Oh'phelia

It's a cartoon comedy version of HAMLET, with puns and frogs and William S. Hart as Laertes. I prefer Anna Russell's take of the Shakespeare play as a Verdi Opera, HAMLETTO OR THE GREAT DANE, but this takes less time.

This one looks like partial animation, executed in the 'articulated' style, in which things move at their natural joints. The technique was more popular outside of the United States, in no small part because it was cheaper. It survived longest in Japan.

Anson Dyer seems to have entered movie animation a couple of years before he turned out this amusing cartoon. He continued to work in the movies and animation through 1950, retiring that year at 76 and living another twelve years.

There's something about being a movie cartoonist that, despite the eternally uncertain conditions of the industry, promotes longevity. Maybe it's the laughter.