Winsor McCay
September 26, 1871 - July 26, 1934


Like many pioneers, the work of 'Winsor McCay' has been largely superseded by successors such as Walt Disney and Max Fleischer but he more than earns a place in film history for being the American cinema's first great cartoon animator. He started out as a newspaper cartoonist, achieving a national reputation for his strips 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' and 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend'. Inspired by his son's flick-books, he spent four years and produced four thousand individual drawings in making his first animated cartoon 'Little Nemo', completing it in 1911. But his biggest cartoon success was 'Gertie the Dinosaur' (1913), which was the centrepiece of a vaudeville act in which the live McCay would interact with his cartoon character. For this, he single-handedly produced ten thousand individual drawings, laboriously re-drawing the background every time. It is often wrongly cited as the first animated cartoon, but it was certainly the first successful one, and influenced dozens of imitators. His 1918 production 'The Sinking of the Lusitania' was even more ambitious: comprising 25,000 drawings, it was the first feature-length American cartoon, and the second one made anywhere. He retired from film-making in the 1920s, but would subsequently describe himself as "the creator of animated cartoons". This honour, strictly speaking, belongs to the Frenchman Emile Cohl - but McCay was certainly the first to bring them to a wide audience.


Director

1. Midsummer's Nightmare, The (1922)
2. Centaurs, The (1921)
3. Flip's Circus (1921)
4. Gertie on Tour (1921)
5. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: Bug Vaudeville (1921)
6. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Flying House (1921)
... aka Watch Your House (1921) (UK)
7. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Pet (1921)
... aka Last Word, The (1921) (UK)
... aka Monster Dog, The (1921) (USA)
... aka Pet, The (1921) (USA: short title)
8. Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, The (1921)
9. Sinking of the Lusitania, The (1918)
10. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
... aka Gertie (1914) (USA)
... aka Gertie the Trained Dinosaur (1914)
11. How a Mosquito Operates (1912)
... aka Hungry Mosquito, The (1912) (UK)
... aka Story of a Mosquito, The (1912)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Jersey Skeeters (1916) (reissue title)
12. Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics (1911)
13. Little Nemo (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Explains His Moving Cartoons to John Bunny (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Makes His Cartoons Move (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Animated Comics (1911) (UK)


Writer

1. Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992) (comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland)
2. Little Nemo: The Dream Master (1990) (VG) (comics)
3. Midsummer's Nightmare, The (1922)
4. Centaurs, The (1921)
5. Flip's Circus (1921)
6. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: Bug Vaudeville (1921) (also comic strip Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend)
7. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Flying House (1921) (also comic strip Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend)
... aka Watch Your House (1921) (UK)
8. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Pet (1921) (also comic strip Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend)
... aka Last Word, The (1921) (UK)
... aka Monster Dog, The (1921) (USA)
... aka Pet, The (1921) (USA: short title)
9. Sinking of the Lusitania, The (1918)
10. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
... aka Gertie (1914) (USA)
... aka Gertie the Trained Dinosaur (1914)
11. How a Mosquito Operates (1912) (also comic strip Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend)
... aka Hungry Mosquito, The (1912) (UK)
... aka Story of a Mosquito, The (1912)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Jersey Skeeters (1916) (reissue title)
12. Little Nemo (1911) (also comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland)
... aka Winsor McCay (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Explains His Moving Cartoons to John Bunny (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Makes His Cartoons Move (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Animated Comics (1911) (UK)


Producer

1. Midsummer's Nightmare, The (1922) (producer)
2. Centaurs, The (1921) (producer)
3. Flip's Circus (1921) (producer)
4. Gertie on Tour (1921) (producer)
5. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: Bug Vaudeville (1921) (producer)
6. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Flying House (1921) (producer)
... aka Watch Your House (1921) (UK)
7. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Pet (1921) (producer)
... aka Last Word, The (1921) (UK)
... aka Monster Dog, The (1921) (USA)
... aka Pet, The (1921) (USA: short title)
8. Sinking of the Lusitania, The (1918) (producer)
9. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) (producer)
... aka Gertie (1914) (USA)
... aka Gertie the Trained Dinosaur (1914)
10. How a Mosquito Operates (1912) (producer)
... aka Hungry Mosquito, The (1912) (UK)
... aka Story of a Mosquito, The (1912)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Jersey Skeeters (1916) (reissue title)
11. Little Nemo (1911) (producer)
... aka Winsor McCay (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Explains His Moving Cartoons to John Bunny (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Makes His Cartoons Move (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Animated Comics (1911) (UK)


Miscellaneous Crew

1. Centaurs, The (1921) (animator)
2. Flip's Circus (1921) (animator)
3. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: Bug Vaudeville (1921) (animator)
4. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Pet (1921) (animator)
... aka Last Word, The (1921) (UK)
... aka Monster Dog, The (1921) (USA)
... aka Pet, The (1921) (USA: short title)
5. Crashing Through to Berlin (1918) (animator)
6. Sinking of the Lusitania, The (1918) (animator)
7. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) (animator)
... aka Gertie (1914) (USA)
... aka Gertie the Trained Dinosaur (1914)
8. How a Mosquito Operates (1912) (animator)
... aka Hungry Mosquito, The (1912) (UK)
... aka Story of a Mosquito, The (1912)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Jersey Skeeters (1916) (reissue title)
9. Little Nemo (1911) (animator)
... aka Winsor McCay (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Explains His Moving Cartoons to John Bunny (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Makes His Cartoons Move (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Animated Comics (1911) (UK)


Actor

1. Great White Way, The (1924) (as Winsor McKay) .... Himself
2. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
... aka Gertie (1914) (USA)
... aka Gertie the Trained Dinosaur (1914)
3. Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics (1911) .... Himself
4. Little Nemo (1911) .... Himself
... aka Winsor McCay (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Explains His Moving Cartoons to John Bunny (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay Makes His Cartoons Move (1911)
... aka Winsor McCay and His Animated Comics (1911) (UK)