Newspaper feature. Birthdays • Hans Fischerkoesen (director, producer) • Dodie Smith is born, English novelist of "101 Dalmations". Inventions • Marconi demonstrates wireless telegraphy in England. • 1st zipper is patented. 1897 Inventions • Dr. John Kellogg serves the world's 1st cornflakes to mental patients in Battle Creek, Michigan. Notable Films • Blackton produces his first film: “The Thief on the Roof” Comics • Hearst"s Examiner establishes it"s Sunday comics supplement, The American Humorist featuring "The Yellow Kid". • Rudolph Dirk's "The Katzenjammer Kids" debut as part of the American Humorist. • Richard Felton Outcault moves "The Yellow Kid" from Pulitzer"s New York World to William Randolph Hearst"s San Franscisco Examiner. 1898 News • The Battle of Manila Bay. Admiral Dewey begins the battle by saying to his captain, “You may fire when ready, Gridley.” (Sorry, Bugs Bunny didn’t say it first.) Birthdays • Dick Huemer, storyman is born • Ken Harris is born (animator) • Yasuji Murata (Murata Yasuji) (director, animator, producer) • Sanae Yamamoto (Yamamoto Sanae, Yamamoto Zenjiro) (director, producer, animator) 1899 News • Muybridge publishes “Animals in Motion” a book still widely used as reference by animators. • Smith and Blackton travel to Cuba to shoot footage of the Spanish-American war. They miss the fight at Santiago Bay. After returning home, they make cutouts of the boats and photograph themin an inch of water, manuvering them with thin threads. They use cigar smoke to create the special effects of the battle. • The Refigerator is patented by A.T. Marshall. • Aspirin is patented in Germany Publishing • Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" is released. Notable Films • British animator, Artur Melbourne Cooper produces possibly the first animated commercial ”Match Appeal” by stop motion photography of matchsticks. Birthdays • Lotte Reininger, silhouette animator, director of the first animated feature is born. (1899 - 1981) • Valentina Brumberg is born (Russian animator, director) • Alfred Hitchcock is born (British live action director) • Elwyn Brooks White is born (American author of "Stuart Little" and "Charlotte's Web") 1900 - 1910 Timeline Index Back to Homepage