Gertie The Dinosaur at The Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette Page 4

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The DINSAUR Interplanetary Gazette

Celluloid Dinosaurs

History of Dinosaur Movies

Gertie The Dinosaur

1914, Winsor McCay

Page 4 of 7

Finally McCay finished the film and premiered it at a dinner given for his friends.

McCay shows off the first drawing of Gertie to his friends.

Originally, McCay presented his animated film as a Vaudeville act. Vaudeville was a form of theater that was very common in the United States around the turn of the century. Motion Pictures, however, helped to destroy Vaudeville which had nearly vanished by the late 1920's.

The title card for Gertie The Dinosaur, 1914.

McCay stood on a stage and introduced his creation, Gertie, who then walked out on a huge movie screen. McCay talked to her and she did what he said. McCay's act was very, very popular -- so popular that his boss, William Randolph Hearst made him stop doing it eventually because McCay wasn't doing his other work.

But McCay didn't always appear in person, and sometimes the Gertie film was shown in a slightly different version.

In both versions, though, Gertie walked on stage and startled and delighted audiences!

Lift your paw, Gertie McCay told his cartoon dinosaur.

When McCay commanded Gertie to lift her foot, Gertie obeyed! She did many tricks as McCay stood next to the screen and gave her orders.

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