Some of my favorite silent cartoons are the Out of the Inkwell shorts starring Koko the Clown. Seeing him interacting with his animator is both clever and fun...and the films managed to seamlessly blend live action with animation. Well, although I love the films, I must admit that the Fleischer Brothers Studio did not originate this style film. The Bray Studio had its Bobby Bumps series and it began three years before Koko...and also had live action and animation. Of the two, I prefer the Out of the Inkwell films...though both series are charming.
In this film, the animator draws Bobby and then Bobby supervises and climbs all over the animator's hand as he draws Bobby's dog. Bobby also corrects the animator when he seemed to forget to draw the dog's tail!
The story then finds Bobby working at a restaurant ( a 'beanery') but the boss is a bit of a jerk and he expects poor Bobby to do work that is just insane for a small child. Fortunately, by the end of the cartoon, the owner's been taught a bit of a lesson.
Overall, a clever and enjoyable short...well worth seeing and very well made for 1918.