Gertie
Vintage: likely around 1990
Resides at Ray Bradbury Center Museum
ONE OF THE largest single-author archives in the country sits relatively hidden on the Indiana University Indianapolis campus. It’s dedicated to Illinois-born Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. When the acclaimed writer passed away in 2012, a cache of his manuscripts and personal effects wound up with IU Indianapolis professor and Bradbury biographer Jonathan Eller, who established the Ray Bradbury Center and Museum, complete with a recreation of Bradbury’s office with both of his desks. Although Bradbury was known for his futuristic themes, he was fascinated with dinosaurs. Bradbury called this toy, Gertie, his “pet” and kept it in his office. Gertie was originally the star of the 1914 short film Gertie the Dinosaur by cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay. Set at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, it features a sketch of a dinosaur who comes to life, her first action to take “a pretty bow.” The film is widely considered to be the first animated cartoon with a fully developed character. Gertie became well-known following her debut, but character merchandising as we know it was still a long way off. When Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened in 1989, it included a Gertie the Dinosaur statue and ice cream stand, which is thought to have triggered a resurgence of interest in her—and sale of Gertie toys. “I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows, or gorillas,” Bradbury once quipped. “When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”
