Sign in or register
for additional privileges

Birth of An Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation

Nicholas Sammond, Author

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Performance, Page 50

When he designed both Little Nemo (1911), Winsor McCay chose to retain the conceit of the lightning-sketch as the motivating force from which his animation sprang. McCay played himself as animator, a character somewhere between a circus ringmaster and an interlocutor in a blackface minstrel show.

The setup for his early shorts was simple: McCay would make a bet with friends and fellow artists such as George McManus and Tom Powers, or comic film star John Bunny, about his ability to make still drawings come to life. A series of scenes then laid out the intense labor of cartooning, with McCay as the sole craftsman toiling over thousands of drawings, aided only by bumbling assistants. These performance films offered the spectacle of melding two distinct modes of presenting the act of animation, the lightning sketch and the cartoon proper.


Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Performance, Page 50"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Performance, page 10 of 25 Next page on path

Related:  Race, Page 253Race, Page 247Performance, Page 52Conclusion, Page 298Labor, Page 113Race, Page 252Space, Page 143Space, Page 178Conclusion, Page 302Race, Page 261Space, Page 194Performance, Page 74Space, Page 175Introduction, Page 21Labor, Page 88Conclusion, Page 284Race, Page 232Introduction, Page 6Space, Page 146Race, Page 230Performance, Page 84Race, Page 229Performance, Page 34Race, Page 204Introduction, Page 2Space, Page 172Performance, Page 77Race, Page 231Space, Page 190Labor, Page 119Performance, Page 78Space, Page 150Performance, Page 54Race, Page 239Race, Page 220Conclusion, Page 291Labor, Page 129Space, Page 148Race, Page 235Labor, Page 132Performance, Page 60Conclusion, Page 304Performance, Page 56Performance, Page 35Labor, Page 128Introduction, Page 23Space, Page 177Space, Page 188Introduction, Page 1Performance, Page 42Conclusion, Page 289Space, Page 187Performance, Page 46Race, Page 221Conclusion, Page 286Labor, Page 109Space, Page 162Performance, Page 72Conclusion, Page 290Race, Page 258Race, Page 213Space, Page 189Space, Page 181Performance, Page 45Performance, Page 47Performance, Page 44Space, Page 193Introduction, Page 14Space, Page 163Conclusion, Page 300Race, Page 254Race, Page 225Introduction, Page 9Introduction, Page 30Labor, Page 123Labor, Page 133Labor, Page 98Labor, Page 101Space, Page 155Labor, Page 122Performance, Page 70Labor, Page 96Introduction, Page 29Conclusion, Page 292Conclusion, Page 278Space, Page 182Conclusion, Page 275Labor, Page 110Performance, Page 82Space, Page 141Conclusion, Page 296Performance, Page 43Space, Page 165Race, Page 206Space, Page 152Race, Page 251Race, Page 224Space, Page 170Space, Page 197Space, Page 138Labor, Page 112Conclusion, Page 303Space, Page 183Performance, Page 41Space, Page 191Labor, Page 97Labor, Page 115Introduction, Page 4Race, Page 248Conclusion, Page 273