History of Animation 1911 - 1920
1911
World News
• Polish biochemist, Casimir Funk discovers a new chemical he names the "vitamin".
• Painting of Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre Art Gallery.
• 1st Indianapolis 500 race held. Speeds averaged 78 miles per hour
• Chevrolet automobile company formed
• Explorer, Roald Emundsen reaches the South Pole.

Movie News
• The newsreel becomes a standard feature at movie screenings.

Animation News
• John Coleman Terry and Hugh Michael Shields form a company in San Francisco to produce a combination of animation and actuality shooting.
• Alpha Cinematographic Films goes out of business. (Great Britain)

Comics
• Sidney Smith's "Old Doc Yak" comic strip makes it's first appearance.

Birthdays
Norm McCabe (Norman McCabe) animator, director (February 10, 1911— January 17, 2006 - 94 yrs old)

John Lounsbery, animator (March 9, 1911 - February 13, 1976 - 64 yrs old)
Joe Barbera, animation producer (March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006 - 95 yrs old)
Vincent Price (Vincent Leonard Price, Jr.) animation voice actor (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993 - 82 yrs old)
Hawley Pratt, director, layout artist, background artist (June 9, 1911—March 2, 1999 - 87 yrs old)
(Robert) Fred Moore animator, character designer (September 7, 1911 - November 23, 1952 - 41 yrs old)
Mitsuyo Seo (Seo Mitsuyo) director, animator (Sept 26, 1911 - date - 99 yrs old)
Stephen Bosustow (Stephen Reginold Bosustow) producer, writer (November 6, 1911 - July 4, 1981 - 79 yrs old)
Ray Patterson, animator, director, producer (November 23, 1911 – December 30, 2001 - 90 yrs old)


Notable Cartoons
United States
• McCay releases “Little Nemo”

Europe
• “Ta-Ta! Come Again”, Charles Armstrong /Armstrong. (Great Britain) (silhouette animation)
• “The Little Artists”, J.H. Martin /Cricks & Martin. (Great Britain) (puppet animation)
• “Les Fantasies d'Agenor Maltrace” ("The Fantasies of Agenor Mistraced"), Emile Cohl /Pathe. (France)



1912
World News
• Austrian, Franz Reichalt, amateur parachute inventor before leaping off the Eiffel Tower says,
"I am confident of success." Reichalt plunged like a stone to his death.
• The ocean liner "Titanic" strikes an iceberg and sinks in the north Atlantic during it's maiden voyage to
New York. 1595 out of 2340 passengers die, only 745 survive.

• Albert Einstein refers to time as the "Fourth Dimension".

Movie News
• Carl Laemmle founds Universal Studios, the 1st major producer of motion pictures in the U.S.
• The 1st Keystone Kops movie "Hoffmeyer's Release".

Animation News
• Henry (Hy) Mayer studio opens. Produces Hy Mayer Cartoons using the “Direct-on-the-screen” technique.
• Carl Laemmle forms Universal Pictures
• Emile Cohl joins Eclair Films (Fort Lee, New Jersey)
• Raoul Barre and William C. Nolan make animated advertisements for New York theaters.


Comics
• Edger Rice Burrough publishes his first two stories "Under The Moons of Mars" and "Tarzan Of The Apes" in "All Story Magazine". Burrough's "Tarzan" character would go on to become a world wide icon.
• William Randolph Hearst creates "International Feature Service" to syndicate popular comic strips. The company is later renamed King Features.
• Rudolph Dirks quits working for Hearst's Journal American and goes to Joseph Pulitzer New York World. The move results in a landmark trial over rights to "The Katzenjammer Kids" comic strip.

Birthdays
Jiri Trinka, Russian puppet animator (1912 - 1969 - 57 yrs old) (The Hand 1965)
John Halas, animator (1912 - 1995 83 yrs old)
Chuck Jones, animator (1912 - 2002 - 90 yrs old)
Charles Addams, cartoonist of "The Addam's Family". (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988 - 75 yrs old)
Jackson Beck voice actor - Bluto (July 23, 1912 - July 28, 2004 - 92 yrs old)
• Gyula Macskássy (director, animator, founder of Pannonia Films in Hungary)
Frank Thomas (Franklin Thomas) animator, character designer, writer (September 5, 1912 – September 8, 2004 - 92 yrs old)
Ollie Johnston (Oliver Martin Johnston Jr.) animator, character designer, writer (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008 - 96 yrs old)

Notable Cartoons
United States
“How a Mosquito Operates” a.k.a. “The Story of a Mosquito”, Winsor McCay. (drawn animation, some live action)

Europe
• “In Gollywog Land”, Martin Thornton /Natural Colour Kinematograph Company. (Great Britain) (puppet animation, some live action, early color film)
• “Mest' Kinematograficeskgo Operatora” ("The Cameraman's Revenge"), Ladislas Starewicz /Khanzhonkov. (Russia) (puppet animation)

Australia
• “Cartoons of the Moment”, Harry Julius. (Australia) series distributed with newsreels



1913
World News
• Abstract art shown in New York
• Panama Canal opens
• The painting, Mona Lisa is recovered. It was stolen by artist Vincenzo Perugia. He was arrested after trying to sell the painting to an antique dealer.

• The word "Jazz" appears in print for the 1st time in a sports report in the San Fransisco Bullitin, describing the energy of a baseball player.

Movie News
• Cecil B. DeMille settles his film production company in Hollywood.
• Jesse Lasky, Samuel Goldfish and Cecil B DeMille form the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company which produces the 1st silent feature film to be shot in Hollywood, CA - "The Squaw Man".
• Charlie Chaplin makes his film debut in Mack Sennett's "Making A Living".
• A "Pie-In-The-Face" routine is 1st used in the silent film "A Noise From The Deep". Mabel Norman hit Fatty Arbuckle.

Animation News
• Raoul Barre changes the name of studio to Raoul Barre Studio and opens in New York.
• Raoul Barre develops the system of pegs to keep animated drawings registered. He also developed the slash method of animation. The background and animated figures are on separate pieces of paper. Then the parts of the paper with the figure that are not needed are slashed away. Then the two drawings are combined with photography.
• George McManus and Emil Cohl open their own studio. They produce “Weekley and Snookums” cartoons.
• Emil Cohl also animates a series of cartoon items for a weekly newsreel called "Eclair Journal" (1913 - 1914)
• Newspaper cartoonist, Sydney Smith produces a series of cartoons based on his comic strip character, "Doc Yak" (1913 - 1915)
• John Randolph Bray studio begins “Colonel Heeza Liar” series (1913 - 1924). Walter Lantz joins the studio as an animator.
• Gregory LaCava and Frank Moser begin their animation careers at Raoul Barre Studio.
• Studios begin teamworking and specialization.

• Windsor McCay hires art student and neighbour, John A. Fitzsimmons to help draw Gertie The Dinosaur, making him the first assistant animator or “clean-up artist”. Fitzsimmons also assists on The Sinking of the Lusitania.

• Otto Messmer creates several short experimental cartoons while working as a scene painter's assistant at Universal.


Comics
• George McManus debuts his "Bringing Up Father" strip in Hearst's Journal American.
• Arthur Sarsfield Ward (Sax Rohmer) publishes his first "Fu Manchu" book The Insidious Fu Manchu (The Mystery of Fu Manchu). "Fu Manchu", a oriental criminal mastermind, would go on to be one of the most popular villans of all time appearing in feature films, comics and pulp magazines. "Fu Manchu" was the inspiration for such other notable villans as "Flash Gordon's" arch-nemisis "Ming The Merciless", "James Bonds" foe "Dr. No", "Batman's" "Ra's Al Ghul", "The Shadow's" "Shi Wan Kahn", plus Marvel Comics own oriental villians "Yellow Claw" & "The Mandrian".
• George Herriman's "Krazy Kat" appears in it's own strip.

Birthdays
Marc Davis, animator (1913 - 2000 - 87 yrs old)
Bob Clampett, animator (1913 - 1984 - 71 yrs old)
Frank Tashlin, director, producer, writer, animator (February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972 - 59 yrs old)
Jim Backus (James Gilmore), the voice of Mr. Magoo (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989 - 76 yrs old)

Notable Cartoons
United States
• “War in Turkey”, Emile Cohl /Eclair. (first of a number of topical cartoons that appeared in the Eclair Journal)
• “A Study in Crayon “, Hy Mayer /Universal. first Travelaughs series, appeared in the Universal Weekly (later the Universal Screen Magazine), a newsreel program (1913-1918, 1922-1923).
• “When He Wants A Dog, He Wants A Dog”, Emile Cohl /Eclair. first Newlyweds cartoon (1913-1914) (first cartoon series based on continuing characters)
• “The Dachshund and the Sausage”, John R. Bray /Bray.
• “Old Doc Yak”, Sidney Smith /Selig Polyscope. first Doc Yak series (1913-1915)
• “A Vegetarian's Dream”, Emile Cohl /Eclair. (puppet animation)
• “Colonel Heeza Liar in Africa”, John R. Bray /Bray. first Colonel Heeza Liar series (1913-1917)

Europe
• “Pathe Cartoons No. 1”, Max J. Martin /Pathe. (Great Britain) (drawn animation, some live action) series 1913-1914
• “Wie Plimps und Plumps den Detektiv Uberlisten” ("How Plimps and Plumps Fooled the Detective") (ss), Otto Hermann. (Germany) First experiments in animation by Oten Shimokawa, Junichi Terauchi, and Seitaro Kitayama.



1914
World News
• Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
• Austria and Serbia go to war over the assassinations.
• Russia declares it will protect Serbian sovreingnty
• Germany declares war on Russia
• Germany declares war on France then invades
• Germany invades Belgium
• England declares war on Germany
• Austria declares war on Russia
• Serbia declares war on Germany (are you following all of this?)
• Germany and Austria threaten Italy if it remains neutral
• Japan declares war on Germany
• German Zepplin raids London
• Britian, France and Russia declare war on Turkey
• Did I mention that WORLD WAR I begins.
• Henry Ford invents the chain-drive assembly line
• President Woodrow Wilson proclaims a new holiday - "Mother's Day".

Movie News
• Paramount Pictures is formed by W. W. Hodkinson. (In 1994 it is bought by Viacom.)

Animation News
• Pat Sullivan begins animating at the Raoul Barre Studio.
• John Randolph Bray becomes John Randolph Bray Studio and releases “Bobby Bumps” cartoons.
• Earl Hurd applies for a patent to use transparent plastic sheets for drawing the moving objects in animation. These are placed over a background. The background with one of more layers of transparent sheets are photographed to produce the final image. The transparent sheets were later called cels because they were made of celluloid
.• Bray takes out patents on animation, cycles, extremes and inbetweens, registration and the use of tracing paper. He later tries to sue Windsor McCay, who has been using these techniques for years.
• Bray-Hurd Process Company created to enforce Bray and Hurd's patent rights. Most animation companies had to have licences from the company to operate through the early 1930s (when their patents ran out).
• Pat Sullivan forms his own animation company producing “Universal Newsreel” and advertising films for U.S. War Bonds.
• Emile Cohl returns to France after working in America. Upon arriving he is told that a fire in the negative vaults in New Jersey has destroyed all of his American output.
• Paul Terry sees Windsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur and has a life changing revelation.
• István Kató Kiszly makes cartoons for a local newsreel. (Hungary)


Comics
• On appeal, Hearst vs. Dirks suit is settled. Landmark decision retains the rights or William Randolph Hearst's Journal American to publish "The Katzenjammer Kids" without Dirks, while Dirks retains the right to draw his characters under a different title for the rival New York World.
• Harold H. Knell replaces Dirks as cartoonist for "The Katzenjammer Kids".
• Rudolph Dirks renamed strip "Hans & Fritz" makes it's first appearance in The New York World. The strip is later renamed "The Captian and The Kids" after America enters World War 1.

Movies
• Chaplin debuts his "Little Tramp" character in "Kid Races"
• Chaplin releases his first full length feature film, "Tillies Punctured Romance".
• First full length color film, "The World, The Flesh, And The Devil".

Birthdays
Joe Shuster, Superman co-creator
John Hubley, animator (1914 - 1977 - 63 yrs old)
Joy Batchelor, animator (1914 - 1991 - 77 yrs old)
Norman McLaren, animator (National Film Board) (1914 - 1987 - 73 yrs old)
Ward Kimball (Ward Walrath Kimball) animator, director, writer, character designer, inbetweener (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002 - 88 yrs old)
Jonathan Harris (Jonathan Charasuchin) voice actor - Manny from Bugs life (November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002 - 88 yrs old)
Evelyn Lambart, animator, director NFB (23 July 1914 – 3 April 1999 - 85 yrs old)

Notable Cartoons
• Feb. 2 - Gertie the Dinosaur is released. The animation boom has begun...
• Historic Feature Film Co./Essanay Film produce the short lived series, "Joe Boko" (5 episodes)
• A Kalem Company Production produces the equally short lived series of "Hesanut" (1914 - 1915 5 episodes)
• “A Trip to the Moon”, Vincent Whitman /Lubin.
• “The Police Dog”, Carl Anderson /Bray. first Police Dog series (1914-1916)
• “Hunting in Crazyland”. first Powers Cartoons series (1914-1918)
This was a collection of cartoons by various studios (Winsor McCay, Hy Mayer, Pat Sullivan, and others) gathered by Pat Powers and distributed by Universal Pictures. Some of the cartoons and series have separate entries.



1915
World News
• German submarine torpedoes the ocean liner Lusitania.
• Einstein develops his new theory of relativity.
• Alexander Graham Bell makes the 1st transcontinental phone call from New York to San Fransisco.

Animation News
• Raoul Barre uses the “slash system”. Produces “Animated Grouch Chaser” for Edison Company
• The animation process becomes industrialized. Use of cels spreads. Series production increases and job specialization continues.

• Max Fleischer begins his animation career at the John Randolph Bray Studio
• Fleisher begins working on the rotoscope process.
• Paul Terry tries to sell his first film, "Little Herman" but the distributor, after watching the film offers him $1.00 per foot. Terry explained that, "the film I used cost me more than a dollar a foot." To which the distributor replied, "Well, I could pay you more for it if you hadn't put those pictures on it!"
• Pat Sullivan opens a studio.
• Max Fleischer applies for patent on the rotoscope. The rotoscope projects the image of a photograph on a piece of paper to be traced. When successive movie images are traced it allows for easy creation of animated drawings.
• The Mutt and Jeff Film Company created by Bud Fisher to animate his comic strip. Charles Bowers opens a studio in Mount Vernon, New York to produce the cartoons. The cartoons were first distributed by the studio directly, then by Fox Films.
• John R. Bray applies for patent with a variant use of cels. The background is on a cel which is placed over a sheet of paper that has the animated figures. This patent was granted in April 1916.• Fox Film Corp. is formed (it becomes 20th Century Fox in 1935)


Comics
• Moses Koeningsberg consolidates all of William Randolph Hearst's syndication companies under one banner and calls it King Features Syndicate.
• Fontaine Fox's "Toonerville Folks" comic strip begins national sydication.
• Rube Goldberg's "Boob McNutt" comic strip debuts.


Birthdays
Ben Washam, animator (1915 - 1984 - 69 yrs old)
Bill Peet (William Bartlett Peet, William Bartlett Peed) writer, storyboard artist, character designer (January 29, 1915 – May 11, 2002 - 87 yrs old)
Te Wei, director, producer, writer, animator (22 August 1915 – 4 February 2010 - 95 yrs old)

Movies
• Universal Studios opens in the San Fernando Valley.
• D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” makes the feature length film a popular format. The 3 hour epic about the Civil War was a box office smash hit, but is now considered one of the most offensive films ever made because of it's explicit racism.

• Chaplin releases "The Tramp".

Notable Cartoons
United States
• Bray Productions, "Bobby Bumps" (1915 - 1925) is animated by Earl Hurd
Bobby Bumps Starts a Lodge a Bray Studios, Inc. production
• Charles Bowers forms his own company and begins production on “The Katzenjammer Kids” cartoons.
Ted Sears, Manny Davis and Burton Gillett start their animation careers at Bowers studio.
"Policy and Pie" from Original Katzenjammer Kids Series (circa1918, International Film Service, Inc.)
• Gaumont produces a cartoon series based on the comic strip, "Keeping up with the Joneses" (1915 - 1916).
"Men’s Styles" from Keeping Up with the Joneses a Gaumont production
"Women’s Styles" from Keeping Up with the Joneses a Gaumont production
• Animator, Wallace A. Carlson directs and animates the "Dreamy Dud" series (1915 - 1916)
"He Resolves Not to Smoke" from Dreamy Dud Series an Essanay Mfg. Co.production
• "Kriterion Komic Kartoons" (all 5 of them) were written, produced, directed and animated by Harry S. Palmer for Pyramid Film Company Productions.
• Carl Francis Lederer only produced, directed and animated 4 cartoons titled, "Lederer Cartoons"
• Charlie Chaplin cartoons are produced for the European market
• “Great Americans Past and Present”, Bert Levy and Sidney Olcott /World Film. first Bertlevyettes series
• “The Siege of Liege”, Harry Palmer /M-in-A Films. first M-in-A Cartoons series (1915)
• “The Animated Grouch Chaser”, Raoul Barre /Barre. first Animated Grouch Chaser series
• “A Visit to the Zoo”, Wallace Carlson /Essanay. ( first Dreamy Dud series (1915-1916)
• “Little Herman”, Paul Terry. (drawn animation, some live action) An experimental film made by Terry to demonstrate his ability to animate.
• “Otto Luck in the Movies”, Wallace Carlson /Bray. one of the Otto Luck cartoons (1915)
• “Dancing Lesson”, Harry S. Palmer /Gaumont. first Keeping Up With the Joneses series (1915-1916)
• “The Travels of Teddy”, Hy Mayer and Otto Messmer /Mayer.

Europe
• “Charlot” series, Gaumont. (France)
• “Trolldrychen” ("The Demon Drink"), Victor Bergdahl. (Sweden)

India
• “Agkadyanchi Mouj” ("Matchsticks' Fun"), Dhumdiraj Govind Phalke. (India) (puppet animation)



1916
World News
• Artist, Norman Rockwell paints his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post magazine.

Movie News
• Samuel Goldfish and Edgar Selwyn establish the Goldwyn Company. (Goldfish changed his name to "Goldwyn).

Animation News
• Later this year, Bowers joins with Barre to form Barre-Bowers Studio.
• Bray Studios cartoons distributed as part of Paramount newsreels.
• Pathe-News forms a cartoon unit for its newsreels.
• Bray Studios begin production on the "Krazy Kat" series
• International Film Service created by William Randolph Hearst. The studio was established to animate comic strips from Hearst newspapers. The director of the studio was Gregory LaCava.
• Charles Bowers opens “Mutt & Jeff, Inc. to produce “Hans and Fritz” cartoons as well as “Mutt & Jeff” and “Farmer Al Falfa” cartoons developed by Paul Terry. Walter Lantz and Dick Huemer start working for Barre-Bowers.
• George McManus' "Bringing up Father" comic strip is produced as an animated cartoon series (1916 - 1918)
• Pat Sullivan produces 12 "Charlie Chaplin" cartoons with ideas supplied by Chaplin through his films and photographs
• Bray Productions has painter/illustrator W.L. Glackens animate and direct a 5 episode series called: "Glackens Cartoons"
• Bray Studios assignes Walter Lantz (17 yrs old) to animate the "Jerry on the Job" series (1916 - 1920)
• "Happy Hooligan" series is produced by International Film Service Productions (1916 - 1921)
• International also produces a controversial series titled: "Joys and Gloom" satirizing news events
• Rube Goldberg/Barre Studios produces "The Boob Weekly" newsreel spoofs


Comics
.• "The Katzenjammer Kids" cartoon series begins. Rudolph Dirks creater of the original comic strip, recieves no royalties from King Features.

Birthdays
Eyvind Earle, Disney visual development artist (1916 - 2000 - 84 yrs old)
Daws Butler (Charles Dawson Butler) voice actor MGM (November 16, 1916 – May 18, 1988 - 72 yrs old)
Bill Melendez (Jose Cuautemoc Melendez) producer, director, animator, voice actor (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008 - 92 yrs old)

Adriana Caselotti, voice of Snow White (May 6, 1916 – January 19, 1997 - 81 yrs old)

Deaths
• Novelist, Jack London, "Call of the Wild" (released in 1903) dies at age 40.
• Rasputin, Russian personal masseuse and political advisor to the Czar is assassinated.

Movies
• Quirino Christiani of Argentina, completes the first animated feature film, "The Apostle"

Notable Cartoons
United States
"The Phable of a Busted Romance" (© January 7, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)
"The Phable of the Phat Woman" (© January 18, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)
• "Mr. Nobody Holme--He Buys a Jitney" (© February 1, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)
• "Never Again! The Story of a Speeder Cop" (© February 4, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)
• “Bang Go the Rifles”, Gregory La Cava /IFS. first Joys and Gloom series (1916)
• “Sammy Johnsin Hunter “(ss), Pat Sullivan /Sullivan. first Sammy Johnsin series (1916)
• “The Birth of the Trick Kids”, Bray. (puppet animation) first The Trick Kids series (1916)
• “Farmer Al Falfa's Catastrophe”, Paul Terry /Bray. first Farmer Al Falfa cartoon (1916-23), the character was used by Terry for many years in his productions
• “Introducing Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse”, IFS. first Krazy Kat series (1916-1917); Krazy Kat series were later made by Bray (1920-21) and Winkler/Mintz/Screen Gems (1925-1940)

"Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing"
"Krazy Kat--Bugologist"
"Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the Circus"
• “Poor Si Keeler”, Gregory La Cava /IFS. first Maud the Mule series (1916)
• “Priscilla and the Pesky Fly “, Ashley Miller /Bray. (puppet animation) first Plastiques series (1916)
• “Our National Vaudeville”, Harry S. Palmer /Gaumont. first Kartoon Komics series (1916-1917)
• “A Romance in Toyland”, Horace Taylor /Taylor and Wheatley. (puppet animation) first Toyland series (1916)
• “The Boob Weekly”; George Stallings and Rube Goldberg /Barre. first Boob Weekly series
• “Charlie in Carmen”, Otto Messmer /Sullivan. first Charlie [Chaplin] series (1916)
• “He Tries Mesmerism” F.M. Follett /Powers. first Mr. Fuller Pep series
• “Stone Age Roost Robber”, L.M. Glackens /Bray.
• “Father Gets Into the Movies”, Frank Moser /IFS. first Bringing Up Father series (1916-1918)
• “Jerry Ships a Circus” IFS. first Jerry On the Job series (1916-1917); series later continued by Bray
• “Miracles in Mud” series by Willie Hopper. (clay animation) series appeared as part of the Universal Weekly newsreel (1916-1918).
• “Where Do You Go From Here”, Walt MacDougall /Associated Arts Films.
• “Nervy Nat Has His Fortune Told”, Pat Sullivan /Sullivan.
• “Trials of a Movie Cartoonist”, Otto Messmer /Sullivan.
• “The Captain Goes a-Swimming”, Charles Bowers /IFS. first Hans and Fritz cartoon (1916-1918)
• “Adventures of Mr. Nobody Holme”, INS.

Africa
• “The Artist's Dream”, Harold Shaw. (South Africa)

Europe
• “Blagford et le serpent boa”, Pierre de Leka. (France)
• “La guerra e il sogno di Momi” ("The War and the Dream of Momi") (f), Giovanni Pastrone and Segundo de Chomin (animation)/Itala Film. (Italy) (puppet animation, some live action)
• “Kapten Grogg” series, Victor Bergdahl /Svenska Bio. (Sweden) (1916-1922)
• “Negern och Hunden” ("The Negro and His Dog") (ss), M. R. Liljeqvist. (Sweden)



1917
World News
• Czar Nicholas II abdicates.
• U.S. enters World War 1.
• German Secret Service agent Gertrude Zelle a.k.a. Mata Hari, is executed by firing squad in France for espionage.
• Vladimir Lenin leads the Bolsheviks in the "Russian Revolution"
• Russia signs armistice with Germany, ceasing hostilities between the two countries. Russian death casualties at 3.7 million during the war.
• National Hockey League is formed.
• The 1st National Hockey League ice hockey game is played in Montreal, Canada

Animation News
• Rubber Hose animation is introduced in “The Spider and the Fly” a Happy Hooligan cartoon animated by Bill Noland
• Fleischer patents the Rotoscope.
• J. R. Bray hires Max Fleischer to produce one Inkwell cartoon a month
• Production on the Inkwell cartoons stops as Fleischer is comissioned by Bray to work on a series of training films for the Army.
• Pat Sullivan produces "Box Car Bill Falls in Luck"
• Gaumont produces a series of technical cartoons in a weekly magazine series called: "Gaumont Reel Life".
• Bray Studio produces “Motoy Films” and “Silhouette Fantasies”, predating Lotte Reinniger by a few years.
• Bray also produces the "Goodrich Dirt" series of cartoons similar to the Charlie Chaplin Tramp character.(1917 - 1919) as well as 4 episodes of "Hardrock Dome" a Sherock Holmes spoof and a short-lived series of propagandized WWI stories called, "Historical Cartoons".
• Bray Studios starts making training films for the U.S. Army.
• Bud Fisher takes over the Bowers-Barre studio to form the Bud Fisher Films Corporation.


Comics
• Sidney Smith's comic strip "The Gumps" makes it's first appearance in The Chicago Tribune

Birthdays
Will Eisner artist of “The Spirit” (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005)
Hal Seeger, animator, creator of Milton the Monster and Batfink. (1917 - March 13, 2005)
Hans Conried (Frank Foster Conried) voice actor (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982)
Fyodor Khitruk, (Russian director, writer, animator)
• Jirí Brdecka (Austrian-Hungarian director, writer)

Deaths
• Emile Reynaud (director, animator, producer) dies in Paris.
• William F. Cody, a.k.a. "Buffalo Bill", cowboy, showman and owner of "The Wild West" dies at age 71.
• Artist Edgar Degas dies at age 83.
• Sculptor Auguste Rodin dies at age 77.

Notable Cartoons
United States
"Mary & Gretel" from Motoy Films Series (1917, Toyland Films)
"The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, A Prehistoric Tragedy" (© March 24, 1917, Thomas A. Edison, Inc.)
• “Boomer Bill's Awakening”, Pat Sullivan /Sullivan. first Boomer Bill series
• “The Captain is Examined for Insurance”, IFS. first Captain series (based on the "Katzenjammer Kids" comic strip).
• “Ananias Has Nothing on Hooligan”, IFS. first Happy Hooligan series (1917-1918)

• “The Bronco Buster”, Bray. one of the Historical Cartoons series (1917-1918)
• “The Dinosaur and the Missing Link”, Willis O'Brien. (puppet animation)
• “When Noah's Ark Embarked”, John C. Terry.
• “Box Car Bill Falls in Luck”, Pat Sullivan /Sullivan. early Box Car Bill series
• “Dollies of 1917”, Howard S. Moss /Peter Pan Films. (puppet animation) one of the Motoy Comedies series (1917)
• “Iska Worreb”, Gregory La Cava /IFS. first Abie the Agent series
• “Goodrich Dirt Among the Beach Nuts”, Wallace Carlson /Bray. first Goodrich Dirt series (1917-1918)

South America
• “O Kaiser”, Seth. (Brazil)
• “Traquinices de Chiquinho e seu inseparavel amigo jagunco” ("The Escapades of Chiquinho and His Inseperable Friend Jagunco") (ss), Kirs Filme. (Brazil)

Europe
• “L'Avenir devoile par les lignes des pieds”, Emile Cohl /Eclair. (France)
• “Les Exploits de Marius”, Lortac /Pathe-Consortium. (France)
• “Les Aventures de Clementine”, Emile Cohl and Benjamin Rabier. (France)
• “Les Aventures des pieds-nickeles” ("The Adventures of the Leadfoot Gang"), Emile Cohl /Eclair. (France) first Les pieds-nickeles series (1917-1918)
• “Les Fiancailles de Flambeau” ("Flambeau's Wedding"), Emile Cohl and Benjamin Rabier. (France)
• “Clementine et Flambeau”, Benjamin Rabier. (France)
• “El toro fenomeno” ("The Phenomenal Bull"), Fernado Marco. (Spain)

Orient
• "Hanahekonai's New Sword", Junichi Kouchi.
• "Imokawa Muzuko Genkanban no Maki” ("Muzuko Imakawa the Concierge"), Oten Shimokawa.
• “Saru Kani Kassen” ("The Crab Gets Its Revenge on the Monkey"), Seitaro Kitayama.

Australia
• “Topical Cartoons”, Harry Julius /Smith and Julius. (Australia)



1918
World News
• Baron Manfred von Richtofen (the Red Baron) is shot down but not by Snoopy.
• Czar Nicholas II and his family are shot during the Russian Revolution. The youngest daughter later becomes the subject of Don Bluth's animated feature film, Anastasia.
• U.S. and Russia break ties.
• World War 1 ends on Nov. 11th.

Movie News
• Warner Bros. releses it's 1st film "4 Years in Germany". They would not become a major player in cinema until the 1927 release of "The Jazz Singer".
• The first live action "Tarzan" Movie, "Tarzan Of The Apes" debuts starring Elmo Lincoln (Tarzan) and Enid Markey (Jane Porter). Over the next 85 years, "Tarzan" would have more features made about him than any other character.

Animation News
• Hearst’s International Film Service closes. Hearst Corporation starts ordering cartoons from various independent studios.
• Warner Bros. Pictures is incorporated.
• Thomas Edison sells his studio and gets out of the movie business. The term, "layoff" is probably not used in this instance.
• The series, "Judge Rummy" is begun (1918 - 1920) with Greory La Cava, Jack King, Burt Gillett and Grim Natwick as directors.

Comics
• Frank King's comic strip "Gasoline Alley" debuts in The Chicago Tribune.

• Robert Leroy Ripley's "Riply's Believe it or Not", a comic strip chronicling odd facts from around the world, debuts.

Birthdays
Jules Engel, designer, animator and teacher (11 March 1909 – 6 September 2003)

Notable Cartoons
United States
• Windsor McCay releases “The Sinking of the Lusitania”

W.S.S. Thriftettes (ca. 1918, BDF Films)
• “Me and Gott”, Kenneth M. Anderson /Merkel.
• "Old Tire Man Diamond Cartoon Film", Paul Fenton /B.D.F. Film Company.

South America
• “Aventuras de Bile e Bolle” ("The Adventures of Bille and Bolle"), Gilberti Rossi and Fono. (Brazil)
• “Sin dejar rastos” ("Leaving No Trace"), Quirino Cristiani. (Argentina)

Europe
• “The Three Little Pigs”, Anson Dyer /Hepworth Picture Plays. (Great Britain)

Orient
• “Momotaro” ("The Peach Boy"), Seitaro Kitayama.



1919
World News
• Prohibition is ratified.
• Robert A. Goddard, a physics Professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, proposes a trip to the moon. He is ridiculed by the newspapers and dubbed, "The Moon Man".
• Germany signs peace treaty.

Animation News
• John R. Bray reincorporates company as Bray Pictures Company. New distributor is Goldwyn for entertainment films. The company also makes films for industry and government.
• Raoul Barre retires from Bud Fisher Film Corporation. Charles Bowers takes over as studio director.
• Touchatout series distributed by Pathe. (France)
• Lortac founds Publi-Cine, the first independent European animation studio. The firm mainly created advertisements. (France)
• Charlie Chaplin, Mary Picford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith form the United Artists studio

• Max Fleischer, working for Bray oversees the military instructional films
• MGM buys controlling interest in Bray Studio Producing 2 cartoons a week. 1st color cartoon: “Debut of Thomas Cat” using Brewster color process.
• Walt Disney is hired by the Kansas City Film Ad Company (Missouri) to create cartoon advertisements.

• Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks meet while working at the Kansas City Film Ad Company.
• Pat Sullivan begins producing the "Felix the Cat" cartoons (created by Otto Messmer)

• Bray Productions produces the Bud and Susie series of cartoons (1920 - 1921)
• Paramount begins producing Farmer Al Falfa series with Walter Lantz.


Comics
• Billy Debeck's comic strip "Barney Google" makes first appearance in The American Journal.

• Elzie Crisler Segar creates the "Thimble Theatre" comic strip for The American Journal.

• Writer Johnston McCully introduces "Zorro" in his novel "The Curse of The Capistrano".

Birthdays
Walt Stanchfield, animator, educator (July 14th, 1919 - September 3, 2000)
Jean Vander Pyl, voice actress - Wilma Flintstone (October 11, 1919 – April 10, 1999)
June Foray, voice actress (September 18, 1919 - present)
David Seville (Ross Bagdasarian) American cartoonist & creator of Alvin & The Chipmunks (January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972)
Dal McKennon, voice actor Gumby, Archie, Buzz Buzzard (July 19, 1919 – July 14, 2009)
• Todor Dinov, Bulgarian director, animator (July 24, 1919 — June 17, 2004)
Tadahito Mochinaga (Tad Mochinaga, Fang Ming, Mochinaga Tadahito) Japanese director, animator, producer (March 3, 1919 - April 1, 1999)

Deaths
• President Theodore Roosevelt dies at age 60.
• Impressionist painter, Pierre Auguste Renoir dies at age 78

Notable Cartoons
United States
• "AWOL--All Wrong Old Laddiebuck" (American Motion Picture Co.)
"Dud Leaves Home" Wallace A. Carlson /Bray. first Us Fellers series (1919-1920)
• “Out of the Inkwell”, Max Fleischer /Bray. (drawn animation, some live action) first Out of the Inkwell series (1919-1929) early series cartoons released by Bray until Fleischer created his own studio
• “Where Has My Little Coal Bin”, Gregory La Cava. first Jerry On the Job series (1919-1920); earlier series by IFS
“Feline Follies”, Otto Messmer /Sullivan. first Felix the Cat cartoon appears in the Paramount Screen Magazine series 1919-1931
• “Cinema Luke”, Leslie Elton /Universal. (drawn animation, some live action) early Cinema Luke series made for the Universal Screen Magazine

Canada
• “The Man Who Woke Up”) (edu), J.A. Norling. (Canada)

South America
• “Una noche en el Colón” ("A Night in the Colón Theatre"), Frederico Valle. (Argentina) (clay animation)

Europe
• “Uncle Remus No.1”, Anson Dyer /Kine Komedy Kartoons. (Great Britain) series 1919
• “Becasotte et son cochon” ("Becasotte and Her Pig"), O'Galop /Pathe. (France) first Becasotte series (c.1919-1920)
• “The Merchant of Venice”, Anson Dyer. (Great Britain) one of a number of Shakespeare satires made by Dyer (1919-1920)
• “Das Loch im Westen” ("The Hole in the West"), Hans Fischerkoesen. (Germany)
• “Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens” ("The Ornament of the Loving Heart", "The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart"), Lotte Reiniger. (Germany) (silhouette animation)



1920
World News
• Babe Ruth is sold to the Yankees with a salary of $20,000 per year.
• Prohibition becomes law.
• League of Nations is formed.
• American women win the right to vote.

Animation News
• Lantz further develops the cel animation system.
• E.G. Lutz publishes his theseis called, "Animated Cartoons" which Walt Disney buys and uses as his textbook to fame.
• Bowers splits from Barre to form Carles Bowers Studio.
• Paul Terry begins producing "Aesops Fables" cartoons
• Walt Disney founds his first studio to produce the Laugh-O-Grams series in Kansas City, Missouri.
• Ladislas Starewicz founds a new animation studio in Paris. (France)


Comics
• Martin Branner's comic strip "Winnie Winkle" makes first appearance.

Birthdays
Ronald Searle Designer (March 3rd, 1920 - Present)
Hank Ketcham cartoonist of “Dennis the Menace” (March 14, 1920 – June 1, 2001)
Saul Bass, of Rankin/Bass Prod. (May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996)
George Dunning, animator, director (Yellow Submarine) (1920 - 1979)
Paul Frees (Solomon Hersh Frees) voice actor (June 22, 1920 – November 2, 1986)
Abe Levitow, animator, director, producer (July 2, 1922 - May 8, 1975)
Bill Scott (William Scott, William John Scott III) voice actor - Bullwinkle, writer, producer (August 2, 1920 – November 29, 1985)
Jay Ward, director, producer, writer (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989)
Mickey Rooney (Joe Yule Jr.) voice actor (September 23, 1920 - present)
Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian director, animator, character designer
(January 1, 1920 – March 3, 2007)
Ray Bradbury, science fiction writer (August 22, 1920 - present)
Issac Asimov science fiction writer (January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992)

Deaths
• Artist, Amadeo Modigliani dies at age 44

Movies
• "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"
• Chaplin's "The Kid"

Notable Cartoons
United States
• Milt Gross animates his own self titled series for Bray Productions. A total of 5 episodes.
• Sidney Smith's comic strip "The Gumps" is produced as a combination of live action and animated sequences (1920 - 1921, 13 episodes)
• “The Great Cheese Robbery”, Bray. first Krazy Kat series (1920-1921)
• “Handy Mandy's Goat”, Frank Moser /Bray. early Bud and Susie series (1920-1921)
• “Paramount Magazine”, Pat Powers /Paramount. weekly distribution of cartoons made by various studios series 1920-1921

Europe
• “The Daring Deeds of Duckless Darebanks” J.L. Anderson. (Great Britain)
• “In the Spring A Young Man's Fancy”, Dudley Buxton /Kine Komedy Kartoons. (Great Britain) first Bucky's Burlesques series (1920)




1921 - 1930

Timeline Index

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