"Gertie the Dinosaur" debuted in February 1914 as part of McCay's vaudeville act. McCay introduced Gertie as "the only dinosaur in captivity", and commanded the animated beast with a whip. Gertie seemed to obey McCay, bowing to the audience, and eating a tree and a boulder, though she had a will of her own and sometimes rebelled. When McCay admonished her, she cried. McCay consoled her by throwing her an apple—in reality pocketing the cardboard prop apple as a cartoon one simultaneously appeared on screen. In the finale, McCay walked offstage, reappeared in animated form in the film, and had Gertie carry him away. Producer William Fox's Box Office Attractions obtained distribution rights to a modified version of "Gertie" that could be played in regular movie theaters. This version was prefaced with a live-action sequence and replaced the interactive portions with intertitles.