If you’re in the New York City area and interested in rare old animation, you’ll want to check out “New York Animation: The Beginning”, sponsored by the Society of Illustrators.
This “curated screening of early and rare New York animation cartoon series and characters” will feature real film reels, with the program shown on 16mm film. The curator is historian and preservationist Tommy José Stathes.
- Otto Messmer/Felix the Cat
- Max Fleischer/Out of the Inkwell and Koko the Clown
- Walter Lantz/Dinky Doodle
- Charles Bowers/Mutt and Jeff
- Paul Terry/Aesop’s Fables and Farmer Alfalfa
The screening takes place Friday, November 12, at 7 PM, and a limited number of tickets are available at $20 each. Proof of vaccination is required, and attendees should wear masks.
If you’re not in the NYC area, a second-place effort might involve a copy of The Comic Book History of Animation and a number of targeted YouTube searches. That’s how I learned about many of the items in the list above. The Library of Congress also has an extensive Origins of American Animation catalog that is viewable online.
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