(September 26, 1867(?) – July 26, 1934)
Among the dozens of actors and directors who appeared on the Valentine stage, Winsor McCay was a bit of an anomaly: he was a "chalk talk" artist. In 1906 McCay, already a prolific newspaper cartoonist with several successful comic strips under his belt, began an eleven-year run on the vaudeville circuit. During his chalk talks, he would sketch characters on his blackboard and change them based on suggestions from the audience or alter their features so that they appeared to age from infancy to old age before the audience's eyes.1 In many ways, this gig was not all that different from his first paying job, at Wonderland, a Detroit dime museum (part circus, part amusement park, part vaudeville show), where he drew quick-sketch portraits of customers with remarkable observation and detail.2
As he continued drawing newspaper comics and began his vaudeville work, McCay was also an innovator in animation. Inspired by moving flip-books, the brand-new technique of filmed animation (only a very few short films had been made at this point), and his skill with movement and pacing already demonstrated in his comic strips and chalk talks, McCay began to adapt his comics into animated films. In 1909 he adapted his most successful and inventive strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland, for the screen, and in 1912 he began to develop a new kind of animated character. The star of How a Mosquito Operates is the first example of "personality animation," moving beyond the technical accomplishments of earlier comics to create a real "character."
When a character has personality — appears to think and to experience emotions — it becomes more than a drawing and seems truly alive to audiences. By his actions, McCay's homely mosquito appears to be an intelligent creature who can think and consider solutions to problems. Like any proper vaudevillian, he constantly establishes eye contact with us and shows an antic side to his personality waving his hat, sharpening his proboscis on a portable stone wheel, and showing off while quaffing a victim's blood and balancing on his nose.3
McCay's great accomplishment – giving a drawn character the personality of an actor – would not be matched until Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs some twenty years later.
In 1914 McCay created his most important work: Gertie the Dinosaur. Even more so than the mosquito and unlike any earlier animations, Gertie was a true "character" with a real personality. McCay created this twelve-minute cartoon (with roughly 10,000 frames, each hand-drawn) as part of his vaudeville act: he would stand to the side of the screen and interact with the filmed dinosaur, cracking his bullwhip and instructing her to dance, drink from the lake, and even catch the pumpkin he threw to her. In the grand, amazing finale, McCay asked Gertie to give him a ride, then walked behind the screen and "into" the picture as his cartoon-self appeared on the screen and rode off on Gertie's head. McCay's "Greatest Animal Act in the World" was so successful that it was released as a film, with title cards taking the place of McCay's spoken instructions.
Even after McCay's chalk-talk run ended, vaudeville continued to influence his work. In his 1921 film Bug Vaudeville, a parody of vaudeville and circus, grasshoppers juggle, spiders dance, and cockroaches ride unicycles. "Only a man who knew showbiz to his bone marrow could conceive of the two bugs who pass back and forth a handkerchief with which to dry their sweaty palms before doing their hand-flips. Fellini would be honored by such insight into the ritual of performance." 4
Until his death, McCay drew for major New York newspapers. Even as he was required to forego comic strips in favor of editorial cartoons, he continued to develop filmed animation. One of his last films was The Sinking Of The Lusitania (1918), a moving call for America to join the war in Europe.
1. Canemaker, "Winsor McCay and the Art of Animation" 4
2. Vadeboncoeur
3. Canemaker, "Winsor McCay and the Art of Animation" 5
4. Canemaker, "Winsor McCay and the Art of Animation" 6
Resources
Canemaker, John. “Winsor McCay and the Art of Animation.” Winsor McCay: The Master Edition. Harrington Park, NJ: Milestone Film & Video, 2004. 28 July 2008. http://www.milestonefilms.com/pdf/WinsorMcCayPK.pdf.
This brief biography by McCay’s leading historian is included as part of the Milestone Films’ DVD release.
Winsor McCay: His Life and Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2005.
Canemaker analyzes McCay's achievements in print and film, particularly in relation to American culture and values of the period. He traces McCay’s career through his work as a vaudeville chalk-talk artist and includes art from all of McCay's endeavors.
Gertie the Dinosaur. Google Video. 28 July 2008. video.google.com.
Gertie and several other McCay animations can be accessed through Google Video.
Gertie the Dinosaur. YouTube.com. 28 July 2008. youtube.com.
McCay’s short films can also be found on YouTube.
“Meeting McCay: Spring Lake, Meet Winsor McCay. McCay Fans, Meet Spring Lake.” July 26, 2008. http://www.springlakemccay.blogspot.com/.
This blog, created by a group from McCay’s hometown, includes several full-page Nemo cartoons and other images.
Ohio State University Libraries Exhibitions. “Winsor McCay.” Ohio Cartoonists: A Bicentennial Celebration. 2003. 27 July 2008. http://library.osu.edu/sites/exhibits/cartoonists/mccay.html.
McCay was included in an OSU exhibition of Ohio cartoonists, and this summary of his work includes several cartoon images.
Vadeboncoeur, Jim, Jr. “Winsor McCay.” 2000. 20 July 2008. http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/mccay.htm.
This brief website summarizes John Canemaker’s biography of the artist and includes several images of McCay’s cartoons.
Winsor McCay: The Master Edition. Harrington Park, NJ: Milestone Film & Video, 2004.
This DVD release of McCay’s work features brand-new digital transfers of every surviving McCay film and includes an interview with his assistant, John Fitzsimmons; a short 1976 documentary by McCay historian John Canemaker (Remembering Winsor McCay); and an extensive gallery of stills.