Before Mickey: Animated Film, 1898-1928 [Hardcover]

Donald Crafton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1982

This is the first book to trace the prehistory of animation - zoetrope, flipbooks, and vaudeville "lightning sketches" - and to chronicle the achievements of Emil Cohl, the first animator, and Felix's creator Otto Mesmer, among others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Before Mickey's scholarship is quite lively and its descriptions evocative and often funny. The history of animation coexisted with that of live-action film but has never been given as much attention. Crafton has compellingly filled in the gaps... "
— Tim Hunter , The New York Times Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Donald Crafton is Associate Professor of the History of Art at Yale University and Curator of the Yale Film Collection. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: MIT Press; 1ST edition (January 1, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262030837
• ISBN-13: 978-0262030830
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,828,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chronicle of a much forgotten time., November 18, 2002

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Before Mickey (Paperback)

There was once a time when the utterance "Mickey Mouse" had no meaning and conjured up no images of vast tracts of decadent land saturated with sugary amusement. The word "Felix", however, would probably send a jolt through most living in this lost time. Just how popular Felix was is evident in a 1926 photograph of Ligget's Drug Store in Grand Central Station that Crafton included in "Before Mickey." The window is nearly filled to the brim with Felix paraphenalia, much like we've seen recently with the Powerpuff Girls, Spongebob Squarepants and Harry Potter. Felix was once just as ubiquitous and just as unavoidable.

The events that led up to this incredible success are laid out in "Before Mickey." The saga of animation is an interesting and much neglected part of cinema history. The book covers something that is almost never discussed: animation's origins in stop-motion. Everyone should read Crafton's account of "The Haunted Hotel" - a stop-motion film where objects "float" through the air and objects move on their own. It terrified audiences and gave impendance to animation with its success. From this it was almost a natural progression to drawings that moved and funny characters in funny situations.

Silent animation had its own life and own method of communicating. Everything was in the pictures, and early animation artists made the most of this. It remains, and will probably sadly remain, a very underappreciated art form. We're just too drunk with sound these days.

Luckily, you can read this book and get a taste of what those days must have been like, the stories of the pioneers that made it all possible (those in America, at least) and how far we've come in some respects and what we've lost in others.

Anyone interested in the early history of animation should read this(after all, there isn't much else out there right now). Also, if you can, buy the tape (is it available on DVD now?) that accompanies the book. It's filled with great animation but sadly missing "The Haunted Hotel." It does, however, include a GREAT Felix the Cat cartoon.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book on the First 30 Years of Animation, January 13, 2001

By 

Eric A. Faust (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Before Mickey (Paperback)

In histories of animation there is usually a very small amount of time devoted to animation that was released before "Steamboat Willie". This book fills this hole quite nicely. The book goes into exhaustive detail on James Stuart Blackton, Winsor McCay, Emile Cohl, Otto Messmer, the Bray Studio, and animation shops that emerged from the Bray Studio. There is one chapter devoted to commercial animation in Europe from this time period. But if you're looking for a more in depth study of early European animators like Ladislas Starewicz and Lotte Reiniger, you might want to check some place else (I'm not sure where). Though one entire chapter IS devoted to Emile Cohl, this mostly deals with American animation. Those looking for information about animation outside of Western society are looking in the wrong place. As its title suggests, this book is basically a history of events leading up to Mickey Mouse.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the cost, September 9, 2011

By 

Felix Lostracco - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Before Mickey (Paperback)

After reading this book I can safely say it is not worth the price. An informative and somewhat skewed account of animation prior to Mickey Mouse, the book did not focus enough attention to Felix the Cat. Only a chapter or so near the end paid any hommage to the legendary cartoon character.

Definately not woth the cost.