Krazy Kat – Bugologist (1916).
Among the films at the Library of Congress YouTube channel are a number of shorts from the early days of animation including several of the first Krazy Kat films. George Herriman apparently had nothing to do with these, they were Hearst corporation spin-offs, which perhaps explains their lack of Herriman’s eccentricities. They’re necessarily crude, of course; cartoon animation had barely begun in 1916 and Walt Disney was yet to make a film. It’s curious watching a cartoon which transcribes the comic strip conventions so literally, with speech balloons growing from the characters mouths. Also at the LoC channel is one of the later Gertie the Dinosaur films and the very strange The Centaurs, both by Winsor McCay and son.
Spook – I found these on Monday while poking around iTunes U in a fit of professional curiosity. They have an ‘Origins of American Animation’ section on there that I presume is similar to their Youtube channel – the iTunes option is handy if anyone wants to download the shorts to watch on an iPod etc. while travelling, I suppose.
They also have great collections of vaudeville footage and Edison films – again, surely available outside of iTunes, but fascinating wherever they might be found.
Thanks for the tip, I use iTunes as a music player but hardly ever look in its store. A shame they don’t have the Edison films of the 1900 Exposition there, would be nice to see them in better quality.