The lightning cartoon: Animation from music hall to cinema

Abstract

This article examines the history of the lightning cartoon act, which rose to prominence in British music halls in the 1880s, continued in popularity into the early twentieth century, and played a key role in the development of animation, the act having been performed by a number of important figures in its early history, including J. Stuart Blackton and Winsor McCay in the US, George Méliès in France, and Walter Booth in the UK. This paper considers the ways in which this act anticipated animation, featuring qualities such as transformation, the movement of line drawings, and the desire to bring drawings to life. It also examines the perceptual play that was central to the act’s aesthetic and which continued into early films of lightning cartoonists performing, as stage performers such as Tom Merry and Walter Booth transferred and played an important role in early British filmmaking.

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