User Reviews

There had been cinematic animations of drawings before Bray turned out this, his first animated cartoon, as far back as Blackton's Sketches in 1896. But animation remained a labor-intensive and expensive form of movie, because someone had to draw each frame. Bray's studio was notable on two points: first, a lot of talent in the field passed through his doors, including Lantz, Fleischer and Paul Terry; and he bought or encouraged the invention of various methods to bring the cost of cartoon production down to a manageable level: the Hurd-Bray patents were key to this, including cel technique.

Therefore, although this is not the first animation or even the first regularly issued series of animation -- that honor would belong to Emile Cohl in France -- it is crucial because without it there would be very little: no Looney Toons, no Betty Boop, no Woody Woodpecker.... and so it is important.

But when confronted with the statement that a particular film is important, we are, nonetheless, left with the question of 'is it any good?' Yes, it is. The animation is lively and the sequence in which the dog steals and devours a sausage is delightful. If you get a chance to witness this landmark film, don't miss the chance to get some enjoyment out of your research.

I'm amazed by the creativity of early animation. The plot in this short is pretty much: The artist makes a drawing of a dog. When he leaves the drawing, it comes alive and steals some food. The comes back, is bewildered, leaves, dog comes alive, etc. The faith of the dog took me by surprise and made me laugh.

The animation itself is also very nice. The artist has obviously studied the movement of the dachs, because it seemed very fluid and natural. The design is also delightful, as the dog is drawn wearing a sweater.

This short is only a couple of minutes long, but it's quite slow in progression. If you've ended up at it's IMDb-page you obviously have some interest in it, so check it out!

It took awhile for film animators to realize that the process of making cartoons didn't necessarily mean each frame of film would require one fully drawn picture. Early movie cartoons were rudimentary drawings with no background or objects spicing up the scenery. These artists were focused on the one or two subjects who were moving on a basic blank background.

Cel animation allowed film cartoonists to fill backgrounds with landscapes and fixed objects and to concentrate solely on those moving characters for each frame. The process saved time by not having to draw each canvass over and over again. The only painting they would have to create was just a new cel of the person/animal in motion, laying that drawing over previously drawn static objects and stationary characters.

J. R. Bray slowly realized the time-savings of cel animation when he was creating his June 1913's "The Artist's Dream," also titled "The Dachshund and The Sausage." Bray, a newspaper and magazine comic artist, was mesmerized by the Winsor McCay and John Stuart Blackton animations. Bray took a different approach than the two animation pioneers to produce his short cartoon. He began by drawing the furniture his character --a dog--was going to use and reproduced that drawing several times. He then drew the dog to clamor about the furniture. Using a combination of live action and animation, Bray produced his four-minute film, attracting a contract from Pathe Studios to produce cartoons just like "The Artist's Dream."

Bray knew he wasn't capable of speedily churning out animated shorts like his first effort since the process was extremely laborious. He decided to form his own animated studio, The Bray Production Company, and began hiring several talented comic artists as well as support teams. One of his top hires was Earl Hurd, who held a patent for cel animation. Bray knew that invention would be the key to his production, and devised a system that would give him the moniker "The Henry Ford of American Animation." He eventually created four units of artists working on four cartoons at one time. Each cartoon took a month to produce, so his company, staggering each cartoon's release, would be pumping out one film a week.

Cartoonist Raoule Barre was taking a similar approach to producing cartoons about the same time as Bray was. Employed by Edison Studios, Barre left to form his own animated company focused on creating just moving cartoons. With both Bray and Barre's output of a unique visual product enjoyed by millions, the business of animation was assured to have a bright and prosperous future.

The Artist's Dreams (1913)

*** (out of 4)

Fun bit of animation has an artist drawing a dog who comes to life when the artist isn't around and eats a plate of sausage. The version of this film that I watched came from a 1950 reissue under the title THE DAUCHSHUND AND THE SAUSAGE. Having not seeing the original 1913 version, I can't say what the differences are but perhaps it was just the title sequence. Either way, the version I watched was certainly a lot of fun and I liked how much footage of the artist it actually contained. Usually once the animation comes to life the filmmakers would just leave out the live action stuff but that doesn't happen here because the artist realizes that the dog is missing and goes about looking for him. The scene with the dog eating the sausage was certainly well drawn and there's no question that it still manages to make one laugh.

Having witnessed Windsor McCay's animated endeavors, J. R. Bray started making his own cartoons starting with this one. It begins in live-action at a party with several people dancing except for one person who starts drawing a dog, drawers and a closet as well as a plate of sausages. Oh, also a fly and a rat! When he falls asleep the drawings move...This was pretty entertaining though the best part was when that fly lands on the dog's tail and makes the dog chase that tail! Bray had formed his own studio and would employ such legendary animation giants like Walter Lantz, Paul Terry, and Max Fleischer during this period before they all left for their own studios. Anyway, The Artist's Dreams is recommended for animation fans.

My score of 8 is relative to other animation from this era. This is because you really cannot compare cartoons from the 1910s to those of the 1940s and 50s...the real golden age of animation.

Much of this cartoon is live action and the rest is animation. It begins with an artist showing another one his latest drawing...a dog sleeping next to a dresser. At the top of the dresser is a sausage and when the men leave, the dog comes to life and steals the sausage. What's next? Well it's pretty dark...but funny.

The animation is simple...the norm for 1913. But the story is quite charming and well worth seeing.

A clever cartoon story, written by J.R. Bray, whose work is well known and full of fun. In our judgment, it is the best offering among today's releases and surely it made the best hit with the audience here. The artist has drawn his cartoon with a dog (such as one would find in cartoons) asleep beside a cupboard on which, high up, is sitting a dish with a big sausage. The artist sleeps and the dog comes to life and manages to make away with the sausage. The comedy in the dog's actions is rich in laughter. The picture has the quality of the best series cartoons; but, given in almost perfect animation, it is infinitely better, A desirable offering. - The Moving Picture World, June 28, 1913