It’s a short article today due to a week of my running around like crazy. This week’s film may be familiar to you, or maybe you’ve never seen it at all. It’s a favorite of mine.

There’s a few really interesting old films that deal with animation history that sort of fall off the usual radar. This one, Animated Cartoons- the Toy that Grew Up (1946), is the first film I show in my animation history class at CCS. It does a very simple, nice job of taking about — and showing — some of the early toys that feature animation. Produced in 1946 by Les Films Du Compas, France, this documentary is unique in that it features all original devices, dating back to the early 1800s. The highlight of the film is an extended sequence detailing Emile Reynaud’s Praxinoscope from the turn of the century, and it’s a lovely sequence showing how Reynaud’s theatre and presentations were set up.

Sections of the film were featured on the Disneyland TV show “The Story of the Animated Drawing” (1955).

That’s where I first saw the short. Later, in 1987, while working at the University of Michigan’s Film and Video Library, I was happy to see the original film. It’s a little dry compared to today’s flashier documentaries, but I think it’s still pretty enjoyable.

Here is the short, from the print we used on the Thunderbean DVD Makin’ ‘Em Move’:

And here is The Story of the Animated Drawing (1955).

Have a good week all!