The Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial or Hearst-Vita graph (also known as the Hearst-Vitagraph News Reel) was a short-lived company producing newsreels which were coupled with animated cartoons. It was established on 29 October 1915 by the Brooklyn-based Vitagraph Studios and the Hearst Corporation,[1] and produced its first reel in February 1916, but folded in 1916.[2] Previously, Hearst had produced newsreels together with the Selig Polyscope Company from 1914 on, and after the deal with Vitagraph ended Hearst teamed up with Pathé.[3]
The cartoons which were added to the newsreels were created by Hearst's animation studio International Film Service, led by Gregory La Cava, which converted popular comic strips from the Hearst newspapers to the big screen. Included in the News Pictorial were Parcel Post cartoons created by Frank Moser (who animated most of the other ones as well), George Herriman's Krazy Kat (at least eight shorts), And Her Name Was Maud and Happy Hooligan by Frederick Burr Opper, Daffydil and Judge Rummy by Tad Dorgan, The Katzenjammer Kids by Harold Knerr, Bringing Up Father by George McManus, Joys and Glooms by T. E. Powers, and Jerry on the Job by Walter Hoban.[2][4]
The newsreels were created by a staff of about 56 cameramen, and produced a number of scoops, including images of the sinking of the British ship HMS Audacious in 1914, and the sinking of the German ship SMS Blücher in 1915.[1]
Notes edit
- ^ a b Pizzitola, Louis (2002). Hearst over Hollywood: power, passion, and propaganda in the movies. Columbia University Press. pp. 525. ISBN 978-0-231-11646-6.
hearst vitagraph.
- ^ a b Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's who in animated cartoons: an international guide to film & television's award-winning and legendary animators. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 250. ISBN 978-1-55783-671-7. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial.
- ^ Koszarski, Richard (2008). Hollywood on the Hudson: film and television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff. Rutgers University Press. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-8135-4293-5. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ Nasaw, David (2001). The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-618-15446-3. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
External links edit
- Library of Congress collection of silent animated films, including some from the Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial