The history of Canadian animation involves a considerable element of the realities of a country neighbouring the United States and both competitiveness and co-operation across the border. History 1910s-1950s Canadians contributed greatly to the technologies and practices used to create animated television shows, movies and special effects. Starting in 1912, Canadian born cartoonist and painter Raoul Barré introduced standard perforations in the drawing paper and "peg bars" to hold them in place which eliminated jerkiness when going from one image to the next. He also introduced the slash system, a method of drawing the background only once (instead of with each frame as had been done previously) on a separate sheet, leaving blank spaces for character movement. In 1913, Barre organized a systematic method of producing animated cartoons in an assembly line fashion. The assembly line method is essentially how all commercial animations (television, film etc.) are created to this day. In 1919, Jack (J.A.) Norling produced The Man Who Woke Up, the oldest surviving animation made in Canada. Prior to 1939, animation production was a very low scale with small production that were often discouraged by theatre chains like Famous Players. Such companies did not want Canadian competition to their parent companies' product. However, independent animators such as Jack (J.A). Norling in Winnipeg, Jean Arsin and Charles Lambly in Montreal, and Harold Peberdy, Bert Cob, Walter H. Swaffield and Bryant Fryer in Toronto, were able to produce short animations, primarily for advertising and educational purposes. 1939 saw the establishment of the National Film Board of Canada, which provided a strong government supported organization for the creation of distinctively Canadian work. Animation was essentially an afterthought, but an initial and short-lived period of co-production with the Walt Disney Company in the making of animated propaganda films helped establish a core of animators who continued production after Disney withdrew. Initially, the artistic focus of the crew was to explore types of animation apart from regular cel animation since it was decided competing with the American companies in this field was counterproductive. With that approach, luminaries like Norman McLaren made their mark with innovative work in forms like drawn on film animation. In addition, the agency eventually gained the confidence to produce cel animation as well. 1960s Apart from the National Film Board, Canadian production in the commercial sphere was largely as limited as before. The biggest contribution in the 1960s and