The Important Animated Shorts

In order for there to be more than one live-action film on the “Most Important Shorts” list, I had to split the animated films into their own list. While features may rule the live-action world, it’s shorts where animated films come into their own.

Gertie the Dinosaur (1913)

Directed/Produced/Written by: Winsor McCay

Gertie the Dinosaur is one of the earliest animated films and the first to catch the public’s imagination. Winsor McCay, a popular newspaper cartoonist, appeared on stage showing off his cartoons in a speed-drawing routine. He created several experimental animations for his act before he hit upon Gertie the Dinosaur. He had made an animated mosquito but many of those who saw it believed that it was a real mosquito, somehow trained to go through a serious of actions. It’s hard to imagine now that a trained mosquito was easier to believe than an animated film.

To make Gertie come to life, he hand drew 10,000 pictures to combine into the film, as cell animation had not been invented. The result astonished audiences who were not used to “moving pictures.” In his act, McCay would stand next to the screen and speak to Gertie, timing his movements, the cracking of a whip, and the tossing of an apple to the actions on the screen. At the end, McCay walked toward the screen, ducking behind as an animated version of himself approached Gertie.

The Adventures of Felix (1919)

Produced by: Pat Sullivan; Directed/Written by: Otto Messmer

Felix the Cat was the first animated star, and as far as I can discover, the first anthropomorphic animated character. Though Pat Sullivan took credit for Felix for years, it is generally accepted that the cat was created by Otto Messmer, who worked for Sullivan, as a variation on a Charlie Chaplin cartoon he’d already done. His shape and solid black color were chosen for ease of animation.

The nameless cat first appeared in Feline Follies on November 9th. The film was a success and Paramount Pictures ordered a series of short films staring the cat, one to be delivered each month. There is some uncertainty how many were made on this contract, but Musical Mews is known to be the next, staring the now named Master Tom. The third film was apparently titled The Adventures of Fultz (I haven’t been able to confirm this), but Paramount producer John King changed it to The Adventures of Felix, and a star was born. The world hadn’t seen anything like him before, and with Sullivan’s salesmanship, the world was soon covered in Felix merchandise. In 1927, Macy’s created its first giant balloon for the Thanksgiving Parade; it was Felix the Cat. In 1928, the first experimental television transmission was an image of a papier-mâché Felix. Disney and Warner Bros both set out to copy Felix, and their results are mentioned later in this list.

Felix’s reign ended with sound. Sullivan was slow to pick up the new technology, and when he did, his studio’s skills were lacking, and a mouse took over as the second true animated star.

Felix has reappeared many times over the years, but never regained the incredible fame he once had.

Steamboat Willie (1928)

Directed/Written by: Walt Disney & Ub Iwerks

Steamboat Willie is not the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, nor is it the first animated film with synchronized sound, though many people claim it is both of these things (the honor for the first goes to Plane Crazy which came out earlier in 1928, and for the second to Max Fleischer’s Come Take a Trip in My Airship in 1924). But these earlier films had little impact compared to Steamboat Willie.
Working with Disney’s Mortimer Mouse (a competitor to Felix the Cat), lead animator Ub Iwerks and Disney himself formed Mickey. After three silent shorts in 1928 (Plane Crazy, Steamboat Willie, and The Gallopin’ Gaucho), Mickey was getting a name for himself. Then Steamboat Willie was re-released with an added soundtrack, and the age of silent cartoons was over and Disney had an empire.
As for the film itself, it is a parody of a Buster Keaton film, and is reasonably amusing if you are a big fan of slapstick.

Minnie the Moocher (1932)

Produced/Directed by: Dave Fleischer

Ah, for the pre-code days with that combination of sex and innocence. Betty Boop did it all. She danced, sang red hot jazz, wore her skirts short with a garter showing, disappeared into bedrooms to appear later with very happy partners, and performed oral sex on a candy cane. Betty Boop showed you could make a cartoon that appealed to children, with manic action, while appealing to the sexual instincts of adults.

Minnie the Moocher is a bit less risqué than the average Betty Boop cartoon, but it does have a surrealistic journey, ghosts and other forces of evil, and Cab Calloway singing the title song. The cartoon was at the height of Betty’s career. She had finished her transformation from the dog girl-friend (and that’s dog as in woof, not dog as in unattractive) of another Fleisher character, Bimbo, into the main character vamp that has become so well known over the years. All recent, sexually-aware animations owe something to Betty. A few years after Minnie the Moocher, the insanity of the production code forced Betty to wear longer skirts and avoid sexual situations, which spelled the end for her.

Long Haired-Hair (1950)

Directed by: Chuck Jones

While Disney ruled the world of animation in the 30s and 40s with beautifully drawn cells telling simplistic stories for kids, Warner Bros. did something different. With a group of eccentric artists (Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones), Warner made cartoons that had action for children, but were hipper to appeal to teens, and also filled with sly social and cultural statements for adults. The characters of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and Porky Pig, are famous everywhere in the world. If I tried to personify the positive side of the American personality, I would just point to Bugs.

If this was a list of my favorite animated shorts, six of ten would be from the heyday of Looney Tunes and five of those from a single director, but this is a list of the most important shorts. But even then I’m cheating by not listing more of the WB films. So be it. I’ll just take one to represent them all. So, how do I choose? Do I take:

• Buddy’s Day Out (1933) – the first Looney Tune
• Porky’s Hare Hunt (1938) – Bugs Bunny’s first appearance
• A Wild Hare (1940) – Oscar nominated, the first identifiable Bugs

While those all mark the development of Looney Tunes, they aren’t the masterpieces that would make the WB cartoons part of our culture. For that, we have to wait for the late ’40s and ’50s, and the perfected work of Chuck Jones. Jones, arguably the greatest animated short filmmaker of all time, not only helmed the best of the WB cartoons, but went on to direct How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 1966 (which makes Jones responsible for a total of 6 of my 10 favorite animated shorts). His contributions include Long-Haired Hair (1949), Rabbit Fire/Rabbit Seasoning (1951/1952), Rabbit of Seville (1950), Feed the Kitty (1952), Duck Amuck (1953), Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953), One Froggy Evening (1955), and What’s Opera, Doc? (1957)

The pivotal WB short should feature a fully evolved Bugs (Bugs is the icon after all), be a classic on its own, combine modern culture with classic art, and influence the animated films that followed and would improve on it. So, that means Long-Haired Hair. Bugs is in full “this means war” mode as he destroys an opera singer. Opera would become one of the best Looney Tunes devices. Long-Haired Hair may not be quite as clever as Rabbit of Seville or What’s Opera, Doc?, but they never would have been made without it.

The Birth of Astro Boy (1963)

Produced by: Osamu Tezuka

Before becoming the animated Astro Boy, Tetsuwan Atom appeared in a Japanese comic (known as a manga) in 1951. Created by Osamu Tezuka, known as the “god of manga,” in part due to his prolific output, he hit a cord with the youth of Japan with his robot boy. In 1963, borrowing heavily from U.S. animation houses, Astro Boy (a name meant only for overseas dubbings, but adopted by the home audience as well) made his first onscreen adventure with The Birth of Astro Boy, and the stage was set for the next forty years of Japanese animation, or anime. The look that has become so familiar was there (including the overlarge eyes), as well as plots and issues that would pop up again and again.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Produced/Directed by: Bill Melendez; Written by: Charles M. Schulz

The quintessential Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas established the Peanuts gang as part of modern culture. The story advocates love and condemns the commercialization of the season without an overdose of saccharine, and is funny both for children and adults.

It varied from other cartoons and specials in several ways. The voices are those of children, and gives the characters a halting form of speech that both elevates the comedy and gives the feeling that these are indeed kids, not adults talking in a falsetto voice. It also used jazz. The themes performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio have become as famous as the show itself.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is also notable in proclaiming its Christian roots, with Linus reciting from the King James Bible “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy.” It doesn’t preach. Rather, it simply proclaims the joy in Christianity. In these days when Christianity appears most often as a tool of restrictive right-wing politics, it’s nice to see it pop up as something valuable.

It was followed the next year by the nearly as good, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and then by many lesser specials.

Luxo Jr. (1986)

Produced by: John Lasseter, William Reeves; Directed/Written by: John Lasseter

The first film made by Pixar after it broke off from Lucasfilm, Luxo Jr. changed the nature of animation, both for shorts and features. Luxo Jr. showed that computer animation need not be cold, but could be character-based, showing all the charm of cell animation, and could win the hearts of the viewers.
Computer animation now dominates the marketplace. Without Luxo Jr., it still might have happened. With it, everything changed, and the fledgling Pixar took off.