Tweet Early Animation and Newsreels

Most American animation of the period dominated by J.R. Bray; i.e. between Winsor McKay and the rise of the Fleischer Studio, was attached to newsreels in a sort of a split reel combo, albeit the animation being much shorter in length than the newsreel. A fair amount of early animation survives in prints designed for the home market, with the cartoon removed from the context of the newsreel.

Does anyone know of an instance where a newsreel has survived with its cartoon intact? or vice versa?

spadeneal

I think I would check with University of South Carolina to consult their Fox newsreel collection. They got a portion of the newsreels before Fox was sold to NewsCorp and the gifting got bogged down. I remember that USC had a set of detailed cards backing up the actual prints.
UCLA also has a newsreel collection and they've been trying to catalog them for years. They may well have a list(?)

I think I would check with Tom Stathes.
He's the animation collector/expert here.

Thanks Dana; those are both good places to start. Newsreels -- pace the British Pathé site -- are among the most undercapitalized areas of silent film study I feel, despite being potentially the most lucrative.

spadeneal

Thanks for the mention, Gary. There are a few surviving examples of animated segments still existing with their live action newsreel counterparts. I can't think of too many particular examples at the moment but I'll look through my records. It should be noted that in general the animated cartoons were seen as a bit more timeless and were usually saved and distributed far beyond that of the newsreel segments, so most of the mainstream cartoons that survive today do so without the live action portions.

Thanks Tom; I was hoping you'd weigh in on this subject.

spadeneal

Well how about this; something that combines elements of both. And it's from UCLA's channel, so it's a legit clip.

spadeneal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK4yvL6eByI&feature=feedf