1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Heart Radio Hi um Eve's Welcome to This Day in 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: History Class, a show that reveals a little bit more 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: about history day by day. Today is September. The day 5 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: was September sometime in the mid eighteen hundreds, Windsor McKay 6 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: was born. McKay was an influential cartoonist and animator, well 7 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: known for the comic Little Nemo in Slumberland and his 8 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: pioneering advances in animation. McKay was born Zenus Windsor McKay, 9 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: though his birthplace and year is unclear. He began drawing 10 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 1: during his childhood, and he later said that he drew 11 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: for himself, not anyone else. He drew incessantly anywhere he 12 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: wanted to, and he said he never saved his drawing. 13 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: McKay's parents sent him to business college, but he continued 14 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: to be drawn to art. He skipped classes to draw 15 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: portraits of visitors at a dime museum. He would sell 16 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: those drawings and share a cut with a museum. He 17 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: did not finish business school, but all the time he 18 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: spent drawing and selling his work helped him hone his 19 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: skills as a professional artist and it instilled in him 20 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: a desire to perform. John Goodison, an art professor at 21 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: Michigan State Normal, took notice of McKay and began giving 22 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: him private lessons that helped McKay develop skills in his technique, composition, 23 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: and perspective. Goodison encouraged him to attend the Art Institute 24 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: of Chicago. He did go to Chicago, but he did 25 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: not go to school there. He worked at a printing 26 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: company in the city, but two years after he arrived there, 27 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. There he began working at 28 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: another Dime Music him, but this time he was making 29 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: promotional posters in art as an employee. Outside of his 30 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: work at the museum, he painted billboards and created drawings 31 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: in a continuous line. Not long after he moved to Cincinnati, 32 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: he met maud leonor dufour, with whom he later had 33 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: two children. McKay's ability to do those continuous line drawings 34 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: and his talent for drawing things from memory proved useful. 35 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: After eight years at the Dime Museum, he began working 36 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: for a newspaper called The Tribune as an artist reporter, 37 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: illustrating stories and drawing cartoons. He also created art as 38 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: a freelancer for the magazine Life, a lot of which 39 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,919 Speaker 1: portrayed racist humor, as did other work included in the 40 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: Humor magazine. When the Cincinnati Enquirer offered him a larger salary, 41 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: he began working there and soon rose to head of 42 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: its art department. Some of his most popular and notable 43 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: illustrations were done for a series called The Tales of 44 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,679 Speaker 1: the Jungle Imps, and they accompanied poems created by the 45 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: Sunday editor. He was only at the Inquirer for a 46 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: few years before he moved to New York and began 47 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 1: doing illustrations for the New York Herald and The Evening Telegram. 48 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: There he began using the comic strip format, which was 49 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: new but growing more popular. He wanted to have the 50 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: money and fame that came along with having a popular 51 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: comic strip that could be syndicated. He found success with 52 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: his comic strips Little Sammy Sneeze and Dream of the 53 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: Rare Bit theme, but he was working a lot and 54 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: did not feel he was being compensated fairly. He ended 55 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: up getting a raised and in nineteen oh five his 56 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: comic Little Nemo in Slumberland made its debut in the 57 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: Sunday Comics section of The Herald. Little Nemo was immediately popular, 58 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: being picked up for translations in Operetta, clothing and games. 59 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: It ran in The Herald until nineteen eleven, then in 60 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: The New York American under a different title until nineteen fourteen. 61 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: McKay also began performing in theatrical reviews as a fast sketcher, 62 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: and in nineteen eleven he finished his first animated film, 63 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: which featured characters from Little Nemo. McKay went on to 64 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: create more films, including the Story of a Mosquito and 65 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: Gertie the Dinosaur. With the latter film, he used a 66 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: technique he called the McKay split system, breaking the dinosaurs 67 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: movements into small parts and filling in the drawings between 68 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:37,600 Speaker 1: the poses. In nineteen fifteen, he created his longest film, 69 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 1: The Sinking of the Lusitania, which he created using transparent 70 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: celluloid sheets. He found the success and passion in his 71 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: work on animation, but Hirst Publishing, his employer, was not 72 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: happy about how much time he was spending on his 73 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: outside work. Between his relationship with Hearst and feelings about 74 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: the commercialism of animation, he lost some inspiration around cartoons 75 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: In July of nineteen thirty four, he went into acoma 76 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: and died at his home in Brooklyn after having a stroke. 77 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: McKay's work in cartooning and animation greatly influenced the advancement 78 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,359 Speaker 1: of the animation industry. I'm each Jeffcote and hopefully you 79 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 80 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 1: And if you like to learn more about McKay, you 81 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 1: can listen to the two part episode of Stuff You 82 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,799 Speaker 1: Miss in History Class called windsor McKay. Get more Notes 83 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: from History on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at t D 84 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: I h C podcast. Thanks again for listening and we'll 85 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:50,799 Speaker 1: see you tomorrow. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 86 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 87 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.