Renowned creator of "Friendly Flickers" and sundry other award-winning Shadow Plays such as "The Farmer's Mighty Blow" and "Thy Hobbled Sheep," J. Watkiss Gryphon left a successful career in Phrenology to pursue the development of Animated Photo-Plays at Star-Toones. He currently holds the title of Cine-Spool Director and is responsible for the correct assemblage of Hinges.
Mr. Gryphon was the first member of our Studio to assign cardinal numbers to the Animation Photo-Plates, thereby assuring that they will be viewed in the proper Order. He also holds several Patents for the "Kine-Mato-Mystifier", the "Shadow-Confusagig-Cylinder" and the "Squirrel-Powered Napoleonic Theatre Phantastique."
He came to America from Hogansherosvald, Austria in 1892, where he studied "Der Artishkness Mit Scriben Unt Shtunten" or "The Drawing Trick" under Professor Joseph Mesmer at the Gymnasium Der Optikvasser-schloss. Upon graduation, his entire class was congratulated and/or attacked as demons for their "strange new powers" by the townspeople. Fully thirty-two Animators were killed, skinned and eaten by the members of the local church.
Watkiss escaped by clinging to the underside of a Dog as it ran from the Melee. He then made his way to the Coast by clinging to the underside of a Horse, a Chicken, and then a Goat. Vowing never to return to the shores of his most beloved and devout homeland, he clutched the very barnacles on the hull of a fishing boat and sailed to the Great Lakes in search of a new life, eventually finding work as a sketch-demon in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Although here he received numerous Accolades and a Papal Pardon, it was his love for Animation and quality Weatherstripping that led him to Home-Wood where he signed a writ that bound him in servitude to Star-Toones until the moon turns to blood.
1 comment:
Ah yes. Back in the day when our ancestors were readying themselves for the next great wave of technology: zeppelin-powered animation studios.
Post a Comment