McCay destroyed many of his original cans of film to create more storage space. Of what film he kept, much has not survived, as it was photographed on 35mm nitrate film, which decomposes and is highly flammable. Mendelsohn's son and a friend, both young animators, discovered the film in Mendelsohn's possession in 1947 and rescued what they could. In some cases, such as "The Centaurs", only fragments could be saved. A negative and incomplete positive was discovered of "Performing Animals", a film of animals playing instruments that may have been intended for McCay's vaudeville act; it was deemed unsalvageable and destroyed.