History Trivia / GertieTheDinosaur

** Gertie herself is also a pretty active, lively thing spending all her time on land. Of course, at the time paleontologists argued that dinosaurs (especially the long-necked sauropods) were nothing more than dumb lummoxes who spent their lives wallowing in swamps. While we now know that sauropods weren't as cartoonishly playful let alone intelligent as Gertie, she was still a far more accurate dinosaur reconstruction than the sluggish beasts that decorated science books and museums for decades after the short had debuted.

** At one point in the beginning, Gertie swallows a rock for no apparent reason. However, there is fossil evidence that real life sauropods swallowed stones to aid in digestion (they didn't chew their food, so the stones ground the food up for them).

** At one point a four-winged [[BuffySpeak dinosaur-dragon thing]] flies by. Nearly a century later, a four-winged dinosaur named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor Microraptor]]'' is discovered (though it was nowhere near the size of the creature in the short).

** Gertie herself is also a pretty active, lively thing spending all her time on land. Of course, at the time paleontologists argued that dinosaurs (especially the long-necked sauropods) were nothing more than dumb lummoxes who spent their lives wallowing in swamps. While we now know that sauropods weren't as cartoonishly playful and intelligent as Gertie, she was still a far more accurate dinosaur reconstruction than the sluggish beasts that decorated science books and museums for decades after the short had debuted.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting:

* AccidentallyCorrectZoology: At one point a four-winged [[BuffySpeak dinosaur-dragon thing]] flies by. Nearly a century later, a four-winged dinosaur named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor Microraptor]]'' is discovered (though it was nowhere near the size of the creature in the short).

* ReferencedBY: The only known specimen of the Triassic dinosaur ''Chindesaurus'', which was nicknamed Gertie in reference to the cartoon.

* DoingItForTheArt: Winsor [=McCay=] hand-drew every single frame. ''Without cels''. (An assistant did the backgrounds.)

* AccidentallyCorrectZoology: At one point a four-winged [[BuffySpeak dinosaur-dragon thing]] flies by. Years later, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor Microraptor]]'' is discovered...

** Gertie herself is also a pretty active, lively thing. Of course, at the time paleontologists argued that dinosaurs (especially the long-necked sauropods) were nothing more than dumb lummoxes who spent their lives wallowing in swamps. While we now know that sauropods weren't as cartoonishly playful and intelligent as Gertie, she was still a far more accurate dinosaur reconstruction than the sluggish beasts that decorated science books and museums for decades after the short had debuted.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: At one point in the beginning, Gertie swallows a rock for no apparent reason. However, there is fossil evidence that real life sauropods swallowed stones to aid in digestion (they didn't chew their food, so the stones ground the food up for them).

* DoingItForTheArt: Winsor [=McCay=] hand-drew every single frame. ''Without cels''. (An assistant did the backgrounds.)

* AccidentallyAccurate: At one point in the beginning, Gertie swallows a rock for no apparent reason. However, there is fossil evidence that real life sauropods swallowed stones to aid in digestion (they didn't chew their food, so the stones ground the food up for them).
* DoingItForTheArt: Winsor [=McCay=] hand-drew every single frame. ''Without cels''. (An assistant did the backgrounds.)

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Mr. [=McCay=] was on the giving end. A fellow showed up, claiming to be a journalist writing an article on animation while this movie was being made. Winsor was only too happy to show him how it was done. The visitor was actually John Randolph Bray, who then patented what [=McCay=] was doing, then sued him for royalties. The result of the lawsuit was royalties going the other way instead (from Bray to [=McCay=]).

* AccidentallyAccurate: Possibly; at one point in the beginning, Gertie swallows a rock for no apparent reason. However, there is fossil evidence that real life sauropods swallowed stones to aid in digestion (they didn't chew their food, so the stones ground the food up for them).

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Mr. [=McCay=] was on the giving end. A fellow showed up, claiming to be a journalist writing an article on animation. Winsor was only too happy to show him how it was done. The visitor was actually John Randolph Bray, who then patented what [=McCay=] was doing, then sued him for royalties. The result of the lawsuit was royalties going the other way instead (from Bray to [=McCay=]).