Bill Nolan
William Charles Nolan or simply Bill Nolan (1894-1956) was a pioneering animator from The Silent Age of Animation and The Golden Age of Animation. He was one of the top animators of the Silent Age, capable of turning out a record 500 drawings per day--a feat only surpassed by animator Ub Iwerks.
Bill was important in that he was a pioneer of the rubberhose art style that defined classical animation--the origins of it began in 1924, when working on Felix the Cat with Otto Messmer, that he decided to redesign Felix into a softer, curvier design than before, to not only make it easier for animation to overlap and be smoother, but also make animation less of a burden for the workers. Thus, he is the father of Rubber Hose Limbs.
Nolan also discovered that if a long background painting was slid under a character running in place, it gave the illusion of a camera Pan, thus making him the inventor of the Wraparound Background.
Mr. Nolan also did a rare instructional book on how to draw newspaper comic characters, which can be found here, courtesy of Animation Resources.
List of Cartoons He Worked On:
- Tad's Indoor Sports (1918)
- Tad's Little Daffydills (1918)
- Cupid's Advice (1920)
- Apollo (1920)
- Happy Hooldini (1920)
- A Romance of '76 (1920)
- Oil (1920)
- Roll Your Own (1921)
- A Close Shave (1921)
- Hot Dogs (1921)
- The Smoke Eater (1925)
- The Flight That Failed (1925)
- Hair Raiser (1925)
- A Uke-Calamity (1925)
- Bokays and Brickbatz (1925)
- Jams & Gems (1925)
- Monkey Business (1925)
- Battling For Barleycorn (1925)
- Punctured Romance (1925)
- The Ghost Fakir (1925)
- The Sucker Game (1925)
- Back To Batching (1925)
- Double Crossed (1925)
- Scents and Nonsense (1926)
- The Feather Pushers (1926)
- Cops Suey (1926)
- Puss and Boots (1926)
- Chicken Chaser (!926)
- East Is Best (1926)
- Shore Enough (!926)
- Watery Gravy (!926)
- Cheese It (1926)
- Dots and Dashes (1926
- The Wrong Queue (1926
- Gold Struck (1926)
- Horse Play (1927)
- Busy Birds (!927)
- Sharps and Flats (1927)
- Kiss Crossed (1927)
- Fool's Errand (!927)
- Stomach Trouble (!927)
- Hire A Hall (1927
- Don Go On (1927
- Burnt Up (1927
- Night Owl (1927
- The Rug (1927)
- On The Trail (1927
- Passing the Hat (1927)
- Best Wishes (1927
- Wild Rivals (1927
- Topsy and Eva (1927
- The King of Jazz (1930): Worked on the animated segment of the film.
- The Singing Sap (1930): First work at the Walter Lantz studio. An Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short.
- The Detective (1930)
- The Fowl Ball (!930)
- The Navy (1930)
- Mexico (1930)
- Africa (1930)
- Alaska (1930)
- Mars (1930)
- China (1931)
- College (1931)
- Shipwreck (1931)
- The Farmer (1931)
- The Fireman (!931)
- Sunny South (!931)
- Country School (1931)
- The Bandmaster (1931
- Northwoods (1931
- Stone Age (1931
- The Stone Age (1931)
- Radio Rhythm (1931)
- Kentucky Belles (1931(
- Hot Feet
- The Hunter
- Wonderland
- The Hare Mail
- The Fisherman
- The Clown
- Grandma's Pet (1932)
- Mechanical Man
- Wins Out
- Beau and Arrows
- Making Good
- Let's Eat
- The Winged Horse
- Cat Nipped
- A Wet Knight
- A Jungle Jumble
- Day Nurse
- The Athlete
- The Busy Barber
- Carnival Capers
- The Under Dog
- Wild and Woolly
- Teacher's Pests
- Merry Dog (1933)
- The Plumber
- The Terrible Trobador
- The Shriek
- Going to Blazes
- Beau Best
- Nature's Workshop
- Ham and Eggs
- Pin Feathers
- Confidence
- Hot and Cold
- King Klunk
- Five and Dime
- The Zoo
- The Merry Old Soul
- Parking Space (1933)
- Chicken Reel (1934)
- The Candy House
- County Fair
- Country Fair
- The Toy Shoppe
- Kings Up
- The Ginger Bread Boy
- Goldielocks and the Three Bears
- Annie Moved Away
- William Tell
- The Dizzy Dwarf
- Spring in the Park (1934): Last Lantz short he worked on.
- Gulliver's Travels (1939): Was an animator on the film.
- Poopdeck Pappy (1940): animation director Popeye cartoon directed by him.
- Child Psykolojiky (1941): animation director
- The Flying Jeep (1946)
- The Woody Woodpecker Show (1957): Did animation for the bridging segments.