Early animation loops

The first home cinema projectors that where brought on the market were small hand crancked 35 mm projectors, often lighted by a kerosine lamp. They were manufactured througout the first half of the 20th century, mostly by a couple of German toy manufacturers that were all located in Nuremberg .
The films that came with these projectors were short animation films, printed on about a meter of 35mm film. The beginning and end of these film where mounted together, thus forming an endless loop.
Most of the films were black and with line drawings printed photographically on safety film. In the color films(like the ones in this post) the images were ink printed onto the film.
The film of the bird catching a fly is colorised in a very labour intensive way:
the colors are hand painted on the film, frame by frame.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• telecine
• preservation
• animation
• loop
• toy
• kinématograph
• Bing
• Ernst
• Plank
• silent
• home
• cinema
• Ives
• Argus
• unknown

[DarrenNemeth]

The ones I have are printed in black and white and color. Not on photographic film but on blank film. The images seem to be printed on like graphics. Some of them are cartoon animation, some Rotoscoped animation.

Interestingly, one film I have is a hoochie dancer Rotoscope. Perhaps a copy of Transformation. Pretty risque for a kids toy film but this was from Germany. lol Another shows a guy getting drunk.

Thanks for uploading this material.

[DarrenNemeth]

I have some of these type of films. Mine came with an Ernst Plank (Made in Germany) toy projector, the first 35mm film toy projector maker I know of. Its from around the early 1910s, I figure, and it came with a bunch of films.

The Keystone 35mm projectors patented in 1919 from the USA seem to be a rip-off of the German toys.

I've found there is very little known about these toys or the films that came with them, at least in the USA.

[BadLactose]

This is gorgeous.