The early masterpiece by Winsor McCay, "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914), was a quarter century ahead of its time for character animation. Recently, an auction catalog of animation cels and artifacts produced a pair of original rice-paper drawings from the film. One of them caught my eye, since it was an unfamiliar pose, not seen in the prints known to circulate:
It would have been at the end of the film, past the point when she drank the lake dry. Could the original stage release of "Gertie" have included a final curtain call for the frisky dinosaur? An animation mystery!
The closing minute of the film is attached below for comparison - it'll be a bit compressed for this webpage, but the entire version is on line in several formats from several sources.
The auction catalog will probably not have a permanent web presence, but here's a link to it, as of April 2018:
https://profilesinhistory.com/auctions/animation-disneyana-auction-99/
POSTSCRIPT: The auction house doesn't mention how much the two Gertie drawings realized. They were listed with $4500-$6000 range. Either the amount was considered "anonymous" or was not to the minimum expected, so --- they may still be out there looking for a new home. Will keep the eyebones peeled! Who needs to retire, right?
It would have been at the end of the film, past the point when she drank the lake dry. Could the original stage release of "Gertie" have included a final curtain call for the frisky dinosaur? An animation mystery!
The closing minute of the film is attached below for comparison - it'll be a bit compressed for this webpage, but the entire version is on line in several formats from several sources.
The auction catalog will probably not have a permanent web presence, but here's a link to it, as of April 2018:
https://profilesinhistory.com/auctions/animation-disneyana-auction-99/
POSTSCRIPT: The auction house doesn't mention how much the two Gertie drawings realized. They were listed with $4500-$6000 range. Either the amount was considered "anonymous" or was not to the minimum expected, so --- they may still be out there looking for a new home. Will keep the eyebones peeled! Who needs to retire, right?
