Animated drawings, in the forms of flip books and zoetropes, were already familiar to Westerners in the late 19th century.
The introduction of silent motion pictures made possible silent animated films, but the large number of individual drawings needed to make even a short animated film was daunting. In the early years of the medium, its pioneers focused on methods for streamlining the process and reducing the artistic labor required.
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Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
Medley of music by Johann Strauss, Jr.
Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Band. Public domain recording. Source.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Love these cultural episodes. We’re not too far in the timeline from those super hero comics starting up, many are major box office draws. Also weird to think what a big deal newspaper comics were when I was growing up, but they were something I made a point to read every day.
Another great episode, Mark. Although you state that none of the the further attempts to revive Felix the Cat bore fruit, I vividly remember the 1958-60 cartoons with Felix, his pal Poindexter, the Professor, and Felix’s magic bag. Each show started with that unforgettable earworm of a theme song.
I remember it, too.