was shown for certain in a Japanese cinema (on 15 April 1912). The Eclipse contract was not exclusive, so Cohl made films for other studios. One of these films, Campbell Soups, was his first film made for Éclair, the number three studio in France. At the beginning of the 20th century, many early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Éclair's American studio was run by Cohl's friend Arnaud. As Éclair was moving into comedies for American audiences, it was not too hard for Arnaud to have his friend sent over the Atlantic to join him. Cohl, his wife Suzanne, and their son André sailed first class from Le Havre to New York City. At Ellis Island, he was required, for "sanitary reasons", to shave off the mustache he had worn for thirty years in honour of André Gill. Despite the inevitable xenophobia from the locals, the French colony at Fort Lee was enthusiastic about having finally invaded the coveted American market. Cohl bought a house and settled into a typical middle-class American lifestyle. He had a considerable advantage over fellow-Éclair employees, as he was fluent in English. Cohl had two basic assignments at Fort Lee: humorous newsreel inserts and The Newlyweds animated series. The newsreel (one of the first of its kind) was started by the Sales Company in March 1912 and continued by Universal (Éclair's distributor). The Newlyweds started life as a newspaper comic strip by George McManus in the New York World. The three main characters are a fashionable woman drawn in the style of the "Gibson Girl", her obliging husband, and Baby Snookums, an absolute hellion of a child who nevertheless gets everything he wants (usually at the expense of the father). The series was popular both in the United States and in France (under the name Le Petit Ange). Cohl wanted to make the first animated series, and he liked The Newlyweds. As for McManus, he may have been convinced to sign with Cohl at the urging of his friend Winsor McCay. Prior to this point, there had been a few adaptations of comic series into films, but they were all live action. Examples include Happy Hooligan (starring J. Stuart Blackton as the title character), Buster Brown, and Mutt and Jeff (later to become a successful animated series). Cohl began work on The Newlyweds series in November