wikipedia>DrKay: remove from Category:CS1 errors: generic name

2022-03-13T16:17:42Z

remove from Category:CS1 errors: generic name

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{{short description|1911 silent animated short film}}
{{featured article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2013}}
{{Infobox film
|name = Little Nemo
|caption = [[Little Nemo]] and the Princess ride away in the mouth of a dragon.
|alt = A color film still. A green dragon with its mouth gaping wide carries a fancily-dressed boy and girl. The girl, to the left, carries a large rose, and the boy, to the right, waves with his hat towards the audience.
|director = [[Winsor McCay]]

|released = {{Film date|1911|4|8}}
|country = United States
|image = Little Nemo 1911 film still Nemo and Princess in dragon's mouth.jpg
|runtime = 11:33
|language = [[Silent film|Silent]] with English [[intertitle]]s
}}

'''''Winsor McCay: The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics''''', more commonly known as '''''Little Nemo''''', is a 1911 [[silent film|silent]] [[animation|animated]] [[short film]] by American cartoonist [[Winsor McCay]]. One of the earliest animated films, it was McCay's first, and featured characters from McCay's comic strip ''[[Little Nemo in Slumberland]]''. Its expressive [[character animation]] distinguished the film from the experiments of [[History of animation|earlier animators]].

Inspired by [[flip book]]s his son brought home, McCay came to see the potential of the animated film medium. He claimed to be the first to make such films, though [[James Stuart Blackton]] and [[Émile Cohl]] were among those who preceded him. The short's four thousand drawings on [[rice paper]] were shot at [[Vitagraph Studios]] under Blackton's supervision. Most of the film's running time is made up of a live-action sequence in which McCay bets his colleagues that he can make drawings that move. He wins the bet with four minutes of animation in which the ''Little Nemo'' characters perform, interact, and metamorphose to McCay's whim.

''Little Nemo'' debuted in movie theaters on April 8, 1911, and four days later McCay began using it as part of his [[vaudeville]] act. Its good reception motivated him to [[Hand-colouring of photographs|hand-color]] each of the animated frames of the original black-and-white film. The film's success led McCay to devote more time to animation. He followed up ''Little Nemo'' with ''[[How a Mosquito Operates]]'' in 1912 and his best-known film, ''[[Gertie the Dinosaur]]'', in 1914.

In 2009, ''Little Nemo'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing {{!}} Film Registry {{!}} National Film Preservation Board {{!}} Programs at the Library of Congress {{!}} Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA|access-date=May 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2009/09-250.html|title=Michael Jackson, the Muppets and Early Cinema Tapped for Preservation in 2009 Library of Congress National Film Registry|date=December 30, 2009|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=December 31, 2009}}</ref>
{{TOC limit|2}}

==Background==

[[File:Humorous Phases of Funny Faces.ogg|thumb|thumbtime=1:10|alt=Black-and-white film, animated in chalk, showing continuous transformations of images|[[James Stuart Blackton]] used chalk drawings to animate ''[[Humorous Phases of Funny Faces]]'' (1906).]]

[[Winsor McCay]] ({{circa|1867–71}} – 1934){{efn|Different accounts have given McCay's birth year as 1867, 1869, and 1871. His birth records are not extant.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=22}} }} had worked prolifically as a commercial artist and cartoonist by the time he started making newspaper comic strips such as ''[[Dream of the Rarebit Fiend]]'' (1904–11){{efn|''Rarebit Fiend'' was revived between 1911 and 1913 under other titles, such as ''Midsummer Day Dreams'' and ''It Was Only a Dream''.{{sfn|Merkl|2007|p=478}} }} and his signature strip ''[[Little Nemo|Little Nemo in Slumberland]]'' (1905–14).{{efn|The strip was titled ''Little Nemo in Slumberland'' from 1905{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=97}} to 1911, and ''In the Land of Wonderful Dreams'' from 1911{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=164}} to 1914.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=229}} }}{{sfn|Eagan|2010|p=32}} In 1906, McCay began performing on the vaudeville circuit, doing [[chalk talk]] performances in which he drew before live audiences.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|pp=131–132}}

Inspired by [[flip book]]s his son [[Bob McCay|Robert]] brought home,{{sfnm|1a1=Beckerman|1y=2003|p=18|2a1=Canemaker|2y=2005|2p=157}} McCay said he "came to see the possibility of making moving pictures" of his cartoons.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=157}} McCay, then in his early forties,{{sfn|Barrier|2003|p=16}} asserted he was "the first man in the world to make animated films",{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=157}} but he was likely familiar with the earlier work of American [[James Stuart Blackton]] and the French [[Émile Cohl]].{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=157}} In 1900, Blackton produced ''[[The Enchanted Drawing]]'', a [[trick film]] in which an artist interacts with a drawing on an easel.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=160}} Blackton used chalk drawings in 1906 to animate the film ''[[Humorous Phases of Funny Faces]]'',{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=160}} and used [[stop motion]] techniques to animate a scene in the 1907 film ''The Haunted Hotel''.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=157}} Cohl's films, such as 1908's ''[[Fantasmagorie (1908 film)|Fantasmagorie]]'', were dreamlike nonnarrative pieces in which characters and scenes continually changed shape. Cohl's films were first distributed in the United States in 1909, the year McCay said he first became interested in animation. According to McCay biographer [[John Canemaker]], McCay combined the interactive qualities of Blackton's films with the abstract, shapeshifting qualities of Cohl's into his own films.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=160}} In the films of all three, the artist interacts with the animation.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=109}}

===Little Nemo===

{{main|Little Nemo}}

Considered McCay's masterpiece,{{sfnm|1a1=Harvey|1y=1994|1p=21|2a1=Hubbard|2y=2012|3a1=Sabin|3y=1993|3p=134|4a1=Dover editors|4y=1973|4p=vii|5a1=Canwell|5y=2009|5p=19}} ''Little Nemo in Slumberland'' debuted in October 1905 as a full-page [[Sunday comics|Sunday strip]] in the ''[[New York Herald]]''.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=97}} Its child protagonist, whose appearance was based on McCay's son Robert,{{sfn|Crafton|1993|p=97}} had fabulous dreams that would be interrupted with his awakening in the last panel. McCay experimented with timing and pacing, the form of the comics page, the size and shape of panels, perspective, and architectural and other details.{{sfn|Harvey|1994|p=21}}

[[File:Little Nemo 1906-07-22 last two panels.jpg|thumb|center|500px|alt=A colored cartoon drawing of a boy who has fallen out of bed|The comic strip ''[[Little Nemo in Slumberland]]'' is considered McCay's masterpiece (July 22, 1906).]]

The strip has seen a number of other adaptations. An extravagant $100,000 ''Little Nemo'' stage show with score by [[Victor Herbert]]{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=141}} and lyrics by [[Harry B. Smith]]{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=141}} played to sold-out audiences in 1907.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=148}} A joint American-Japanese feature-length film ''[[Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland]]'' appeared in 1989, with contributions by [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Chris Columbus (filmmaker)|Chris Columbus]], and [[Jean Giraud|Moebius]].{{sfn|Grant|2006|p=46}} ''[[Little Nemo: The Dream Master]]'' was a 1990 [[Side-scrolling video game|side-scrolling]] [[Platform game|platform]] video game adaptation of the 1989 film.{{sfn|Weiss|2009|p=344}}

==Synopsis==

Following credits proclaiming McCay as "The Famous Cartoonist of the ''New York Herald''{{-"}}{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=109}} and "the first artist to attempt drawing pictures that will move",{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=110}} McCay sits in a restaurant with a group of colleagues, cartoonist [[George McManus]], actor [[John Bunny]]{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=160}} and publisher [[Eugene V. Brewster]]{{sfn|Keil|Singer|2009|p=65}} among them. McCay bets the group that in one month he can make 4000 drawings move. The group laughs and gestures that he is drunk or crazy. McCay sets to work in a studio where he directs workers to move around bundles of paper and barrels of ink. A month later, McCay gathers his colleagues in front of a film projector. McCay rapidly sketches characters from the cast of his ''Little Nemo'' comic strip.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|pp=160–161}}

[[File:Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics - Little Nemo (1911).webm|thumb|left|alt=Silent, black and white film, partially animated. A man bets his colleagues that he can make pictures move. He wins the bet by animating cartoon characters.|''Little Nemo'' (1911)]]

McCay places a drawing of the character Flip in a wooden slot in front of the camera. The words "Watch me move" appear above Flip's head, and he begins to make gestures while smoking his cigar. Blocks fall from the sky and assemble themselves into the character Impie, and the pair's figures distort, disappear, and reappear before a fantastically-dressed Little Nemo magically materializes. Nemo prevents the two others from fighting and takes control of their forms—he stretches and squashes them with the raising and lowering of his arms. Nemo then draws the Princess and brings her to animated life. He gives her a rose which has suddenly grown nearby, just as a gigantic dragon appears.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=161}} The pair seat themselves on a throne in the dragon's mouth{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=117}} and wave to the audience as the dragon carries them away.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=161}}

Flip and Impie attempt to follow the dragon in a [[Decrepit car|jalopy]], but the car explodes and sends them into the air. Doctor Pill arrives to help, but cannot find anyone until Flip and Impie land on him. The pair try to help the doctor to his feet when the animation freezes. The camera zooms out to reveal the serial number "No. 4000", and a thumb holding the drawing.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=117}}{{Clear}}

==Production==

By late 1910, McCay had made the 4000 [[Rice paper|rice-paper]] drawings for the animated portion of the film. Each was assigned a serial number, and marks were made in the top corners for [[Printing registration|registration]]. They were mounted on sheets of cardboard to make them easier to handle and photograph. Before he had them photographed, he tested them on a hand-cranked 24 by 12 by 20 in (61 by 30 by 51 cm) [[Mutoscope]]-like machine to ensure the animation was fluid. Photography was done at the [[Vitagraph Studios]] under the supervision of Blackton.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=160}} The animated portion took up about four minutes of the film's total length.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=161}} In only one sequence did McCay use an [[Traditional animation#Animation loops|animation loop]] for a repeated action: he re-used a series of seven drawings six times (three forward, three back) to have Flip move his cigar up and down in his mouth three times. McCay made more extensive use of this technique in his later films.{{sfn|Smith|1977|p=24}}

==Style==

[[File:Little Nemo film still - McCay sketching Impie Nemo and Flip.jpg|thumb|alt=Film still of a hand sketching three cartoon characters|Winsor McCay sketches three of his ''[[Little Nemo]]'' characters: Impie, Nemo, and Flip.]]

McCay's drawings are in the heavily outlined [[Art Nouveau]] style familiar to the readers of his comics.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=111}} Its expressive [[character animation]] differentiated ''Little Nemo'' from the films of Blackton and Cohl.{{sfn|Crafton|2005|p=28}} There are no backgrounds; McCay's first film with backgrounds was 1914's ''[[Gertie the Dinosaur]]''.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=114}} McCay demonstrated his mastery of [[Perspective (graphical)|linear perspective]] in scenes such as when the dragon disappears smoothly into the distance.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=117}}

The film's positive reception motivated McCay to hand-color each of the 35mm frames of the originally black-and-white film.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=163}} The dragon chariot that carries off Nemo and the Princess originally appeared in three episodes of ''Little Nemo in Slumberland'' in mid-1906.{{sfn|Crafton|1993|p=123}}

==Reception and legacy==

Distributed by Vitagraph, the film debuted in theaters on April 8, 1911. McCay included the film as part of his [[vaudeville]] act beginning April 12.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=160}} ''Little Nemo'' was popular with audiences and earned positive reviews. Film magazine ''[[The Moving Picture World]]'' called ''Nemo'' "an admirable piece of work ... one of those films which have a natural advertising heritage in the great and wide popularity of its subject—Little Nemo is known everywhere." ''[[The Morning Telegraph]]'' called McCay's new film-enhanced act "even a greater go than his previous one", and put McCay on its "Blue List" of vaudeville "Actors and Acts of the Highest Ratings".{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=163}} In 1938 architect [[Claude Fayette Bragdon|Claude Bragdon]] reminisced of the excitement he felt when he saw ''Little Nemo'', saying he "had witnessed the birth of a new art".{{sfnm|1a1=Bragdon|1y=1938|1p=49|2a1=Canemaker|2y=2005|2p=163}} ''Nemo'' appeared on stage and in theaters within the same week, but McCay postponed the theatrical releases of his next two films, ''[[How a Mosquito Operates]]'' (1912) and ''Gertie the Dinosaur'' (1914), for some time after he used them in his stage show.{{sfn|Barrier|2003|p=10}}

Animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi saw the transforming series of images in the plotless ''Nemo'' serving as little more than a demonstration of the animation medium's capabilities. Bendazzi wrote that McCay overcame this overt experimentalism in ''How a Mosquito Operates''.{{sfn|Bendazzi|1994|p=16}}

McCay's working method was laborious, and animators developed a number of methods to reduce the workload and speed production to meet the demand for animated films. Within a few years of ''Nemo''{{'}}s release, Canadian [[Raoul Barré]]'s registration pegs combined with American [[Earl Hurd]]'s [[cel]] technology became near-universal methods in animation studios.{{sfn|Barrier|2003|pp=10–14}} In 1916, McCay himself adopted the cel method, beginning with his fourth film ''[[The Sinking of the Lusitania]]'' (1918).{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|pp=188, 193}}

In 2009, ''Little Nemo'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing {{!}} Film Registry {{!}} National Film Preservation Board {{!}} Programs at the Library of Congress {{!}} Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA|access-date=May 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2009/09-250.html|title=Michael Jackson, the Muppets and Early Cinema Tapped for Preservation in 2009 Library of Congress National Film Registry|date=December 30, 2009|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=December 31, 2009}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Animation in the United States during the silent era]]
* ''[[Pauvre Pierrot]]'' (1894)

==Notes==

{{Notelist}}

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin|colwidth=40em}}
* {{cite book
|last = Barrier
|first = Michael
|author-link = Michael Barrier (historian)
|title = Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zDJXnzMh7bkC
|year = 2003
|publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
|isbn = 978-0-19-516729-0
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Beckerman
|first = Howard
|title = Animation: The Whole Story
|year = 2003
|publisher = [[Skyhorse Publishing]]
|isbn = 978-1-58115-301-9
|url = https://archive.org/details/animationwholest00beck
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Bendazzi
|first = Giannalberto
|title = Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EBkRAQAAMAAJ
|year = 1994
|publisher = [[Indiana University]], [[Folklore Institute]]
|isbn = 978-0-253-31168-9
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Bragdon
|first = Claude
|author-link = Claude Fayette Bragdon
|title = More Lives Than One
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aDGBYME9CQsC
|year = 1938
|publisher = Cosimo, Inc.
|isbn = 978-1-59605-359-5
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Bukatman
|first = Scott
|author-link = Scott Bukatman
|title = The Poetics of Slumberland: Animated Spirits and the Animating Spirit
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JUzsFWq97UUC
|year = 2012
|publisher = [[University of California Press]]
|isbn = 978-0-520-95150-1
}}
* {{cite book |last = Canemaker
|first = John
|author-link = John Canemaker
|title = Winsor McCay: His Life and Art
|edition = Revised
|year = 2005
|publisher = [[Abrams Books]]
|isbn = 978-0-8109-5941-5
|url = https://archive.org/details/winsormccayhisli00cane
}}
* {{cite book
|editor-first = Dean
|editor-last = Mullaney
|editor1-link = Dean Mullaney
|last = Canwell
|first = Bruce
|title = Bringing Up Father: From Sea to Shining Sea the Cross-Country Tour of 1939–1940
|year = 2009
|publisher = [[IDW Publishing]]
|isbn = 978-1-60010-508-1
}}
* {{cite book
|title = Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928
|first = Donald
|last = Crafton
|year = 1993
|publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]]
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yaeJFVTedysC
|isbn = 978-0-226-11667-9
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Crafton
|first = Donald
|chapter = Animation
|pages = 25–29
|editor-last = Abel
|editor-first = Richard
|editor-link = Richard Abel (cultural historian)
|title = Encyclopedia of Early Cinema
|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hFxwX-dM008C
|year = 2005
|publisher = [[Taylor & Francis]]
|isbn = 978-0-415-23440-5
}}
* {{cite book
|ref = {{sfnref|Dover editors|1973}}
|title = Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend
|year = 1973
|publisher = [[Dover Publications]]
|isbn = 978-0-486-21347-7
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Eagan
|first = Daniel
|title = America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC
|year = 2010
|publisher = Continuum International Publishing Group
|isbn = 978-0-8264-2977-3
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Grant
|first = John
|title = Animated Movies Facts, Figures & Fun
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m2tOrUQTBosC
|year = 2006
|publisher = AAPPL
|isbn = 978-1-904332-52-7
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Harvey
|first = Robert C.
|author-link = R. C. Harvey
|title = The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic History
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vaSHrtEKchoC
|year = 1994
|publisher = [[University Press of Mississippi]]
|isbn = 978-0-87805-612-5
}}
* {{cite news
|title = Celebrating Little Nemo by Winsor McCay; his 'demons' made him do it
|date = October 15, 2012
|first = Amy
|last = Hubbard
|newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]]
|url = http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/15/nation/la-na-nn-little-nemo-google-doodle-20121015
|access-date = December 15, 2012
}}
* {{cite book
|last1 = Keil
|first1 = Charlie
|last2 = Singer
|first2 = Ben
|title = American Cinema of the 1910s: Themes and Variations
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qfCLuAqjrXgC
|year = 2009
|publisher = [[Rutgers University Press]]
|isbn = 978-0-8135-4445-8
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Merkl
|first = Ulrich
|title = The Complete Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1904–1913) by Winsor McCay "Silas"
|location = Catalog of episodes & text of the book
|type = .doc
|year = 2007
|publisher = Ulrich Merkl
|isbn = 978-3-00-020751-8
}} (on included DVD)
* {{cite book
|last = Sabin
|first = Roger
|author-link = Roger Sabin
|title = Adult Comics: An Introduction
|publisher = [[Routledge]]
|year = 1993
|isbn = 978-0-415-04419-6
}}
* {{cite journal
|last = Smith
|first = Conrad
|title = The Early History of Animation: Saturday Morning TV Discovers 1915
|journal = [[Journal of the University Film Association]]
|volume = 29
|issue = 3
|date =Summer 1977
|pages = 23–30
|jstor = 20687377
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Weiss
|first = Brett
|title = Classic Home Video Games, 1985–1988: A Complete Reference Guide
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F01wiUr9LKQC
|publisher = [[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]
|year = 2009
|isbn = 978-1-4766-0141-0
}}

{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|d=Q4020439|n=no|wikt=no|s=Little Nemo (film)|q=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|b=no|c=Category:Little Nemo (1911 film)}}
{{Commons category|Little Nemo (1911 film)}}
*''Little Nemo'' essay [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/little_nemo.pdf by] Daniel Egan on the [[National Film Registry]] website.
*{{IMDb title|0001737|Little Nemo|(1911)}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Nemo}}
[[Category:1910s American animated films]]
[[Category:1910s animated short films]]
[[Category:1911 animated films]]
[[Category:1911 films]]
[[Category:1911 short films]]
[[Category:1911 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:American silent short films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Films based on comic strips]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Winsor McCay]]
[[Category:Films directed by Winsor McCay]]
[[Category:Short films with live action and animation]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:Vitagraph Studios short films]]

Little Nemo (1911 film) - Revision history

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wikipedia>DrKay: remove from Category:CS1 errors: generic name

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