 Elyssa Levine and Tu Nguyen October 22 nd 2012 Digital Media IMM 110

Birth Born on September 26 th 1869 Raised in Spring Lake, Michigan Son of Janet and Robert McCay Originally named Zenas Had an interest for drawing right away

Early Years  At the age of thirteen drew the sinking of the Goodrich Steamship Alpena

Education  Enrolled into Cleary’s BusinessCollege  Taken on as a student byMichigan State Normal School  Moved to Chicago, where he hadplans to study at the Art Institute  Finds employment at theNational Printing and EngravingCompany

Early Profession  Moves to Cincinnati and works for the Vine Street Dime Museum  Draws for the “freak shows”  Marries Maude Leonore Dufour after meeting at the Museum in 1891  Draws advertisements for the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune  Moves to the Cincinnati Enquirer where he produces his first comic strip

New York Herald  Takes position at the New York Herald  His new serial strip, Little Sammy Sneeze, appears in the paper  Becomes the premiere comic illustrator  Other works published in the Herald include: The Story of the Hungry Henrietta, A Pilgrim’s Progress by Mister Bunion, and Little Nemo

“Little Nemo”  Best known and most belovedcomic strip is called Little Nemo in Slumberland  Little Nemo’s lovable characters also inspire McCay’s first attemptsat moving animation  After a one-week preview run inPhiladelphia, a musical opens onBroadway m/watch?v=seOGEwx0NfQ m/watch?v=seOGEwx0NfQ

Animated Film  Creates more animated films and moves to William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper empire  Second animated film named How a Mosquito Operates  Gertie The Dinosaur is another film about a dinosaur invested with human characteristics ?v=UY40DHs9vc4 ?v=UY40DHs9vc4  His final three films were Bug Vaudeville, The Pet and The Flying House  Films provided an innovative subject matter

Final Decade  Arrangement to continue booking performances  Source of conflict with William Randolph Hearst  Leaves the Hearst papers when his contract expires and returns to the New York Herald  Begs McCay to return to draw for him again  The Herald Tribune’s decision to drop Nemo undoubtedly influenced his decision to go back to Hearst.  Returns to drawing editorial cartoons, but pressure on him is intense

Death  Had plans to work on furtherfilms, but William RandolphHearst refused to give him timeoff for animation  Hearst relied on him to produceeditorial and political cartoonsfor his papers  Hearst saw McCay’s workdeteriorating in both artisticacumen and wit  Continued to draw for Hearstuntil his death on July 26, 1934

Influences  Father of animation  See his influence everywhere  “There literally isn't an area of comics or animationthat the influence of Winsor McCay can't be felt”  His works have inspired generations of artists such assuch as William Joyce, Andre LeBlanc, MauriceSendak, Chris Ware, and Bill Watterson.

Time Period  Heyday of Yellow Journalism

Accomplishments  A Pilgrim's Progress ( )  Little Nemo in Slumberland( )  Poor Jake ( ) Comic Strips  A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle (1903)  Little Sammy Sneeze (1904-6)  Dream of the Rarebit Fiend ( )  The Story of Hungry Henrietta (1905)

Accomplishments Filmography  Little Nemo (1911)  How a Mosquito Operates (1912)  Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)  The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)  Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: Bug Vaudeville (1921), The Pet (1921), The Flying House (1921)  The Centaurs (1921)  Gertie on Tour (1921)  Flip’s Circus (1921)  The Barnyard Performance ( )

 The End