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 44

Early trick photography/animation reveled in the conceit of seemingly inanimate objects coming to life. A year after he made Dream of Rarebit Fiend, a live film based on the popular McCay comic strip, Edison director Edwin S. Porter made The Teddy Bears (1907), a comic retelling of how President Theodore Roosevelt got his nickname. The short film features a stop-action teddy bear sequence that takes place somewhere beyond a crack in a wall. Like a vaudeville act in the midst of a play, this dancing teddy bear scene is narratively and spatially dislocated from the film’s plot, an animated interlude. 

Even John Randolph Bray, who with his wife Margaret played a key role in rationalizing American animation, opened his first cartoon, The Artist’s Dream (1912-13), with the gag of a sketch coming to life. Indeed, Bray credits the lightning-sketch with getting him into cartoons.
Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Performance, Page 44"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Performance, page 6 of 25 Next page on path

Related:  Space, Page 190,  Introduction, Page 23,  Conclusion, Page 291,  Performance, Page 50,  Performance, Page 78,  Introduction, Page 2,  Conclusion, Page 278,  Performance, Page 56,  Conclusion, Page 289,  Space, Page 138,  Conclusion, Page 302,  Introduction, Page 20,  Performance, Page 82,  Performance, Page 34,  Space, Page 178,  Race, Page 247,  Race, Page 254,  Performance, Page 41,  Introduction, Page 21,  Race, Page 206,  Space, Page 155,  Labor, Page 109,  Performance, Page 35,  Space, Page 170,  Performance, Page 45,  Performance, Page 46,  Race, Page 221,  Conclusion, Page 273,  Labor, Page 122,  Space, Page 148,  Labor, Page 110,  Race, Page 230,  Race, Page 231,  Labor, Page 113,  Introduction, Page 29,  Performance, Page 43,  Labor, Page 115,  Labor, Page 119,  Performance, Page 84,  Performance, Page 54,  Race, Page 220,  Introduction, Page 9,  Introduction, Page 30,  Introduction, Page 4,  Labor, Page 112,  Conclusion, Page 303,  Performance, Page 60,  Performance, Page 42,  Space, Page 183,  Performance, Page 72,  Performance, Page 52,  Conclusion, Page 290,  Space, Page 150,  Race, Page 229,  Labor, Page 123,  Space, Page 192,  Space, Page 175,  Space, Page 194,  Performance, Page 74,  Labor, Page 97,  Introduction, Page 16,  Race, Page 253,  Race, Page 239,  Space, Page 187,  Introduction, Page 14,  Performance, Page 70,  Performance, Page 62,  Race, Page 225,  Space, Page 143,  Performance, Page 47,  Labor, Page 88,  Space, Page 197,  Labor, Page 98,  Space, Page 162,  Labor, Page 96,  Introduction, Page 1,  Space, Page 152,  Introduction, Page 15,  Space, Page 172,  Race, Page 232,  Space, Page 191,  Conclusion, Page 298,  Race, Page 213,  Space, Page 181,  Space, Page 146,  Space, Page 163,  Labor, Page 132,  Space, Page 182,  Labor, Page 129,  Space, Page 193,  Performance, Page 77,  Conclusion, Page 284,  Space, Page 141,  Conclusion, Page 275,  Race, Page 224,  Labor, Page 133,  Introduction, Page 6,  Space, Page 177