''They Thought It Was a Marvel'': Arthur Melbourne-Cooper (1874-1961), Pioneer of Puppet Animation

577 Pages·2010·7.46 MB·English

by  Tjitte De Vries

first stop-motion animation piCture was made in 1899 &t
aji
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Was 1906 the year of birth of animation pictures? Or 1908? Was France the place of birth, ti te
or was it the United States? m d
ue
In a stirringly written book, two Dutch writers come to the resolute conclusion that l v
both are film myths. The actual place of birth was England, and the date is much earlier. r tjitte de vries
i
In their richly illustrated study, they discovered that the first stop-motion object ani- e
s & ati mul
mation picture was made in November 1899. It was shown at The Empire Theatre in Lon-
don, on 7 December. Called Matches Appeal, it was made by British film pioneer Arthur ‘
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Melbourne-Cooper (1874-1961). With this picture Cooper preceded animation pioneers
J. Stuart Blackton with his Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906), and Emile Cohl with h
his Fantasmagorie (1909).
e ‘ They Thought
Only six animation pictures survived out of the 36 puppet films which Cooper made,
y
yet these six convincingly place him ahead of a long line of puppet and object animators,

from Wladyslaw Starewicz right up to Henry Selick with his recent masterpiece Coraline. T
In Matches Appeal, which still exists, a matchstick puppet paints on a wall an appeal it was a Marvel’
h
for the soldiers in the Boer War of 1899-1902. Two other matches animations, made at the
o
same time, still exist: Animated Matches Playing Volleyball, and Animated Matches Playing
Cricket, both send-ups on popular sports. Viewed on the accompanying DVD, it is clear u
that the three matches pictures were made frame by frame. g
arthur melbourne-Cooper
All this and much more can be found in “They Thought It Was a Marvel” about the pup-
h
pet animation pictures of Cooper. It was written by research journalist Tjitte de Vries and (1874-1961)
t
by Ati Mul who, for many years, was archivist of Holland Animation Association and pub-

lished a study on the puppet films by Joop Geesink. The subtitle is rightly given as “Arthur i
pioneer of
t
Melbourne-Cooper: Pioneer of Puppet Animation”. The preface was written by Donald

Crafton. A foreword was contributed by Oscar-winning animation filmmaker Börge Ring. w puppet animation

“Staggering in its detail, it makes the reader sit up and realize this is not going to be just another bor- a
ing academic text. (...) Because of the unusual interest of both authors in the subject, the study is way s
over and above that of any other academic writing on any other film-related matter.” – Dr. Anthony
Slide, film historian. a

“A huge contribution to film history” – David Cleveland, film historian. M
a
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ISBN 9789085550167 l
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pallas publiCations
Bandomslag Mul De Vries compleet DEF2.indd 1 23-11-09 12:55
“They Thought it was a Marvel”

“They Thought it was a Marvel”
Arthur Melbourne-Cooper
(1874-1961)
Pioneer of Puppet Animation
by Tjitte de Vries and Ati Mul
Rotterdam, December 2009
Amsterdam University Press
Editorial Committee:
Prof. Frank Kessler
Prof. Margaretha Schenkeveld
Dr Anthony Slide
Dr Hauke Lange-Fuchs
Christopher Wilkinson
David Cleveland
Portrait on the title page by illustrator Theo Gootjes, Schiedam.
Hardnekkig en onuitroeibaar is onze behoefte aan
heiligdommen waar wonderen mogelijk zijn
en waar alles klopt volgens een eigen orde.
Mariëtte Haveman, De Smederij van Vulcanus.
(In: Ateliergeheimen, over de werkplaats van
de Nederlandse kunstenaar vanaf 1200tot heden.)N1
Stubborn and ineradicable is our want of
sanctuaries where miracles are possible and
where everything fits in according to its own order.
Mariëtte Haveman in The Forge of Vulcanus.
(In: Studio secrets – on the workshops of the
Dutch artists from 1200to the present day.)
We dedicate this book to the memory of
Arthur Melbourne-Cooper’s daughter
Ursula Constance Messenger
(20October 1910– 20March 2008)
The publication of this book is made possible by grants from the Arthur Melbourne Cooper Fund.
Omslagontwerp: Magenta, Bussum
Lay-out: Paul Boyer, Amsterdam
nur 674
e-isbn 9789048507825
isbn 978 90 8555 016 7
© Tjitte de Vries en Atie Mul / Pallas Publications, Amsterdam University Press, 2009
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without
the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
Contents
Preface by Donald Crafton 11
Foreword ‘Cooper is Super’ by Børge Ring 19
Acknowledgements 21
Introduction 25
Part One – “Preparing Something Wonderful”
Chapter 1 – AWant of Sanctuaries 33
Chapter 2 – Everything to Its Own Order 75
Chapter 3 – Stubborn and Ineradicable 111
Chapter 4 – Making Miracles Possible 153
Chapter 5 – An Imaginative Pioneer 197
Notes on Part One 213
Part Two – Filmography
“Picture by picture,movement by movement”
36 Animation Pictures by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper 243
How to Use the Filmography 245
Chapter 6– 28 Animation Pictures and Two Inserts 253
1. Keen’s Mustard (1896) 253
2. Bird’s Custard (1897) 256
3. The Magic Apple (1898?) 264
4. Animated Matches Playing Volleyball (1899) 267
5. Animated Matches Playing Cricket (1899) 272
6. Matches Appeal (1899) 275
7. Dolly’s Toys (1901) 313
(454.) Cheese Mites (1902) 317
8. ABoy’s Dream (1903) 321
9. The Enchanted Toymaker (1904) 323
10. Doings in Dolly Land (1905) 329
8 “They Thought it was a Marvel”
11. The Fairy Godmother (1906) 330
(258.) Professor Bunkum’s Performing Flea (1907) 333
12. ADream of Toyland (1907) 338
13. In the Land of Nod (1908) 369
14. The Kaleidoscope (1908) 374
15. Magical Matches (1908) 378
16. Noah’s Ark (1909) 382
17. The Toymaker’s Dream (1910) 396
18. Oxford Street Up-to-Date (1910) 401
19. The Cats’ Cup Final (1910) 403
20. Topsy’s Dream of Toyland (1911) 410
21. Road Hogs in Toyland (1911) 412
22. Sports in Moggyland (1912) 423
23. Ten Little Nigger Boys (1912) 427
24. Old Mother Hubbard (1912) 430
25. Cinderella (1912) 432
26. Larks in Toyland (1913) 439
27. Lively Garden Produce (1914) 441
28. The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1914) 444
Chapter 7– The Langford Period 1925-1940
Eight Cinema Advertisements 451
29. Swiss Rolls (1925) 451
30. Clifton Chocolates (1926) 455
31. Paddy Flaherty Whiskey (1925-1930) 462
32. Gladhill’s Tills (1925-1930) 463
33. Churchman’s Cigarettes (1925-1930) 467
34. Clean Milk Campaign (1927) 469
35. Moores Bread (1925-1930) 472
36. Gladhill’s Clocking-in Clock (1925-1930) 473
Chapter 8– Possibles and (Im)probables 477
(277.) Rival Cyclists or: Flues’s Tyres (1897) 477
(242.) Collier’s Tyres or: Collier’s New Invention (1897) 482
Toy Shop (1898) 484
(051.) Anatomy Man (1902-1914) 485
Dreamland Adventures (1907) 486
Dolls in Dreamland (1907) 491
The Little Fairy (1908) 492
Kiddies Dream (1910) 493
Little Red Riding Hood (1910-1913) 495
(054.) Animated Putty (1911) 496
Contents 9
Tragedy in Toyland (1911) 498
(158.) The Land of Nursery Rhymes (1912) 499
The Wooden Athletes (1912) 502
(052.) Sports in Toyland (1914) 506
(056.) Humpty Dumpty R.A. (1915) 507
(057.) Quality Street (1936?) 508
Notes on Part Two – Filmography 513
Appendices 519
Appendix 1 521
Appendix 2a – ADream of Toyland: Analysis 525
Appendix 2b – Scene Lengths of ADream of Toyland 529
Appendix 2c– Animation Sessions in 8Possible Day Periods 531
Appendix 3 – More than 300films made by Cooper 537
Appendix 4 – 17Arthur Melbourne-Cooper Audio Tapes Plus One 543
Bibliography 553
Account of Sources 553
1. Publications 553
2. Cinematography – Animation 555
3. Cinematography – Relevant Sources 556
4. Cinematography – Gifford 557
5. Literature – Anglo-Boer War 558
6. Literature – Related Subjects 558
7. Cinematography – General 559
Archive Material 560
8. Documentation 560
9. Recorded Interviews 561
10. Contemporary Sources & Archive Catalogues 562
11. Unpublished Manuscripts 562
Photo Credits 563
List of All Animation Film Titles in Part Two – Filmography 565
General Index of Part One 569
Index of Film Titles 569
Index of Names and Affairs 571