He's a Bat Man, Not Batman

Director Don Patterson found a different way to transition from one scene to the next in Under the Counter Spy, a 1954 Woody Woodpecker cartoon.

The villain of this Dragnet parody, The Bat, jumps over a fence and runs toward the camera, mainly on twos. His black cape envelopes the frame.



After only two frames in darkness, The Bat has turned around and heads toward a new background drawing, one of the outside of Woody’s home.



The scene isn’t really animated. The drawings of The Bat are poses, one after another, with the camera moving closer to them to simulate movement.

Ray Abrams, Ken Southworth and Herman Cohen are the credited animators, and I imagine Patterson did some animation as well.