Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/The Sinking of the Lusitania

The Sinking of the Lusitania

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/May 7, 2015 by Brianboulton (talk) 14:22, 19 April 2015 (UTC)



The Sinking of the Lusitania is a silent animated short film by American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay. It is a re-creation of the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania, in which a German submarine torpedoed and sank the ship, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. McCay's employer, William Randolph Hearst, downplayed the tragedy as he was opposed to the US joining World War I. However, in 1916 McCay tired of drawing anti-war cartoons and rebelled against the magnate, choosing to make an anti-German film based on the sinking. McCay and his assistants, on their own time and using the new, efficient cel technology, spent twenty-two months on the production. The Sinking of the Lusitania was released in 1918, making it the earliest animated documentary and serious, dramatic work of animation to survive. It had little commercial success compared to McCay's earlier works Little Nemo (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), and his later animation went largely unnoticed. The artist spent the rest of his life making editorial drawings.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Most recent film will be Gemini (12 April). Last animated film was some time ago.
 * Main editors: Curly Turkey
 * Promoted: November 26, 2013
 * Reasons for nomination: 100th anniversary of the sinking proper
 * Support as nominator. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 15:29, 2 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Support either this date, or the date of the film's hundredth anniversary in 2018. Curly Turkey ¡gobble! 20:37, 2 April 2015 (UTC)
 *  Support on a different date: Fascinating article, very interesting topic that covers multiple areas, WWI history, history of animation, etc. But not as good an anniversary as Gary Cooper, above  Montanabw (talk)  08:21, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Montana, does this mean you are withdrawing your support from Gary Cooper (also nominated for 7 May)? Brianboulton (talk) 22:49, 5 April 2015 (UTC
 * NO, Coop first! Didn't realize we had overlapping dates! Will tweak  Montanabw (talk)  01:43, 6 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Suppport. Very important anniversary of an important work of animation. More important than Gary Cooper's article date. --Harizotoh9 (talk) 15:47, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
 * For the record, the date is not the anniversary of the film, but of the event described in the film. Brianboulton (talk) 09:12, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
 * question: In terms of FAC, has this article or the Gary Cooper one been FAC longer?  That was sometimes used as a tiebreaker in the past.   Montanabw (talk)  07:47, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Coop passed barely a month ago. This has been FA for almost a year and a half. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 07:52, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Man, that sure puts this Montana girl in a tough spot! How can I possibly say anything tops Coop?  LOL! One thought: Given that TFA runs on GMT, could we run Coop on the 8th? (Midnight GMT is 5pm on the 7th for folks out west...)  Montanabw (talk)  08:50, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * It's been done before, under Bencherlite. I don't think we've done it since Brian, Dan, and I took the reins, though. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 08:55, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Maybe "someone" (not sure if it should be me as I have a bias) should post the gist of this thread at the Coop TFAR and see if the supporters there are OK with it.  Montanabw (talk)  20:08, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * The idea of running Cooper on the 8th, in the manner you suggest, had occurred to me. I did something very similar in March with Margaret Bondfield, whose birthday was 17 March but ran on 18th to clear the way for St Paddy's day. I will approach the Cooper people. Brianboulton (talk) 00:03, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Like I said, I'm not picky about the date (except that I think this article will probably get more hits on this one than 2018), but I do wonder: why run Cooper this particular year? It's an odd anniversary. Curly Turkey ¡gobble! 00:46, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Dunno why the nominator decided beyond the birthday, but I've seen FACs pass and become TFA within a few weeks. Nothing all that unusual there.  Sometimes the older FACs need a lot of cleaning up to be ready for prime time; the newer ones usually don't need much work. And if the 8th or the 13th (see Coop TFA/R above) work, end of problem.  Montanabw (talk)  06:17, 10 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Support Very important anniversary. Would prefer this to Gary Cooper if we have to choose. Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 12:04, 17 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Support Been FA a lot longer than Cooper. That makes it the perfect choice. May 7 is now the earliest spot that's free, so we have to decide soon. TVShowFan122 (talk) 16:05, 17 April 2015 (UTC)