A fickle, highly subjective blog about one adult’s chronological journey through comic and animation history.
A fan’s subjective perspective on the early stages and evolution of traditional animation. Mostly an extensive list of cartoons and films that stand out in my eyes, all in neat chronological/geographical order. You’re welcome. Today: a comparative post about Dumbo and Bambi, two precious films where animals are the stars.
Dumbo, 1941
Dumbo was a low-budget feature made to earn back the financial losses of Fantasia. It was deliberately kept simple and short, at 64 minutes. No
Early stages of animation: 1920-1937 – The rise of cartoons
3) Disney
America had a huge English-speaking market and more money to spend, so it makes sense that the biggest animation studios were founded there: Disney, Fleischer Studios, Warner Brothers Cartoons… I’m going to elaborate mostly on Disney, because they were simply the best for reasons I both can and can’t explain. There’s an observable quality difference between early Disney shorts and anything else from the same decade, but somehow they manage to make you feel involved with the characters and grip your attention. Even though Walt Disney seldomly animated himself anymore as years went by, his creative vision, drive and controlling nature shaped the way Disney’s animation would evolve. More about that further down and very possibly in a future post. Or maybe somewhere else, from a smarter person who knows what he’s talking about.
Early efforts
In 1923, Walt Disney founded a studio and started doing his own thing. Before he did some things (Laugh-o-grams). And then in his own studio, he did well, more of the same kind of things (Alice Comedies) . Oddly, in both videos a real live girl can be seen interacting with cartoon characters. I guess this was his way to introduce animation to the audience and attempt to involve them. They then tired of the mixed format and went on to full animation.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – Trolley Troubles, 1927
Disney introduced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, as an answer to Felix the Cat and Fleischer’s Koko the Clown, and it looked amazing. For some reason, maybe because of this cartoon, animators became obsessed with trains and trolleys and cows on tracks. Oh, and here is one from when Disney lost the rights to Oswald and the character went to another studio. Spot the differences.
Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies
Mickey Mouse
entered the stage to replace Oswald and at the suggestions of composer Carl Stalling, Disney developed the Silly Symphonies cartoons. The bulk of these animated shorts featured slapstick gags and anthropomorphic animals, plants and objects using each other and their surroundings as musical instruments. Music was an important part of the cartoon and every one of them featured a synchronized soundtrack.
Steamboat Willie, 1928
You may have seen this one before or recognize it from a Simpsons homage. It was Disney’s breakthrough and the debut of Mickey Mouse. After seeing The Jazz Singer, the first movie with synchronized music and some singing and talking, Walt Disney decided this was the way to go for animation. There have been cartoons with sound before, and with synchronized sound, but not a fully synchronized soundtrack. Not only is Steamboat Willie innovative in this respect, they stepped things up a notch in terms of animation quality too.
Other notables and personal favorites:
1) Early stages of animation: 1900-1940 – Winsor McKay, Vladislav Starevich and rotoscoping
Fantasmagorie – Emile Cohl, 1908 
I just started but I’m already in awe. Even though it’s the very first animated film and starring white stick figures on a black background, sporting a length of just under 2 minutes, I would say it still holds up to this day as an artist’s stream-of-consciousness trip. Cohl apparently drew each frame on paper and shot each frame onto negative film, which gave it a kind of blackboard look. That’s what the internet says at least.
Vladislav Starevich
The Beautiful Lukanida – Vladislav Starevich, 1912
Influenced by the former, Polish-Russian animator Vladislav Starevich started to create stop motion films using dead insects with wire limbs. Macabre. I like it. It’s not exactly the first stop-motion experiment. Some lost films from the early 1900’s may have included stop-motion and Dreams of Toyland (1908) features a scene with many animated toys.
The Cameraman’s Revenge – Vladislav Starevich, 1912
Again with the dead bugs.
What’s interesting about this one is the complexity of the story. Characters have feelings, desires and motivations and act accordingly. Yep. Beetle puppets with feelings. I struggle not to sound condescending, seriously, I’m genuinely amazed at the level of depth here. By the way, I’m doing captions.
