McCay played an important role in the early history of animation. In 1911 he completed his first film, "Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics" (also known as "Little Nemo"), first in theatres and then as part of his vaudeville act. McCay made the 4,000 rice-paper drawings for the animated portion of the film. The animated portion took up about four minutes of the film's total length. Photography was done at the Vitagraph Studios under the supervision of animation pioneer James Stuart Blackton. During the live-action portion of the film, McCay bets his colleagues he can make his drawings move. He wins the bet by animating his "Little Nemo" characters, who shapeshift and transform.