The enchanted drawing

SUMMARY
From Edison films catalog: Upon a large sheet of white paper a cartoonist is seen at work rapidly sketching the portrait of an elderly gentleman of most comical feature and expression. After completing the likeness the artist rapidly draws on the paper a clever sketch of a bottle of wine and a goblet, and then, to the surprise of all, actually removes them from the paper on which they were drawn and pours actual wine out of the bottle into a real glass. Surprising effects quickly follow after this; and the numerous changes of expression which flit over the face in the sketch cause a vast amount of amusement and at the same time give a splendid illustration of the caricaturist's art. 100 feet. 15.00.

Although this is not an animated film, the origins of animated film can be glimpsed here. J. Stuart Blackton, then a cartoonist for the New York Evening World, is photographed in Thomas Edisons New Jersey ""Black Maria"" studio performing a vaudeville routine known as the ""lightning sketch,"" supplemented by stop-camera tricks that bring the drawn objects to life. Copyrighted in 1900, it was probably filmed three or four years earlier.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : Edison Manufacturing Co., 1900.

NOTES
Copyright: Thomas A. Edison; 16Nov1900; D21656.

Performer: J. Stuart Blackton.

Camera, Albert E. Smith.

Filmed ca. September to early November 1900, on Vitagraph's rooftop studio in New York, New York.

Digital file includes a piano score composed and performed by Philip Carli.

SUBJECTS
Magic drawings--Drama.
Cartoonists--Drama.
Caricatures and cartoons--Drama.
Caricature--Drama.
Magic tricks--Drama.
Alcoholic beverages--Drama.
Hallucinations and illusions--Drama.
Older men--Drama.
Facial expression--Drama.
Vaudeville--Drama.
Trick--Short.
Comedy--Short.

DIGITAL ID
animp 1592 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/animp.1592

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• library
• congress
• animation
• Magic
• Cartoonists
• Caricatures
• and
• cartoons
• Caricature
• tricks
• Vaudeville
• Comedy