John Randolph Bray was an American animator, cartoonist, and film producer.
14 Facts About JR Bray
2.
John Randolph JR Bray was born in Addison, Michigan on August 25,1879, to Methodist Presbyterian minister Edward JR Bray and his wife Sarah.
3.
JR Bray was educated at the Detroit School of Boys and the Detroit School of Art.
4.
JR Bray enrolled at the Michigan's Alma College for a degree in civil engineering, but dropped out after a year.
5.
JR Bray worked for Judge from 1907 to 1909, drawing a comic named Little Johnny and the Teddy Bears, simply named The Teddy Bears in its first run.
6.
JR Bray became interested in animation in the early years of moving pictures.
7.
Unlike newspaper cartoonist Winsor McCay, who had been making short animated films for several years, JR Bray organized his studio according to the principles of industrial production, an approach that Raoul Barre, another animator, adopted at around the same time.
8.
JR Bray contributed a series featuring his Colonel Heeza Liar series, which was among the most popular series of animated shorts in that era.
9.
JR Bray Productions produced over 500 films between 1913 and 1937, mostly animation films and documentary shorts.
10.
JR Bray produced the first animated film in color, The Debut of Thomas Cat, in Brewster Color.
11.
JR Bray Studios was still in operation in the 1990s due to his grandson Paul.
12.
JR Bray visited Winsor McCay during his production of Gertie the Dinosaur and claimed to be a journalist writing an article about animation.
13.
John Randolph JR Bray later patented many of McCay's methods and unsuccessfully tried to sue the other animator; McCay prevailed and received royalties from JR Bray for several years thereafter.
14.
JR Bray died at his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 10,1978, at the age of 99.