Winsor McCay was a pioneer in both comic strips and animated films, and he did both disciplines more skillfully than anyone else attempting them at the time. This lovely cartoon was hand animated on rice paper and color tinted by hand on the film by Winsor McCay in 1911, if you can believe that. 1911!
Please be advised that like much of the popular culture of the era, it contains offensive racial depictions. If this sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.
Read more about this cartoon on the Big Cartoon Database here.
Read more about Winsor McCay at Lambiek.net.
Read more about Winsor McCay on Wikipedia.
There is a DVD that collects Winsor McCay’s cartoons that can be purchased here.
I think all his cartoons are available on the internet as well.