William Charles "Bill" Nolan (June 10, 1894 – December 6, 1954) 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 Rubberhose 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 in the 30's, 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 (1926)
- East Is Best (1926)
- Shore Enough (1926)
- Watery Gravy (1926)
- Cheese It (1926)
- Dots and Dashes (1926)
- The Wrong Queue (1926)
- Gold Struck (1926)
- Horse Play (1927)
- Busy Birds (1927)
- Sharps and Flats (1927)
- Kiss Crossed (1927)
- Fool's Errand (1927)
- Stomach Trouble (1927)
- 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)
- 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 (1930)
- The Navy (1930)
- Mexico (1930)
- Africa (1930)
- Alaska (1930)
- Mars (1930)
- China (1931)
- College (1931)
- Shipwreck (1931)
- The Farmer (1931)
- The Fireman (1931)
- Sunny South (1931)
- Country School (1931)
- The Bandmaster (1931)
- Northwoods (1931)
- Stone Age (1931)
- The Stone Age (1931)
- Radio Rhythm (1931)
- Kentucky Belles (1931)
- Hot Feet (1931)
- The Hunter (1931)
- Wonderland (1931)
- The Hare Mail (1931)
- The Fisherman (1931)
- The Clown (1931)
- Grandma's Pet (1932)
- Mechanical Man (1932)
- Wins Out (1932)
- Beau and Arrows (1932)
- Making Good (1932)
- Let's Eat (1932)
- The Winged Horse (1932)
- Cat Nipped (1932)
- A Wet Knight (1932)
- A Jungle Jumble (1932)
- Day Nurse (1932)
- The Athlete (1932)
- The Busy Barber (1932)
- Carnival Capers (1932)
- The Under Dog (1932)
- Wild and Woolly (1932)
- Teacher's Pests (1932)
- Merry Dog (1933)
- The Plumber (1933)
- The Terrible Trobadour (1933)
- The Shriek (1933)
- Going to Blazes (1933)
- Beau Best (1933)
- Nature's Workshop (1933)
- Ham and Eggs (1933)
- Pin Feathers (1933)
- Confidence (1933)
- Hot and Cold (1933)
- King Klunk (1933)
- Five and Dime (1933)
- The Zoo (1933)
- The Merry Old Soul (1933)
- Parking Space (1933)
- Chicken Reel (1934)
- The Candy House (1934)
- County Fair (1934)
- Country Fair (1934)
- The Toy Shoppe (1934)
- Kings Up (1934)
- The Ginger Bread Boy (1934)
- Goldielocks and the Three Bears (1934)
- Annie Moved Away (1934)
- William Tell (1934)
- The Dizzy Dwarf (1934)
- 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.
