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.

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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.