Pauvre Pierrot 1892 Restoration - Very First cartoon animation ever (Emile Reynaud, Praxinoscope)

In discussions of the first cartoon, Pauvre Pierrot is often overlooked for 20th century animations such as Emile Cohl's Fantasmagorie. Emile Reynaud's colorful 1892 gem is still pretty fun, even to this day. In it's natural setting, it would be accompanied by music and have a narrator explaining the scenes, speaking for the characters and otherwise augmenting the performance. It would be projected from Reynaud's newly developed Praxinoscope, which utilized a series of slides somewhat like a modern slide projector. It was lighted by an oil lamp and separately cast the background and the characters from the same lamp. This made the creation of the glass slides easier because the background only had to be painted once.

The plot is simple. Arlequin sneaks in to visit his lover Colombine. Pierrot startles the lovers by knocking on the door and the two hide. Pierrot enters and begins courting Combine with a song. Arlequin frightens the would be lover by swacking him with a slapstick, and Pierrot flees. Arlequin is then free to march into his lover's chamber unimpeded.

It's interesting to see the the bridge between the centuries old Commedia dell'Arte from which Emile Reynaud drew and later cartoons here. Many things in this remind may remind the watcher of stock Looney Tunes gags: The way Arlequin looks around before he sneaks in; how he hides behind a post too small to actually cover him; how Arlequin remains undiscovered behind the post because even though he would be visible to Pierrot, he can't be seen by the audience; and the way he frightens the would be lover by tapping on his shoulder, at one point hiding behind poor Pierrot's back when he turns to look.

All in all, this is a fun display of just what magic could be accomplished by late Victorian era animators.