Want to read the news from the world of animation … from 100 years ago? Visit the Animation Magazine website and read my latest Animation Time Machine column! Here’s an extract to whet your appetite, with all the headlines from December 1923:

It’s fair to assume that, through the final months of 1923, Walt and Roy [Disney] had their heads down as they laid the groundwork for their brand new series of animated shorts, which would become known as the “Alice Comedies.” In terms of news coverage, this meant all was quiet on the Disney front.

The first of these new Disney movies, Alice’s Day at Sea, premiered in March 1924, and we can’t wait to focus the Animation Time Machine’s lens on it next year. Thanks to a temporal glitch, however, the Machine did stumble on a charming teaser from the The Film Tribune, dateline February 9, 1924. In what may be the first mention of Disney’s “Alice” series in the press of the time, a photo of child actor Virginia Davis — who played Alice in the first run of films — is accompanied by this caption:

“Virginia is making a series of twelve one-reel cartoon pictures for Walt Disney, local cartoonist and short-subject producer, at his studio at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. She is now at work on the third. One picture will be made each month. In these productions Disney combines flesh-and-blood players with thespians from Cartoonland. Between three and four thousand drawings are required for each film, in addition to the regular negative.”

Read the complete article at Animation Magazine to get the full scoop!