To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Little Nemo—the boy dreamer in Winsor McCay’s groundbreaking 1905 comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland and his 1911 film adaptation—the Department of Film and Media presents a special evening about McCay by acclaimed animation filmmaker and historian John Canemaker. The lecture is illustrated with stunning images from Canemaker’s newly expanded biography of the pioneering animator (Harry N. Abrams, 2005), followed by a screening of four of McCay’s greatest films: Little Nemo (1911), How a Mosquito Operates (1912), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), and The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918). Canemaker observes, “Little Nemo in Slumberland was unlike any comic strip seen before or since and, for Winsor McCay it represented a major creative leap, one far grander in scope, imagination, color, design, and motion experimentation than any previous McCay comic strip (or those of his peers).” Following the presentation, Canemaker signs copies of Winsor McCay—His Life and Art.
Organized by Joshua Siegel, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media. Special thanks to the Cinémathèque Québécoise for the loan of restored prints.