AllMovie

Another of Disneyland's "Fantasyland" segments, this one-hour episode traces the history of cartoon animation from 1906 to the mid-1950s. The program begins with clips from J. Stuart Blackton's pioneering Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, then moves on to highlights from Winsor McKay's "interractive" 1914 cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur. Thereafter, the emphasis is on the output of the Disney studio, from the modest "Laugh-o-Grams" of the 1920s to such sophisticated animated features as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Lady and the Tramp. Conspicuous by its absence is the brilliant animation of Disney's chief rival Max Fleischer. "The Story of the Animated Drawing" was later distributed for classroom use as the educational short The History of Animation.