Gertie on Tour

All that survives of Winsor McCay's feature "Gertie on Tour" is a tantalizing fragment a couple of minutes long. But it shows the same wit and imagination as in the original "Gertie the Dinosaur" feature, and it probably was quite an enjoyable little movie, just as the original was.

The idea in this one is that Gertie has now been brought into the present-day world. In her enclosure, she interacts playfully with her surroundings, which include some good detail. But she also thinks about what it was like when the world was filled with her own kind. It all makes for an intriguing setup, because someone with McCay's creativity could have done quite a bit with those kinds of ideas, since both ideas lend themselves to entertainment and also to thoughtful observations.

It's too bad that the rest of this feature, like so much from the era, might never again be seen. But it's fortunate that at least the fragment remains, so that we can once again see the personable Gertie in a new situation.

This is just about impossible to rate--a fragment is all that exists of the original short--no titles, no credits and just one scene about a minute and a half long! However, it really makes you wonder and wish you could see the whole thing, as the animation, for 1921, is exceptional. Despite having no sound, the quality of the animation is actually better than many of the Fleischer cartoons of the 30s. In particular, the backgrounds are so masterfully drawn.

So why would a review this snippet? Well, considering how important Gertie is to the history of animation, I think it's imperative that we remember and celebrate the cartoons that eventually led to Disney, Warner Brothers and their contemporaries. I guess from the review it would not surprise you to find out I am a history teacher!

Gertie on Tour (1921)

Sequel to GERTIE THE DINOSAUR is sadly only available in fragments as much of the footage has been lost over the years. With only a couple minutes of footage available it's really impossible to judge the film. What we basically have to go by is the title, which says the beloved dinosaur goes out on some sort of tour. What footage we do have shows her doing a couple of her tricks from the first movie and there's also a shot of her being surrounded by other dinosaurs but this is when the movie ends. It should go without saying but fans of McCay should really enjoy seeing this footage even if we can't see the entire thing. I've always said fragments are better than nothing since we at least get some idea of what the film was like. The animation was quite good and I thought that charm of the first film was still on display here. Hopefully one day the complete movie will show up but until then this here will work.

This was among the very first animations, in the sense of multiple drawings. And — I think I am right in this — Gertie the dinosaur is the first animated creature. I believe she only appeared in two shorts, this and one earlier where the cartoon is the result of a winning bet. In both, Gertie appears with humans.

Now you have to have some context. In 1920, the theory of evolution was not widely accepted, and scientific data on dinosaurs was scanty. They had fossils, in fact Gertie is the "bringing to life" of one such fossil featured in the earlier short. Its one still displayed in the New York Natural History Museum.

People — ordinary educated folks — had no ideas about whether man and 'saur coexisted. These were mysterious bones, almost alien.

These films are important because they are early animation. But that's obvious. I submit that because film was so immensely powerful in those early days — even more so than now — that this implanted a notion that these two beings (us and them) could live together. Remember that photography was considered the technology of proof. If a picture or film of something could be shown, something was true. Animation and "real" film weren't as indistinguishable as we know them to be. But then in the last decade, computer animation routinely mixes with "real" shots and we believe what we see.

Since this, we've seen numerous movies where dinos and humans co-exist, and it hardly matters if it is set in the present as this and "Jurassic Park" are. Somehow, the deviant imagination holds it. Such is the power of film, that it helps weave stories that people need.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.