Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 animated short film by American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay. It is the earliest animated film to feature a dinosaur. McCay first used the film before live audiences as an interactive part of his vaudeville act; the frisky, childlike Gertie did tricks at the command of her master. McCay's employer William Randolph Hearst curtailed McCay's vaudeville activities, so McCay added a live-action introductory sequence to the film for its theatrical release renamed Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist, and Gertie. McCay abandoned a sequel, Gertie on Tour, after producing about a minute of footage.
Promotional poster
Winsor McCay (pictured in 1906) was a pioneer in comic strips and animation.
Long-necked dinosaurs often appeared in Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. (May 25, 1913)
McCay used registration marks in the corners of the drawings to reduce jittering.
Zenas Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). For contractual reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.
McCay in 1906
Nemo's bed takes a walk in the July 26, 1908, episode of Little Nemo in Slumberland.
Little Sammy Sneeze, September 24, 1905
The most successful of McCay's comic strips was Little Nemo September 9, 1907
