International projectionist (Nov-Dec 1933)

November 1933 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST 31 Fig. 18. "Jerry on the Job", animated by Walt Lantz in 1917 : the drawing (a) is placed beneath the drawing made on celluloid (b) , and the two photographed together, producing the effect (c). I ings. Where any part of the background interfered with the character animation, that part of the background was drawn on the same sheet with the character. This system was discontinued after the first few cartoons in favor of the now conventional "celluloid over the background" method. Other famous cartoons during the 1917-20 period were the Mutt and Jeff series made by Bud Fisher. The Kay Company released the Terry Cartoon Burlesque, and Sterling Pictures the Zippy series. Skipping over the years to the sound era, we come to Walt Disney and his Mickey Mouse series, which were the first cartoons with sound. Steamboat Willie (Fig. 14), was the first of this series and had its premiere on September 19, 1928, at the Colony Theatre in New York. An earlier Mickey Mouse had been made but it was released later as Plane Crazy. Mickey Mouse is probably the most popular of any screen character, whether in real life or cartoon. He is certainly the acme of all that the screen has to offer as entertainment. Disney started cartoon making in St. Louis, in 1921, when he made the Laugh-O-Gram (Fig. 12) series. In October, 1923, he and his brother, Roy, went to Hollywood and produced the Alice Cartoons (Fig. 13), which were a combination of real life characters and cartoons. Disney's first Silly Symphony, The Skeleton Dance (Fig. 15), was released at the Carthay Circle, . in Los Angeles, in July, 1929. It was later shown at the Roxy in New York. It was the first cartoon picture to be rebooked for a second showing at the Roxy. The method of synchronizing the first Mickey Mouse was by the "bouncing ball" method (Fig. 16), in which a ball was made to bounce in time with the music as a guide for the musicians, who watched the picture and the ball as they appeared together on the screen. This ball was photographed along the edge of the film, which space was later occupied by the sound track in the release print. Disney next used a wavy line, and finally adopted an aural method. The last method, employing headphones, is still in use. Disney controls many of the sound cartoon synchronization patents. The first Silly Symphony in color was Flowers and Trees, first shown at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Holly wood, on July 15, 1932. This was the first cartoon to employ the Technicolor Cartoon Process, a three-color imbibition process. Judging from today's standards it seems that it will be impossible to improve upon the beauty of these Disney cartoons colored by this process. Many will remember the cartoon sequence that served as an introduction to the Universal picture, King of Jazz, released on March 30, 1930. It was colored by the Technicolor two-color process and was the first cartoon on record to be mechanically colored. Another cartoon to follow this was Ted Eshbaugh's Goofy Goat, made by Multicolor and released at Loew's State Theatre, Los Angeles, on March 2, 1932. Many will credit this cartoon with being the first in color, since it was the first complete cartoon story done in color, whereas the earlier Lantz cartoon was only an introduction for a real-life picture. Current Cartoons The current cartoon characters besides those named are Osivald and Pootch-the-Pup, drawn by Walt Lantz and Bill Nolan for Universal; Krazy Kat and Scrappy made by the Mintz Studio; Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies made by Leon Schlesinger; Flipthe-Frog, by U. B. Iwerks for M. G. M. release; Aesop's Fables and Tom and Jerry by the Van Buren Corporation ; Betty Boop by Max Fleischer; Bosko by Harman and Ising, released by Warners as a "Looney Tune"; Magazine of the Screen by Bray; and Terry Tunes by Paul Terry. The Wizard of Oz will shortly be released as a series in Technicolor. Such is the history of cartoons. It is interesting to observe their popularity today and then to recall their reception back in 1911-14, when they were always coupled with real-life characters in order to give a reason for their exis tence. The Artist's Dream had, as an introduction an artist who drew a picture and fell asleep; then the drawing came to life. The McCay cartoon had, as an introduction, a bet that he could not draw motion. He was pictured making a bet, and then the cartoon followed. Pathe, more or less hesitantly, ran a few short, terse bits of action in cartoons on the ends of their newsreels during 1911. Today, cartoons are a source of wonder. Those making animated cartoons lift out and re-sbape human experiences in their more lovable form. They instill into the screen a gaiety and glow that depicts human traits in their more desirable form. They recreate again lost childhood. It is a form of entertainment that the screen must never lose. RCA PHOTOPHONE NOTES The Photophone Division of the RCA Victor Company has announced the appointment of Elmer Grace to the San Francisco territory, replacing M. F. Lowry; and the appointment of J. W. Sims to the North Carolina and South Carolina territory, replacing C. A. Mathews. Mr. Sims' headquarters will be in Charlotte, N. C. Photophone High Fidelity sound reproducing equipment has been installed in the RKO Screening Room at the Cincinnati offices of the RKO Distributing Corporation. With the recent installation of RCA Victor High Fidelity sound in the Indiana Theatre at Bloomingdale, the H. P. Vonderschmitt Theatre Enterprises became 100% Photophone equipped. BRITISH ISLES STATISTICS A substantial increase in the number of wired houses in the British Isles is shown in the latest theatre analysis made by T. P. Drew, Western Electric's Sales Chief abroad. The analysis shows 4,414 theatres including 258 silent houses. The total number of W. E. installations is 1,666. Divided into countries the theatre analysis is as follows: England: 3,385 sound, 128 silent; Scotland: 494 sound, 72 silent; Wales: 326 sound, 27 silent; and Ireland: 209 sound, 31 silent. (b) (c) Fig. 19. Felix the Cat, animated by Wm. Nolan for International in 1917 showing the "slash^system used by Raoul Barre in the early Edison cartoons; the drawing of the cat "fa)~is cut as indicated by the dots and is superimposed on the background drawing (b). The photograph of the combination is shown at (c).