The Birth of the American Cartoon

I’ve previously noted that John Canemaker is making two don’t-miss Los Angeles appearances on Thursday January 12th and Saturday January 14th. But in case you need something to do on Friday the 13th, LACMA is presenting The Birth of the American Cartoon at 7:30pm that evening.

James Healey, Curator of Programs at George Eastman House in Rochester, will introduce and present a unique program comprising the most inventive, entertaining and influential American cartoons from the silent era, each of which has been preserved and made available on new 35mm prints. The animators represented include such cinema legends as Walt Disney, Walter Lantz, Paul Terry, and Max and Dave Fleischer. The program encompasses many of the “firsts” in animation techniques: the inaugural use of the rotoscope, the earliest color animation, and the original Felix the Cat cartoons. The prints are all unique to George Eastman House’s collection, and in many cases, have not been seen since their original screenings.

Films to screened that evening include: Domestic Difficulties (Bud Fisher,1916); Weary Willies (Isadore Freleng/Walter Lantz,1929); Trapped (Max Fleischer, 1921), a Koko short from the Out of the Inkwell series; Breath of a Nation (Gregory La Cava, 1919); Alice’s Spanish Guitar (Walt Disney, 1926); Col. Heezaliar-Shipwrecked (Bray Studios); Abie Kabibble Outwitted His Rival (La Cava); A Ramble on Skates with Inky Dink; and the following Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer Felix the Cat films: Felix the Cat Trips Thru Toyland (1925); Felix the Cat Flirts with Fate (1926); Felix the Cat Gets Revenge (1922).