Anthropomorphic animals are a standard in cartoons today, but the first animated film to depict an animal with human emotions and an intentional personality was created by Winsor McCay in 1914 – 14 years before Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse made his premier in Steamboat Willie.
Who was the star of this groundbreaking 1914 film?
A Dinosaur named Gertie.
Winsor McCay was a cartoonist and an animator who hand drew the thousands of necessary images to create Gertie’s story on 6.5 X 8.5 inch pieces of rice paper. Many of his techniques were later adopted by major animation studios. McCay integrated the film about Gertie into a Vaudville act, appearing on stage and interacting with Gertie, who was billed as “the only dinosaur in captivity.” In the film, Gertie also interacts with a Wooly Mammoth (who knows if McCay knew that the two species did not live at the same time!) After the success of Gertie, McCay also began working on a second film about the friendly dinosaur that never made it to the theatres. In the unfinished pieces of “Gertie on Tour,” the dinosaur visited Washington, DC and New York - we can only imagine what kind of antics she would have had there!
Cartoons were a place where a talented animator could show an audience anything - the great Pyramids of Egypt or knights on horseback. Why did McCay choose a dinosaur as the star of his film? Some web-historians speculate that the choice wasn’t random. Animated cartooning was a very new idea in the beginning of the 20th century and audiences were having a hard time believing their eyes when they saw some of McCay’s previous animated animals – a fish in “Little Nemo” and a mosquito in “The Story of a Mosquito” – moving on a screen. They thought it was a camera trick.
It's possible that McCay considered this problem and made a plan. What's even more amazing that bringing a fish to life in a cartoon? What would be impossible to create with camera tricks? Bringing a dinosaur to life!
In 1914, the study of dinosaurs in any capacity was pretty new. Knowledge about dinosaurs was still pretty minimal among the general public, and watching Gertie eating, drinking and playing was most likely the first time audiences had experienced the image of a moving dinosaur, likely stirring the imaginations of many of the lucky folks to witness the 5 minute animated film.
If only Gertie knew how many dinosaurs would follow in her massive footsteps!
Read more about McCay and Gertie the Dinosaur here.
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