Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial
The Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial or Hearst-Vitagraph was a short-lived company producing newsreels which were coupled with animated cartoons. It was established on 29 October 1915 by the Brooklyn-based Vitagraph Studios and the Hearst Corporation, and produced its first reel in February 1916, but folded in 1916. Previously, Hearst had produced newsreels together with the Selig Polyscope Company from 1914 on, and after the deal with Vitagraph ended Hearst teamed up with Pathé.
The cartoons which were added to the newsreels were created by Hearst's animation studio International Film Service, led by Gregory La Cava, which converted popular comic strips from the Hearst newspapers to the big screen. Included in the News Pictorial were Parcel Post cartoons created by Frank Moser, George Herriman's Krazy Kat, And Her Name Was Maud and Happy Hooligan by Frederick Burr Opper, Daffydil and Judge Rummy by Tad Dorgan, The Katzenjammer Kids by Harold Knerr, Bringing Up Father by George McManus, Joys and Glooms by T. E. Powers, and Jerry on the Job by Walter Hoban.
The newsreels were created by a staff of about 56 cameramen, and produced a number of scoops, including images of the sinking of the British ship HMS Audacious in 1914, and the sinking of the German ship SMS Blücher in 1915.
