Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

Director:

Winsor McCay

Writer:

Winsor McCay (writer)

Release Date:

15 September 1914 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Gertie: she's a scream. She eats, drinks and breathes! She laughs and cries. Dances the tango, answers questions and obeys every command! Yet, she lived millions of years before man inhabited this earth and has never been seen since!!

Plot:

The cartoonist, Winsor McCay, brings the Dinosaurus back to life in the figure of his latest creation, Gertie the Dinosaur.

Plot Keywords:

Dinosaur | Bet | Drawing | Museum | Pumpkin

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Winsor McCay	...	Winsor McCay
George McManus	...	George McManus
Roy L. McCardell	...	Roy McCardell

Also Known As:

Gertie (USA) (alternative title)
Gertie the Trained Dinosaur

Runtime:

12 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

McCay

Trivia:

This film required Winsor McCay and his assistant John A. Fitzsimmons (who traced the backgrounds) to create 10,000 drawings, which they inked on rice paper and mounted on cardboard. Although later animators created techniques (such as the "slash system" and especially celluloid-over-paper) that would eliminate the need to redraw backgrounds or stable objects, McCay was working without precedents. Consequently, he chose to redraw the entire picture - Gertie and the richly-detailed background - for each frame.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gentleman: We've got a puncture. Let's go into the museum while he fixes it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dinosaur Movies (1993) (V)

Shows that ancient cartoons can still be funny

This short and rather old cartoon about a dinosaur is quite enjoyable. It was one of the earlier cartoons, and one of the first dinosaur movies. It may also have introduced cartoon violence to the world; Gertie chucks a mammoth named Jumbo into the ocean. I have found that it is more fun to watch the original silent version than the one with sound, although others may disagree.