ANIMAFEST PRO | ANIMAFEST SCANNER XI | Panel 1: Studying Early Animation (Tracing Some Basics)

Researching and Restoring Early Chromolithographic Film Loops - Robby Gilbert (United States)

PANEL 1 - STUDYING EARLY ANIMATION (TRACING SOME BASICS)
04/06 TUE 10:35-11:05 KIC

Chromolithography, which had been used in print media since 1837, was applied to 35mm film extensively from 1897 into the early part of the twentieth century. The process was used primarily as a way to produce short, animated sequences largely marketed as children’s amusements to be projected using modified kerosene magic lanterns fitted with hand cranks, simple shutters and Maltese cross systems. As such, they allowed viewers to enjoy short ‘cartoon’ sequences, often in color, that looped. Many sequences were traced from live action, but a significant number were drawn without reference and mark an important development in moving image and animation application. Because these loops were marketed as toys, they often did not survive the repeated viewing and rough treatment of their young projectionists. In addition, they have traditionally been thought of as ‘novelties’ and may not have been taken seriously by film historians and preservationists. But the same could be said of other so-called ‘proto-cinematic’ devices and objects, and yet many of those items—zoetropes, praxinoscopes, etc.—are documented relatively thoroughly. These short chromolithographic films are also rare artifacts from the earliest years of cinema, and a few efforts are beginning to be made to study, preserve, and catalogue these items and their history. The most widely known manufacturers of these films were Ernst Plank and Bing of Germany and The LaPierre company from France, toymakers who specialized in marketing magic lanterns to children. Foreseeing the demise of lantern entertainment as the result of the new medium of film, they designed and built a number of clever contraptions that were hybrids of lantern and film projectors. The film loops, printed in numbers using the chromolithographic process, were sold with these devices. In the U.S, A.C. Cummings Co. and Keystone also built robust 35mm toy projectors during this period, but they seem to have been marketed with short clips from popular films of the day. To date, concise information regarding manufacture, dating, and cataloguing these loops is as rare as the films themselves.

Robby Gilbert is an animator, illustrator, and Assistant Professor of animation and the Moving Image at Rowan University. He has written several articles on animation for both print and online journals and writes a monthly interview column for ASIFA East. Gilbert is an avid collector and scholar of pre-cinematic and early moving image optical devices. He directs the Moving Image Research Lab at Rowan University where he engages students with the research and archiving of rare 19th century artifacts. Currently, Gilbert is writing a book on the history of New York Animation for Palgrave MacMillan.