Honorable Mention: In February, 1914 at the Palace Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, cartoonist Winsor McCay (1869-1934) premiered "Gertie the Dinosaur", (containing 10,000 drawings with backgrounds), in an interactive cartoon where he (in person) seemed to step into his animated cartoon by walking behind the screen at the right time and showing up as part of the animation. Many consider this the first 'successful' animated cartoon (others being considered just novelty acts).
In November, 1914, "Gertie the Dinosaur" was released to theaters around the country, being the first animated film viewed by movie goers at the time.
