 Gertie the Dinosaur debuted in February 1914 as part of McCay 's vaudeville act . McCay introduced Gertie as " the only dinosaur in captivity " , and commanded the animated beast with a whip . Gertie seemed to obey McCay , bowing to the audience , and eating a tree and a boulder , though she had a will of her own and sometimes rebelled . When McCay admonished her , she cried . McCay consoled her by throwing her an apple — in reality pocketing the cardboard prop apple as a cartoon one simultaneously appeared on screen . In the finale , McCay walked offstage , reappeared in animated form in the film , and had Gertie carry him away . Producer William Fox 's Box Office Attractions obtained distribution rights to a modified version of Gertie that could be played in regular movie theaters . This version was prefaced with a live @-@ action sequence and replaced the interactive portions with intertitles . 
