“He was shot with a pointed rocket
His head jumped out from his neck socket!
It went back and he ran angry but fine!
Don’t fret! It’s not dream! Tis toon time!”
Remember how VIRUS screamed, “No one remembers the second!?” well today will prove this wrong!
Little Nemo and How a mosquito operates!
Mickey mouse is not the first!
The day you dreamt of has finally arrived! I have gone completely mad!
read on!
Hold your horses though! The above are not typos or spelling errors!
They are some of the earliest cartoon movies ever! Except the third sentence which is the truth! Now Mickey Mouse and Disney is of course the king now! But they were not the first toon movies!
In fact the first toon was made decades before the Mickey toon of the steam boat which everyone loves and which was the debut of the iconic Mickey Mouse!
What I have never understood though is how one dog is Mickey’s dog Pluto while another ‘dog’ is his friend ‘Goofy!”
By the time animations reached us we were happy with the educational animation videos! The ek chidiya and the movie about how trees are important!
Those movies with simple animation and even simpler stories were so nice to watch! Of course late on we had one of the most iconic toons which was the tom and jerry! There may be many who do not like animated movies (what!!? I LOVE THEM!); but still they do manage a smile with the Tom and Jerry!
Another Jerry was the Mickey Mouse! Though Mickey mouse was the star of the Disney studios, the more famous among kids was Donald duck! Many used to imitate his quack voice which was so odd and funny at the same time!
When ducktales came it was time for the next generation of toons to be seen and enjoyed! Characters like Baloo and Tigger were the favourite then!
One of the most popular animation of all times still was another disney production, the Jungle Book! Made way back in 1989, the title song especially in Hindi with the catchword, CHADDI or underwear was a big hit among kids!
Every sunday another episode of Mowgli with Sher Khan and the gang was a treat which we all used to eagerly wait for and watch!
Those were the days when the options were less and limited and the episodes used to come only once a week! Which made them special!
Now days even the one minute ad break is a torture for kids who simply want to press the ‘skip ad’ option as soon as possible! While many time we used to love watching ads! That is a blog for another day!
Now everyone knows the story of the toon by Walt disney which was the debut of Mickey Mouse! In fact though the highly successful toon called the steamboat Willie was released in 1928! Which was actually much later than the first toon!
Officially also the first toon has been credited not to Walt but this animator!
The first toon was the brainchild of animation pioneer Émile Cohl (1857 – 1938)!
This silent short film is composed of 700 drawings, photographed onto negative film and double-exposed! And it was released way back in 1908!
The movie was called Fantasmagorie, which is officially the world’s first animated cartoon!
Clocking in at under two minutes, the film’s title is an homage to a mid-19th century variant of the magic lantern, known as the fantasmograph, while its playful, nonsensical content is in the spirit of the Incoherent Movement of the 1880s! Cohl, who cut his teeth on political caricature and Guignol puppet theatre, went on to create over 250 films over the next 15 years, expanding his explorations to include the realms of live action and stop motion animation!
So what about Nemo and the mosquito!? Well, Walt was not even the second in the list of the toon movies! That was by the animator Winsor McCay who created the Movies Little Nemo and How a mosquito operates in the year 1911 and 1912!
Now if you are still dazed you must also know that even Mickey was not Walt’s first! His first animation was actually Alice’s wonderland! Now this is not to be confused with Alice in Wonderland! This was the first animated short film produced by Walt Disney!
In fact Mickey was not even the first mouse created by Walt! That place goes to Oswald! Trolley Troubles was the first animated short that featured Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the inspiration for Mickey Mouse. Oswald was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures!
The point here is that you may not be the first! You may not even be the first choice! But it does not matter! If it is good, then it will stand the test of time! So while empty early vessels blow away, the ones full of talents may come later but they are here for the long term!
Walt was not even the first toon maker or creator but now everyone remembers him and his toons while no one really knows about the first! In fact his ‘failures’ and ‘struggles’ are the inspiration for many!
Remember that failures are as common as common man! But these failures teach us lessons which a succes can never teach!
Of course thinking about the common man (or woman for that matter!) reminds me of my fav cartoonist Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman!
Now watch an old toon and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!
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