# Stop motion animation from 1910:  Mind blown

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-motion-animation-from-1910-mind-blown/780560>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 23, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-motion-animation-from-1910-mind-blown/780560 "2017-02-23T15:25:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-motion-animation-from-1910-mind-blown/780560/1 "2017-02-23T15:25:26Z")

</div>

Went to a movie at the Drafthouse last night and they showed this very old stop motion animation clip as part of the pre-show. I assume they did wire-work on the frames that involved the heavy furniture going up the stairs, as well as raising things up to the walls, but I couldn’t see the wires. It’s an extremely impressive film, especially given the state of photography/filmography in 1910. It was so marvelous that I had to look it up and share it with y’all. Enjoy!

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/KM8RjF5V-eU/hqdefault.jpg "The Automatic Moving Company (Romeo Bossetti, 1912)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM8RjF5V-eU)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-motion-animation-from-1910-mind-blown/780560/2 "2017-02-23T16:07:11Z")

</div>

I’ve seen either this one or the cohn filmreferred to.

Have you seen _Humorous Phases of Funny Faces_? It predates the Moving company by four years.

There are a lot of independent animators from those early years. Winsor McCay (whose own \*Little Nemo\*\* came out in 1911, and his more famous \*Gertie the Dinosaur\* in 1914) essentially did the "Humorous Phases" thing as a live act -- drawing and erasing and redrawing faces so rapidly during one of his "chalk talks" that it was about as close to animation as you could get without a camera. 

\*Little Nemo was also hand-colored, making it possibly the earliest color cartoon. I have a restored version with the coloring, and it’s gorgeous.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-motion-animation-from-1910-mind-blown/780560/3 "2017-02-23T18:55:24Z")

</div>

[nitpicker]The “Automatic Moving Co., Kalamazoo, Mich.” has its mail delivered to its office by a French postman and marks its moving truck in French? 😕[/nitpicker]😉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-motion-animation-from-1910-mind-blown/780560/4 "2017-02-23T19:24:18Z")

</div>

Ooh, I love early stop motion.

Try this one: [The Cameraman’s Revenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5k_cd288P8), from 1912. Starring real bugs! Well, real dead bugs anyway.