In commemoration of the Centennial of American Animation, BEFORE WALT covers the first 20 years of the development of the art, including the earliest concepts of moving images from cave paintings, leading up to the develop... more »ment of the motion picture medium. BEFORE WALT SYNOPSIS Without question, the three most important figures of American Animation are Winsor McCay, Max Fleischer, and most of all, Walt Disney. When Disney was just 19 years old, animated cartoons were an established novelty on the movie theater program. This was the result of centuries of worldwide development starting with Primitive Man. The desire to record life was evident in the various cave paintings of animals with multiple legs, which displayed the spirit of action. The ancient Egyptians understood the basic principle of the Persistence of Vision, which is the basis behind all motion pictures But it would be several millennium before the concept could be totally realized with the invention of motion pictures. The secrets to stop motion trick films had been discovered early in motion pictures, and the application of animation soon followed with the release of J. Stuart Blackton s HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES in 1906. In just eight years, animated cartoons were available to theater audiences on a weekly schedule. But this demand for product required a formalization of production which the pioneers all refined, each adapting from what the other had learned, laying the foundation for the achievements yet to be made by Disney. This one hour program will follow those developments, showing various examples that demonstrate the techniques and character designs that influenced the young Walt Disney. Included are HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES (Blackton 1906), FANTASAMAGORIE (Cohl 1907), LITTLE NEMO (McCay 1911), DUD LEAVE HOME (Carlson 1919), THE CIRCUS (Fleischer/Out of the Inkwell 1920), BARNYARD OLYMPICS (Terry/Aesop s Fables 1924), and the rare complete version of FELIX ALL P« less
