If there was a very good reason Winsor McCay was considered the father of animation, watching this, his first animation test, and a humorous recreation of events that made this happen should clue you in why. As the film begins in live action, McCay is at a table with fellow cartoonist George McManus, film comic John Bunny and a few others telling them his plans to make drawings move. Fascinated, they agree to see the results a month later. In between, there's a humorous scene of deliverymen bringing tons of ink barrels and boxes of paper to his office. Then at his desk with piles of paper stacked high up, a curious onlooker keeps coming in and browsing around resulting in many of those stacks to fall down. Nevertheless, at the exhibit we become fascinated as McCay's comic strip character, Nemo, and his supporting cast start elongating their bodies in various shapes while standing still. Nemo then draws a princess who comes alive as a dragon passes them by. He stops with his mouth open as Nemo and the princess ride on his tongue seat as they wave goodbye and the dragon turns his back on us. Then we see a couple of Nemo's buddies riding in a car with the word "honk" on each door. Then as the car also turns back at us, it explodes, the end. And all this was done in awesome hand-painted color! McCay truly fascinates with his painstaking eye for detail and movement in this experimental film. So for anyone who really is fascinated by animation history, this short is essential viewing.
