Winsor McCay's Influence on Filmmakers

Joshua Glenn, writing for the Sunday Boston Globe, presents a slide show juxtaposing images from the recent Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend book (gorgeously put together by Ulrich Merkl) and images from movies since then, from Bunuel to Disney.

This claim was originally made in the book by Merkl, and Glenn has some striking visuals. The case for Bunuel is strong, and I've heard that Bunuel, as well as Dali, were McCay admirers. But some of these examples are mere coincidence. It's certainly possible that a number of people who were involved in the movies might have had some McCay reprints. The first collection of "Rarebit Fiend" appeared within a year or 2 of the 1905 strip's debut. But, look here, I don't think that you can necessarily draw a straight line from, for instance, Mary Poppins' bottomless handbag to McCay. But it is a fun slideshow.

After watching, talk amongst yourselves.

More from Mr. Glenn here.

Big hat tip to Mark Mayerson's Mayerson on Animation blog!