In May 1924, animation pioneer Earl Hurd was gearing up to release a new 13-part series of animated shorts called “Pen and Ink Vaudeville.”

The latest edition of my cinema history column Animation Time Machine explores Hurd’s early career, including his 1915 patent that effectively marked the invention of cel animation. Here’s what Walt Disney had to say about Hurd’s contribution to the craft of animation:

“The greatest single contribution of the pioneers came from Earl Hurd who invented the idea of tracing the moving parts of a cartoon on celluloids superimposed over opaque backgrounds. This great labor-saving device is still the foundation of our modern method.”

This month, the Animation Time Machine also stumbled on a mystery movie exhibited at the Rialto in New York at the beginning of 1924:

What exactly did audiences see at the Rialto in January and February 1924? Was it a lost Earl Hurd cartoon with the same title as the series he didn’t release until the fall of that year? If so, where is that film today? Or is the Animation Time Machine jumping at shadows? Was this simply the first cartoon of the upcoming Pen and Ink Vaudeville series, produced and exhibited early in order to test the waters?

To read the documentary evidence that led to these questions being asked, read the complete Animation Time Machine article at Animation Magazine!