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