"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated February 12, 1911:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (MARCH 18, 2021):
A bit of a disappointing strip to end our tour of the Great White North. Toronto is *much* more fun in real life, I assure you all! - 1/19
Though the top tier really does present a beautiful view of the Toronto harbour front. This is something that I've never seen before in real life… it's populated by massive skyrise condominiums now. - 2/19
This was interesting to me. Considering that this is a view I've seen many times while driving down the Gardner Expressway, though it's much less picturesque with the buildings blocking the way. - 3/19
For that reason it was neat to get a glimpse of what it looked like in the past! - 4/19
There really isn't much sightseeing that we actually get in panel content here… apparently some of it happens off panel (Flip was at a carnival), but it's pretty… boring… for the most part. - 5/19
A few of Toronto's sights are mentioned including the Harbour (seen in tier one; more info here): - 6/19
And the Ravine: - 7/19
But the one that interested me the most was the mention of a Toronto Parliament Building because it's strangely ambiguous… - 8/19
There are two possibilities here. The first is that McCay was referring to the Ontario Legislative Building (metonymously known as "Queen's Park") which houses the offices of the Provincial Government: - 9/19
Though it is most certainly a parliament building, it has never had been known by that name. It's always been the OLB or Queen's Park. - 10/19
So, it's strange that the boy doesn't call it one of those. Alternatively, he might have been referring to the previous building that housed the Provincial government: - 11/19
These buildings, known as the Ontario Parliament Buildings, were demolished between 1900 and 1903 after having been the home of Ontario legislature from confederation to 1893. - 12/19
Is it possible that McCay simply didn't know that the legislature had moved? Is this something that, pre-internet, a cartoonist, even if he was Canadian born, would have known? - 13/19
It's conjecture at best, but it got me wondering. - 14/19
Now, there is an interesting discussion between Flip and the skating clown that I'm interested to hear participant thoughts on. I'm not going to say anything about this; I'd like you to share your thoughts if you would! - 15/19
I'll end by just saying that these Canadian sightseeing adventures are interesting to me, particularly in the context of McCay's potential Canadian heritage. - 16/19
As Canemaker (2018, 3rd ed.) has pointed out in his biography of the man, it's probable that McCay was born in Ontario and moved with his family to Michigan when he was young. - 17/19
It's interesting that he chooses to spend so much time here in Canada when there are so many wondrous places that the airship tour could have started. It makes me feel like there is more than a little validity to Canemaker's theory. - 18/19
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #279. What's yours? - 19/19
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