He declared himself "the first man in the world to make animated cartoons", though the American James Stuart Blackton and the French Émile Cohl were among those who had made earlier ones, and McCay had photographed his first animated short under Blackton's supervision.
Declarouse a si mesmo "o primeiro home do mundo en facer debuxos animados", aínda que o estadounidense James Stuart Blackton e o francés Émile Cohl xa realizaran algúns con anterioridade, e que McCay xa gravara a súa primeira curta animada baixo supervisión de Blackton.