Comic strip from Le Rire, 22 July 1899. The pet owner added two wheels to avoid his dachshund's belly to scrape across the ground. The man with the moustache asks him "what the devil did you do with the tail?" - "It's to pump air (in the tire), if he would die on route."
Émile Cohl was a French comic artist and animator. Together with John Stuart Blackton, he was one of the earliest pioneers of animation in the early 1900s, with simple caricatures and stick figures. Cohl goes down in history as the creator of what many film historians consider the first genuine fully animated cartoon, 'Fantasmagorie' (1908). He was also the first to adapt a comic strip into a regular animated film series. Cohl was a well-known caricaturist in his day and also made a few comics himself.
Early life and career
Émile Cohl was born in 1857 in Paris as Émile Eugène Jean Louis Courtet. His father was a rubber salesman, and his mother sewed linen. His family often had to struggle to get money together and Cohl rarely saw his father. In 1863, when Cohl was six years old, his mother passed away. He was sent off to the École Professionelle de Pantin – better known as the boarding school Institute Vaudron. Cohl discovered he had talent for drawing, but the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) pushed his life into a different direction. His father's factory was forced to close down and Cohl was sent to a less expensive school: the École Turgot. He found a new pastime in the marionette theaters of Guignol and by working as a political caricaturist. During the Prussian siege of Paris, he was able to give local citizens much escapism through these occupations. Cohl worked as an apprentice for a jeweler and a maritime insurance broker, before eventually working for a philatelist.
"The Game of Matchsticks", 1915.
Scandal
Caricaturing remained one of Cohl's hobbies. In 1878, he became an assistant to André Gill, who was already one of the most famous caricaturists in France. All throughout his life, Cohl remained loyal to his mentor, even when Gill was institutionalized and deserted by all his other friends. Around the same time the young caricaturist adopted his pen name "Émile Cohl". The young cartoonist quickly made a name for himself when he drew cartoons targeting French president Patrice MacMahon. One of them, 'Aveugle par Ac-Sedan' (1878), depicted the politician posing as a blind beggar. The word "Ac-Sedan" was a pun on the French word "accident" and referenced the Battle of Sedan (1870), where France was defeated by Prussia. MacMahon had been present during this battle and didn't like the implication that his country's defeat was his fault. Cohl was already walking on thin ice for caricaturing the French president, when MacMahon made it a punishable offense to ridicule him. On 11 October 1879, Cohl was fined and sentenced to ten days in jail for one of his cartoons. But in the end it was the disgraced cartoonist who had the last laugh, as the scandal made Cohl instantly famous. Since MacMahon was already unpopular, few people chose his side. Only three months later, the president resigned in disgrace.
'Un Drame', 1908.
L'Hydropathe
Under France's new president, Jules Grévy, the cartoon censorship was lifted. Cohl became a respected member of a Parisian artistic group named the "Hydropathes'' and was chief editor of their magazine L'Hydropathe, first published on 28 October 1879. His financial luck also changed for the better when he inherited his late father's wealth. Together with former architect Edouard Norés, Cohl wrote two theatrical plays, 'Plus de Têtes Chauves' (1881) and 'Auteur Par Amour' (1882), which were not commercially successful. In 1882, the Hydropathes disbanded themselves and Cohl got acquainted with another artistic group: the Incoherents. He became editor-in-chief of their official magazine La Nouvelle Lune and contributed many caricatures. The group was fond of absurd comedy and deliberately drew in a crude, infantile style. It gave the Incoherents cult appeal and their public exhibitions attracted a lot of spectators. When the novelty died off in 1888, Cohl moved to London. He had prepared this voyage for years by learning English. For almost a decade, he published in the magazine Pick Me Up.
'Logement à Louer'. Comic strip by Emile Cohl for Polichinelle, 9 May 1897. The customer likes the apartment but doubts whether the house is "solid". He is assured that everything is safe, but when he crashes through the floor, the owner addresses the reader to tell them: "I'm starting to feel that the gentlemen was right."
Later career
In 1896, Cohl returned to Paris, where he started a new career as a writer and illustrator. He contributed to many magazines, most notably L'Illustré National, where he made several text comics starting in 1898. A shameful moment in Cohl's career occurred when he supported the conviction of French-Jewish captain Alfred Dreyfus who was removed in disgrace from the army over the accusation of treason. In reality, Dreyfus was innocent of the matter and a victim of antisemitism. Cohl made several cartoons tar-and-feathering Dreyfus as a traitor, in contrast with cartoonist and future animator Raoul Barré, who defended Dreyfus. Among the other magazines to which Cohl provided cartoons and comic strips were Polichinelle and Le Rire.
'L'Homme Aux Trois Visages' (Le Rire, 23 April 1899).
Animation
In 1907, at age 50, Émile Cohl changed careers again, becoming a scriptwriter for the film company Gaumont. Apart from penning stories, he also made animated special effects for some of their live-action films. Cohl was greatly inspired by animation pioneer John Stuart Blackton, who'd already amazed audiences with early humorous animated shorts like 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' (1906) and 'The Haunted Hotel' (1907). At the time, the medium was still in its infancy and no books were available on how to animate cartoons, so Cohl had to study the craft by literally examining Blackton's pictures frame-by-frame. In 1908, Cohl made his animated debut with 'Fantasmagorie' (1908), a picture where crude stick-figures meet all kinds of morphing objects. It shared a similar look with Blackton's chalk animation, but the main difference was that Blackton's characters were actually drawn on a chalkboard and then filmed one by one in sequence, while Cohl's animation was drawn on hundreds of pieces of paper first, and then filmed one frame at a time. Because of Cohl’s technique, which is more similar to the technique of modern animation than Blackton’s, 'Fantasmagorie' is widely considered to be the first genuine fully animated cartoon. The picture was a success with audiences and paved the way for more similar animated shorts: 'Le Cauchemar du Fantoche' ('The Puppet's Nightmare', 1908), and 'Un Drame Chez Les Fantoches' ('A Puppet Drama', 1908).
'Le Cauchemar de Fantoche'.
In 1910, Émile Cohl joined another film company, Pathé, where he continued making special effects for a series of live-action comedies starring Lucien Cazalis, better known as Jobard. 'Le Tout Petit Faust' (1910) was the first marionette film, 'Le Peintre Néo-Impressioniste' (1910) was an early color animated film. The animated short 'La Bataille d'Austerlitz' (1910) showed ambition by trying to visualize Napoleon's famous victory during the Battle of Austerlitz. In September 1911, Cohl moved to Eclipse, but was allowed to make films for other studios too, like Éclair. He even left for the United States to create animated cartoons based on George McManus' popular newspaper comic 'The Newlyweds' (1912) for Éclair. This was effectively the first animated series based on a comic strip. Previously most adaptations of comics had been done as live-action films. The series were quite a success in the States, but unfortunately a series of setbacks followed.
In 1914, Cohl moved back to Paris because of family matters. While he was there, a fire destroyed most of Éclair's films, including Cohl's work. Only two of them survive today. Cohl didn't despair and kept making new films. One of his co-workers at the time was Robert Lortac. A few months after the start, the First World War broke out. When the German army occupied Paris, Cohl was unable to send his pictures to America. He continued making newsreel inserts for Éclair and was approached by illustrator Benjamin Rabier to make an animated series based on his comic characters. The series, 'Les Dessins Animés de Benjamin Rabier', was distributed by the Agence Générale Cinematographique (AGC) and ran throughout most of the decade with great local success. The franchise was eventually put to a halt when Cohl objected to the fact that he wasn't credited for his work in advertisements. Rabier then continued the series on his own. Around the same time, Cohl also made another animated series based on a popular French comic strip, 'Les Pieds Nickelés' by Louis Forton. Unfortunately, this series was prematurely discontinued when Allied Forces liberated Paris in 1918. Cohl volunteered for the United States Air Service Supply.
Caricatures of Parisian intellectuals, around 1893.
Final years and death
After the First World War, Cohl left Éclair and spent his final decades poor and almost forgotten. In the spring of 1937, his beard caught fire when it came in touch with a candle on his desk. He survived, but spent a few months in a hospital. Film journalist René Jeanne paid his medical bill by organizing a benefit screening of his work. In 1938, Cohl passed away, coincidentally dying the same day as another legendary French film pioneer: Georges Méliès, creator of the classic short 'Le Voyage Dans La Lune' (1902).
Legacy and influence
Émile Cohl enjoyed a long career in many different creative arts, but will always be remembered for his pioneering work in the field of animation. Whether as an animator of short films or a special effects-animator for live-action films, his work definitely broke new ground. Unfortunately many of Cohl's 300 films are lost today, but the ones that remain still prove a testament of his cinematographic accomplishments. He inspired early animators like Winsor McCay, Raoul Barré, John Randolph Bray and Paul Grimault, some of whom directly copied Cohl's ideas. Cohl lived to see the medium he helped give shape to being further developed into a genuine artistic movement. It was in gratitude for his contributions to animation that cartoonist Frick made an "in memoriam" cartoon featuring Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and the Fleischer Brothers' Betty Boop and Popeye mourning over Cohl's death. Cohl's name lives on in a Parisian square, the academy École Émile Cohl and the annual animation award Prix Émile Cohl.
In memoriam illustration, drawn by cartoonist Frick, published a week after Cohl's death in 1938. Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop and Popeye mourn a stick figure from Cohl's movie 'Fantasmagorie'. Note that Popeye is sitting on a can of spinach.