Part II
of An Exploration
of the Art and Imagery of Comic Character Toys
Upon the Silver Screen
Animated Comic
Characters appeared in the "Movies"
for the first time, in 1911,when Windsor
McCay, led the way, by bringing LITTLE NEMO,
from the Funny Papers to the Screen. But, I
won't attempt to chronicle the history of the
Animated Film. Instead, let's jump ahead to
the early 1920s, when, hidden, behind the
overbearing facade of "Pat
Sullivan" [A drunken rapist, who took
all the credit, And the profits], a humble
man, named Otto Messmer, [A Towering Genius,
who did all the work] created FELIX THE CAT.
Messmer animated FELIX, almost, single
handedly, in some 200 films. And, in the
process, he advanced the "Visual
Language" of Comic characters, by leaps
and bounds!
FELIX THE
CAT
was "Messmerizing" right from the
start. His Jet Black body, contrasted against
lighter backgrounds, grabbed the eye, and
held it captive, Thus, FELIX dominated and
"stole" every scene! But, in the
beginning, he was, also, complex and
difficult to draw. His shapes were angular
and "Art Deco"like, in style. So,
Otto fixed it! He changed the Rectangles to
Circles. And, in so doing, discovered the
Secret "FORMula" that would
"SHAPE" All Animation, from that
time forward: CIRCLES! Circles, not only,
made FELIX easier to draw, but, also proved
to be the "key", that made it
possible for drawings to be passed from one
animator to another, and worked on by a
multitude of hands, without any, noticeable,
change in style. Thus, the Circle became the
Basic Shape, on which, all Animation is
Based. And, FELIX THE CAT, with his Circle
eyes, and Circle nose, and Semi-Circle smile,
upon his Circle head, Circle upon Circle,
became the most Popular Comic Character, yet,
to Frolic on the Silver Screen, or leap out,
from it, into the World of Toys. Alas, in
1928, the "Talkies" arrived with a
"BANG", and FELIX, Silently,
stepped aside, to make way for the Bright New
Star, who would, soon, Take His Place, in ...
The Circle of Life MICKEY MOUSE is one
of the Most Powerful and Amazing Images of
All Time! Early MICKEY Is, Nothing More, than
a Collection of CIRCLES, Not One Single
Element of his Anatomy is
"Realistic"! And, yet, this
Exercise in PURE ABSTRACTION,
"Speaks" to the Entire World,
Crossing all Borders, Spanning all Age
Groups, Communicating in the Silent,
universal, "Visual Language" of
Comic Characters, MICKEY "Shouts"
Out "I'M ALIVE"! And Everyone, of
Every Age, and Every Cultural background,
"Hears" him, with their eyes, and
"Gets the Message"! When Walt
Disney and Ub Iwerks joined hands, in 1928,
to create MICKEY MOUSE, surely, something
Magic Happened, for, either by Skill, or
Intuition, or Fate, or Accident, They
Discovered The Abstract Symbol for
"LIFE", itself! And, there is Not a
New Born Infant on Earth, that will not
respond to him, with squeals of delight?
When MICKEY MOUSE was
born, Three Circles, One larger than the
other two, proportioned like a quarter and
two dimes, [early Disney animators used to,
sometimes, actually, trace these coins], came
together and formed a Symbol, recognized
around the world, simple and almost
Indestructible! Add another quarter for his
tummy and two smaller circles for his hands,
then join them all, with tubes for arms and
legs and digits [four], and top him off with
oval nose, and funny shoes, and tail, and
last of all, those ever popular, Pie-Cut
eyes, and, Behold: MICKEY MOUSE! Now, Make
him Talk, and Dance, and Sing, upon the
Silver Screen! And, put his Likeness on some,
Fifty-Thousand things! Then Fashion Countless
Toys and Dolls and Icons in his Image, and,
Behold: His MAGIC KINGDOM, Here on Earth!
Throughout
the 1930s, MICKEY Reigned Supreme! As, Image after
Image poured forth, and, countless unknown
Artists tried their hand, composing
Variations on the Theme of MICKEY MOUSE. Some
captured MICKEY"S image well, while
others in missing it, made, even Better Art!
Soon, Friends and Family appeared.You know
their names, I need not list them here. For
it was the, very, Flowering of the Golden
Age, and all the Great Characters created
then, like BETTY BOOP, POPEYE, and All the
Rest, are with us still! So, I'll stop here,
while Mickey is at the Pinnacle of his
Success and Snow White is, along with World
War II, about to Stun the world. This is
"where I came in". Disney still had
a few great films up his sleeve, Just enough
to "hook" me, by the age of two or
three, for life.
What
are You, a Man or a Mouse?
By the time
I was old enough to meet Mickey, He was
already in decline, That indestructible
image, that could "hold his own" in
the hands countless unknown artists, had been
destroyed by Disney himself! The Pie-Cut Eyes
were gone, replaced by eyeballs that could
look from side to side, and the Magic circle,
that in earlier days, defined his head, had
turned to mush, Cute chubby little cheeks,
the kind that relatives love to squeeze,
disfigured his, once,
distinctive outline. And, his rotund
derriere, formerly a circle the same size as
his head, had slimmed down, to an ambiguous
geometric shape, best defined as
"svelte". Eventually, he donned
long pants and a Hawaiian shirt, and bought a
house in Levitt Town. Like the rest of
America, Mickey Mouse moved to the Suburbs!
And the PERFECT IMAGE, along with the Golden
Age of Comic Characters, was gone!
So it was,
when, Comic Characters Invaded our world, we
never fought back. And, in 1937, when, Snow
White led the Final Assault, in the form of
the First Full Length Animated Cartoon, the
Whole World, Surrendered, gladly, to her
Charms, and we offered up our hearts, once
and for all, in a jeweled box. But,
meanwhile, on other Fronts, a Roaring Battle
Raged!
Modern
Art vs. The World
I'm not referring to
the Second World War, but, rather, to the
War, that had been going on, for years, in
the World of Art. A War in which, Great
Warriors, like Braque, Picasso, and Matisse,
wielding paint brushes, instead of swords,
fought valiantly, against the Public! They,
and an army of artists, yet unknown,
struggled to win acceptance for a radical new
kind of Art, an Art of Abstraction and
Stylization, Simplification and Exaggeration,
sometimes, known as "Modern Art"!
And, We, the Ignorant Masses, Fought Back,
defending Realism, "tooth and
nail!"
The Battle continued throughout most of The
Twentieth Century, amid cries of "What's
that Supposed to be?" and "What the
Heck is That?" But, in the end, the
valiant Artists, proclaimed,
"Victory!". And, today, their works
are enshrined in museums, and their names,
are revered, by History. Although, even now,
there are, still, some among us, who have
not, yet, conceded "defeat"!
Isn't it Ironic that
Modern Art had to fight so hard to introduce
Abstraction to the world? When all the while,
Abstract Art had Already been, Peacefully,
Introduced and, Willingly, Accepted by an
Eager Public, many years Before, in the form
of Comic Characters!
When
one compares the History of Modern Art, to
the History of Comic Characters, there are
many Similarities to be found, and Milestones
to be Applauded, But, time and again, one
discovers that the Comic Characters, Did It
First! Salvador Dali, for instance,
introduced us to the dream world of
Surrealism, complete with melting watches and
flaming giraffes. But, Windsor McCay had
already taken LITTLE NEMO to SLUMBERLAND in
1905. And we joined them
there, each week, for many years, to find the
Land of Beautiful Dreams, to be, not only, as
Fantastic and Surreal as anything that Dali
did, but that, McCay was a better draftsman,
too! And, even the most extreme Abstractions
and distortions in Pablo Picasso's Art, were
firmly based on real forms, that he observed
in a live model. Close study reveals that,
there is no Abstraction in Picasso's work, as
far removed from life, as the Pure
Abstraction that we find in Mickey Mouse! And
if we look closely at the coarse four color
offset dots, on any Funny Paper page, just as
George Seurat, himself, must have done, we
can discover "Pointillism" for
ourselves!
MOMA and Pop
In
the mid 1960s, another artist, Roy
Lichtenstein, looked at those same dots, and
said to himself, "Hey, these Comic Books
are Great Art!", And Blew the Images Up
so LARGE, that everyone else, had to agree!
Then, Andy Warhol looked at a Brillo Box and said
"Hey, this should be in the Museum of
Modern Art!". And, the "POP
ART" Movement had arrived, to sweep away
old beliefs, and change our rigid attitudes,
about what constituted "ART".
Suddenly All the ARTifacts of our POPular
Culture, were seen as having the potential to
qualify as "ART", and all the
second class citizens of the "Commercial
Art" World, Those, unknown Artists
toiling in Publishing, and Industry, and
even, those, who were designing Toys, or
drawing Comic Books, might be permitted to
think of themselves, as "ARTISTS",
too!
But,
Pop Art poses, an Intriguing Riddle:
"Who is the "Real"
Artist?" Is it Andy Warhol, because he
looked at the Brillo Box and proclaimed:
"This is Art!"? Or is the
"Real" Artist, the Guy, who
Designed the Brillo Box? And, are we, now,
permitted to look at a Comic Book, and choose
the Images we like, on our own? Or do we need
Roy Lichtenstein to point the Good ones out?
And, if we were so bold, as to pick one, and
blow it up, ourselves, would We be the
"Real" Artist, then? Or would it Be
the Guy who drew the Comic Book?
Whatever the answer might be, of This, I'm
certain: There IS a "Real" Artist
in there, somewhere! And So It Is with
"Comic Characters". Somewhere,
among the Art, and Imagery of Comic
Characters, and the Toys, and Dolls, and
Artifacts, and Icons, they generated, There
is Great "ART"! And, taken all
together, This Great Body of Work, from the
Collective Hands of a multitude of Artists,
Known, and Unknown, together representing,
the Hands of a Great Nation, Will, One day,
Be Recognized as One of the Most Important
Art Movements of The Twentieth Century!
Today...
Comic
Characters are Alive, and doing Well, on
Planet Earth. They Decorate our Homes and
adorn, everything, from clothing to cereal
boxes. They, also, dominate the Entertainment
Media, Movies, Video Games, Books and,
especially, Television, where they amuse us,
and our children, nonstop, 24 hours a day,
and have, also, proven to be better teachers,
than our schools. Comic Characters own the
Toy Stores, too? They, not only, fill every
shelf, but, these days, talk to us, as we
walk down the aisles. The store itself, of
course, is managed by an animated giraffe!
And once or twice a year, when we feel the
need for More Comic Characters, we take our
families on a Pilgrimage to the nearest
"Comic Character Mecca", where we
can Worship Them, In Person! Now, one century
after Comic Characters first entered our
world, their Population is Exploding, and, if
an Alien Civilization is watching us, or
intercepting our TV, they might, well, get
the impression that Comic Characters are the
dominant life form on this planet!
And Tomorrow
As
the world embarks upon the Twenty-first
Century, the "Great Comic Character
Media Shower" continues. As, one New
Character, after another, momentarily,
Illuminates the Sky, in a Blaze of Glory,
only to, Flicker, Fade, and, Fall to Earth,
... creating little, lasting, Impact! And,
meanwhile, it would seem that Walt Disney's
famous quote: "It all Started with a
Mouse!" although, referring to the past,
has proved to be Prophetic! For, tomorrow's
Comic Characters, too, Will, "All Start
with a Mouse", though, not the kind of
"Mouse", that Disney had in mind.
And all Comic Characters, born, from this
time forward, will, no doubt belong to the
"Computer Generated Generation"!
But what about that
older generation, All The Funny Folks? Do
these Innovative Characters that led the
Invasion and created the Golden Age of Comic
Characters, have any Future in our world?
Will their Images be enshrined in a museum,
their names revered by history? Or are these
Milestones in the "True History" of
"Modern Art" destined to sink and
disappear, beneath the shifting sands of
time?
Over
the years, many of my friends and fellow
Collectors, Have dropped out of collecting,
for one reason or another. And I watched, as
their Collections were scattered and
dispersed at Auction, until, today, only a
few, remain. And, I cannot help but wonder:
Will anyone, still, cherish, and Collect
these Irreplaceable Works of Art, a hundred
years from now? I don't know if there is a
"new generation" of Comic Character
Collectors, waiting in the wings. But, I do
know that, If new Collectors come, They will
Not be from the ranks of those, who pour over
"Price Guides", and anguish over
"Condition", seeking Nirvana,
"Mint in the Box"! They will be
young people, with an "eye" for
Art, as I was, once, and they will fall in
love with the IMAGES and follow them, along a
route, I, also, traveled, back in time, to
meet the "Stars" that shone so
brightly, long ago, in the Golden Age of
Comic Characters.
Animated Comic
Characters appeared in the "Movies"
for the first time, in 1911,when Windsor
McCay, led the way, by bringing LITTLE NEMO,
from the Funny Papers to the Screen. But, I
won't attempt to chronicle the history of the
Animated Film. Instead, let's jump ahead to
the early 1920s, when, hidden, behind the
overbearing facade of "Pat
Sullivan" [A drunken rapist, who took
all the credit, And the profits], a humble
man, named Otto Messmer, [A Towering Genius,
who did all the work] created FELIX THE CAT.
Messmer animated FELIX, almost, single
handedly, in some 200 films. And, in the
process, he advanced the "Visual
Language" of Comic characters, by leaps
and bounds! 
FELIX THE
CAT
was "Messmerizing" right from the
start. His Jet Black body, contrasted against
lighter backgrounds, grabbed the eye, and
held it captive, Thus, FELIX dominated and
"stole" every scene! But, in the
beginning, he was, also, complex and
difficult to draw. His shapes were angular
and "Art Deco"like, in style. So,
Otto fixed it! He changed the Rectangles to
Circles. And, in so doing, discovered the
Secret "FORMula" that would
"SHAPE" All Animation, from that
time forward: CIRCLES! Circles, not only,
made FELIX easier to draw, but, also proved
to be the "key", that made it
possible for drawings to be passed from one
animator to another, and worked on by a
multitude of hands, without any, noticeable,
change in style. Thus, the Circle became the
Basic Shape, on which, all Animation is
Based. And, FELIX THE CAT, with his Circle
eyes, and Circle nose, and Semi-Circle smile,
upon his Circle head, Circle upon Circle,
became the most Popular Comic Character, yet,
to Frolic on the Silver Screen, or leap out,
from it, into the World of Toys. Alas, in
1928, the "Talkies" arrived with a
"BANG", and FELIX, Silently,
stepped aside, to make way for the Bright New
Star, who would, soon, Take His Place, in ...
MICKEY MOUSE is one
of the Most Powerful and Amazing Images of
All Time! Early MICKEY Is, Nothing More, than
a Collection of CIRCLES, Not One Single
Element of his Anatomy is
"Realistic"! And, yet, this
Exercise in PURE ABSTRACTION,
"Speaks" to the Entire World,
Crossing all Borders, Spanning all Age
Groups, Communicating in the Silent,
universal, "Visual Language" of
Comic Characters, MICKEY "Shouts"
Out "I'M ALIVE"! And Everyone, of
Every Age, and Every Cultural background,
"Hears" him, with their eyes, and
"Gets the Message"! When Walt
Disney and Ub Iwerks joined hands, in 1928,
to create MICKEY MOUSE, surely, something
Magic Happened, for, either by Skill, or
Intuition, or Fate, or Accident, They
Discovered The Abstract Symbol for
"LIFE", itself! And, there is Not a
New Born Infant on Earth, that will not
respond to him, with squeals of delight?
When MICKEY MOUSE was
born, Three Circles, One larger than the
other two, proportioned like a quarter and
two dimes, [early Disney animators used to,
sometimes, actually, trace these coins], came
together and formed a Symbol, recognized
around the world, simple and almost
Indestructible! Add another quarter for his
tummy and two smaller circles for his hands,
then join them all, with tubes for arms and
legs and digits [four], and top him off with
oval nose, and funny shoes, and tail, and
last of all, those ever popular, Pie-Cut
eyes, and, Behold: MICKEY MOUSE! Now, Make
him Talk, and Dance, and Sing, upon the
Silver Screen! And, put his Likeness on some,
Fifty-Thousand things! Then Fashion Countless
Toys and Dolls and Icons in his Image, and,
Behold: His MAGIC KINGDOM, Here on Earth! 
As, Image after
Image poured forth, and, countless unknown
Artists tried their hand, composing
Variations on the Theme of MICKEY MOUSE. Some
captured MICKEY"S image well, while
others in missing it, made, even Better Art!
Soon, Friends and Family appeared.You know
their names, I need not list them here. For
it was the, very, Flowering of the Golden
Age, and all the Great Characters created
then, like BETTY BOOP, POPEYE, and All the
Rest, are with us still! So, I'll stop here,
while Mickey is at the Pinnacle of his
Success and Snow White is, along with World
War II, about to Stun the world. This is
"where I came in". Disney still had
a few great films up his sleeve, Just enough
to "hook" me, by the age of two or
three, for life. 
d his, once,
distinctive outline. And, his rotund
derriere, formerly a circle the same size as
his head, had slimmed down, to an ambiguous
geometric shape, best defined as
"svelte". Eventually, he donned
long pants and a Hawaiian shirt, and bought a
house in Levitt Town. Like the rest of
America, Mickey Mouse moved to the Suburbs!
And the PERFECT IMAGE, along with the Golden
Age of Comic Characters, was gone!
I'm not referring to
the Second World War, but, rather, to the
War, that had been going on, for years, in
the World of Art. A War in which, Great
Warriors, like Braque, Picasso, and Matisse,
wielding paint brushes, instead of swords,
fought valiantly, against the Public! They,
and an army of artists, yet unknown,
struggled to win acceptance for a radical new
kind of Art, an Art of Abstraction and
Stylization, Simplification and Exaggeration,
sometimes, known as "Modern Art"!
And, We, the Ignorant Masses, Fought Back,
defending Realism, "tooth and
nail!"
Isn't it Ironic that
Modern Art had to fight so hard to introduce
Abstraction to the world? When all the while,
Abstract Art had Already been, Peacefully,
Introduced and, Willingly, Accepted by an
Eager Public, many years Before, in the form
of Comic Characters! 
And we joined them
there, each week, for many years, to find the
Land of Beautiful Dreams, to be, not only, as
Fantastic and Surreal as anything that Dali
did, but that, McCay was a better draftsman,
too! And, even the most extreme Abstractions
and distortions in Pablo Picasso's Art, were
firmly based on real forms, that he observed
in a live model. Close study reveals that,
there is no Abstraction in Picasso's work, as
far removed from life, as the Pure
Abstraction that we find in Mickey Mouse! And
if we look closely at the coarse four color
offset dots, on any Funny Paper page, just as
George Seurat, himself, must have done, we
can discover "Pointillism" for
ourselves! 
Brillo Box and said
"Hey, this should be in the Museum of
Modern Art!". And, the "POP
ART" Movement had arrived, to sweep away
old beliefs, and change our rigid attitudes,
about what constituted "ART".
Suddenly All the ARTifacts of our POPular
Culture, were seen as having the potential to
qualify as "ART", and all the
second class citizens of the "Commercial
Art" World, Those, unknown Artists
toiling in Publishing, and Industry, and
even, those, who were designing Toys, or
drawing Comic Books, might be permitted to
think of themselves, as "ARTISTS",
too!
And, are we, now,
permitted to look at a Comic Book, and choose
the Images we like, on our own? Or do we need
Roy Lichtenstein to point the Good ones out?
And, if we were so bold, as to pick one, and
blow it up, ourselves, would We be the
"Real" Artist, then? Or would it Be
the Guy who drew the Comic Book?
But what about that
older generation, All The Funny Folks? Do
these Innovative Characters that led the
Invasion and created the Golden Age of Comic
Characters, have any Future in our world?
Will their Images be enshrined in a museum,
their names revered by history? Or are these
Milestones in the "True History" of
"Modern Art" destined to sink and
disappear, beneath the shifting sands of
time?