One of the superstars of early 20th Century pop culture is the now mostly forgotten comic strip creator, pioneer animator and political cartoonist Winsor McCay. Often called the “father of the animated film,” McCay’s influence during his lifetime was far reaching. He raised the bar of daily comic strip art to a level rarely surpassed or ever equaled. His most fabled comic strips “Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend” and “Little Nemo” ran for years and were republished for decades after.

McCay was also a successful entertainer on the vaudeville stage where he combined “live drawing” performances, storytelling, and his early animated films. The great Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones wrote: “After McCay’s animation it took his followers twenty years to figure out how he did it. The two most important people in animation are Winsor McCay and Walt Disney and I’m not sure who should go first.”

We will explore McCay’s varied output of comic art, his animation experiments as well as his unique life story which includes his rather tumultuous later career as the country’s foremost political cartoonist working under the thumb of the legendary William Randolph Hearst.

We will also look at a rare re-enactment of McCay’s live performance with his most famous animated character “Gertie the Dinosaur”, recreated by non-other than Walt Disney.

Matthew Weisman received his MFA in Film from Columbia University School of the Arts where he also taught classes in Cinema Studies and directed the Cinematheque film program. His undergraduate degree in English is from Boston University. A professional screenwriter and producer, he taught Graduate Screenwriting at the USC School of Cinema for fifteen years. He is a retired member of The Writers Guild of America. He has taught several continuing education courses in film and television history and appreciation both online and in the classroom.

Fifty and Better was designed to offer university-level courses and lectures (no tests, no homework) taught by experts in the field, and to host social engagement activities for individuals age 50 and older.