The Sinking of the Lusitania

The Sinking of the Lusitania (Winsor McCay, 1918)
Under the Spreading Oak Tree
The sinking happened 100 years ago yesterday. This is the oldest known non-fiction, animated film. From the Wikipedia article about this short animated film:

In 1915, a German submarine torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania; 128 Americans were among the 1,198 dead. The event outraged McCay, but the newspapers of his employer William Randolph Hearst downplayed the tragedy, as Hearst was opposed to the US joining World War I. McCay was required to illustrate anti-war and anti-British editorial cartoons for Hearst's papers. In 1916, McCay rebelled against his employer's stance and began to make the self-financed, patriotic Sinking of the Lusitania on his own time.

761 people survived. The film mentions four prominent people who died here:

• Elbert Hubbard. I didn't recognize the name, but his words are familiar.
• Charles Klein. Show biz personality.
• Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I. A fat wallet won't protect you from a watery grave. Or people making fun of your middle name. No wonder everybody calls him G.
• Charles Frohman. Show biz bigwig.

Via Posthip Scott.

Update October 2023 replaced missing video.

Update November 2024 replaced missing video.