Before Mickey

Before Mickey Mouse came along in 1928, Felix the Cat prowled the screen. This is the first book to trace the prehistory of animation—zoetrope, flipbooks, and vaudeville "lightning sketches"—and to chronicle the achievements of Emil Cohl, the first animator, and Felix's creator Otto Mesmer, among others. Before Mickey's fast-moving narrative will appeal to readers with a general interest in film history. And its documentary material covering artistic, commercial, and technological developments in the United States and Europe will prove invaluable to animation specialists. Crafton makes use of over 100 illustrations, including enlarged film frames, reproductions of advertisements, and pictures of innovative techniques and devices.

Crafton has also prepared a video cassette of 25 rare cartoons to be used with or independently of his book. This cassette is available from The MIT Press in UHS, Beta 2, and U-Matic formats.