Archeological artifacts prove that we’ve been attempting to depict things in motion as long as we’ve been able to draw. There are many examples of animation from ancient tinmes. During the 19th century, the spread of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America resulted in experimentation with machines that would make images appear to move, such as the magic lantern, thaumatrope, phenakitoscope, zoetrope, and praxinoscope. The early 20th century marked the beginning of theatrical showings of cartoons, especially in the United States and France. Many animators formed their own studios. 1906's release of the short Humorous Phases of Funny Faces marked the first entirely animated film, using stop-motion photography to simulate animation. 1908 marked the release of Fantasmagorie, considered to be the first animated film using hand-drawn animation and first animated cartoon.
Felix the Cat was created by Patrick Peter Sullivan and Otto James Messmer in 1919. He debuted in the Paramount Pictures cartoon Feline Follies, which premiered in 1919, then called Master Tom. John King of Paramount Magazine later suggested the name “Felix” after the Latin words for “cat” and “happy”. The name was first used in Felix’s third film called “The Adventures of Felix”. He was created during a period of time in animation known as the Silent Era, a period of time in animation with cartoons that lacked sound effects, and was extremely popular among young children during the period. The character was redesigned by Bill Nolan, an animator working for Sullivan, in 1924. Felix was gradually was changed to be rounder and cuter. He was one of the first characters that used the rubber hose animation style. However, he quickly lost popularity with the ending of the Silent Era and introduction of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927. Felix the Cat is recognized today as the first significant animated movie character.
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. He and his brother Roy co-founded Walt Disney Productions in 1923, which later became one of the best-known motion-picture production companies in the world. Disney was known as a creative animator and invented the popular cartoon character Mickey Mouse. Disney Studios became a leading innovator in animation. He and his staff created numerous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. He even provided the original voice for Mickey Mouse. In his lifetime, Walt Disney won 22 Academy Awards and seven Emmy Awards, and was the founder of theme parks Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Disney passed away on December 15, 1966. Today, Disney as a company owns several other companies, including Lucasfilm Ltd., Marvel Studios, ABC News, and FOX.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was a character created by Disney Studios in 1927 by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. He was a character with a mischievous personality and look that inspired a character that was later created by the same duo called Mickey Mouse. Disney’s film distributor, Charles Mintz, suggested a change in direction to keep the animated shorts authentic and fresh. Oswald first appeared in the cartoon "Trolley Troubles", which was released on September 5, 1927. Oswald’s animated expressions and amusing antics made him a fan favorite for the next seventeen months after his appearance in the cartoon. The rabbit starred in (due to the demand by Universal Studios and Mintz) 26 animated black & white silent shorts that were shown in major theaters between 1927 and 1928. Oswald was also the first Disney character to have a merchandise line. Disney began producing Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons that got progressively more costly. In February 1928, Disney traveled to New York to speak with Mintz about an increase in pay to make up for the more expensive cartoons. It came as a surprise to Walt that Mintz wished to decrease his pay by 20% and Universal had gained control of the rights to Oswald. Disney decided to give up his character to pursue Mickey Mouse after the meeting. Oswald eventually became the property of Walter Lantz and was radically redesigned several times during the 1930s and onward. Ironically, Oswald eventually returned to Disney in 2006.
In 1928, Disney began working on a new original character that would eventually become Mickey Mouse. Disney and his friend Ub Iwerks, who also was a lead designer of Oswald the Luckyt Rabbit, worked on shortening Oswald’s ears and adding more clothing details. He was eventually reimagined as a mouse named Mortimer. However, the name was very unpopular, and Disney’s wife suggested renaming Mortimer to Mickey. Although the 1928 cartoon "Steamboat Willie" was Mickey’s first official public appearance, he had already appeared in the animated short "Plane Crazy" earlier the same year. "Steamboat Willie" was premiered in New York on November 18, 1928 and was a big hit amongst the general public. Mickey soon became a national mascot, and Disney quickly started a line of Disney Merchandise, and started the Mickey Mouse Club for child fans in the span of two years. In 1935, Fred Moore, a young animator, redesigned Mickey with a new artistic style. He had previously been made up of circles, which made his movement unrealistic. Moore added a pear-shaped body, pupils, the iconic white gloves, and a smaller nose for a friendlier appearance. He appeared in color for the first time that same year, using the Technicolor technique. By 1937, Mickey hadn’t lost any popularity, and Disney Studios was producing around ten Mickey Mouse television shorts per year. The cartoon was known for its use of slapstick comedy and puns. Since he was so closely associated with children by then, he always remained an upstanding and moral character. Mickey had a theme park and comic strip. Eventually, Disney feature films took over the spotlight and Mickey lost popularity. In 1953, Mickey was cut out of Disney shorts until 1983 when he appeared in "Mickey’s Christmas Carol". He was out of commission for a total of 30 years. Today, Mickey is a cultural icon who has appeared in more than 100 animated features. Around 98% of today’s children are familiar with the character. In 2002, Mickey appeared in the video game Kingdom Hearts. In 2006, he transitioned from 2D to 3D. He is now on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a morning Disney Channel show meant for children ages two to six.
In 1919, E.C. Segar, a cartoonist, was hired by the New York Evening Journal. They told Segar to create a comic strip called "Thimble Theater”, which was their only instruction. Segar came up with many unique and eccentric characters, such as an old maid named Olive Oyl, her boyfriend Ham Gravy, and her brother Castor. The strip gradually became popular over the course of ten years, and Segar began emphasizing big storylines that went on for extended periods of time, a far cry from the strips with single one-liners that he had started the series with. In 1929, Segar came up with a story involving Ham and Castor in which they encountered a scrappy, one-eyed sailor with a captain’s hat. The character’s sharp wit instantly struck a chord with readers, who soon demanded that he be added as a permanent addition to the strip. Soon, Popeye replaced Ham as Olive’s love interest and became the main character of the strip. “Thimble Theater” was soon renamed as “Thimble Theater, starring Popeye”. At the time, cartoon animation was still fresh to the public and several major characters such as Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop had already made their silver screen debut. Max and Dave Fleischer headed a company called Fleischer Studios, and in November, 1932, Max Fleischer an executive at the King Features Syndicate, the company that owned Popeye’s strip at the time. Fleischer decided to test the character by putting him in a “Betty Boop” cartoon. Fleischer feared that rival companies would try to steal the character, so he assigned Roland Crandall, an animator at his company, the task of animating the first Popeye cartoon by himself, in secret. When “Betty Boop Presents Popeye the Sailor” was premiered in 1933, the cartoon was a huge hit and many Popeye cartoons followed it over the next years. By the late 1930s Popeye’s popularity had even surpassed that of Mickey Mouse. The comic strip was even responsible for adding the words “jeep” and “goon” to the English language. As Popeye's popularity with children grew throughout the decade, King Features Syndicate owner William Randolph Hearst ordered Segar to stop the cursing in the strip to make it more appropriate for children. Popeye stopped cursing, but remained violent, but started fighting for what was right to act as a hero and role model. At the time, the US population was greatly frustrated by the Great Depression and enjoyed seeing Popeye fight back and win. During the 1930s and the 1940s, Popeye was given a white U.S. Navy uniform to aid in the war effort. Popeye cartoons were a TV staple in the 1950s and 1960s, but the character’s benevolent violence started to work against him, and his popularity slid in the 1970s and 1980s when parents began to worry about the amount of violence their children were exposed to. After several failed attempts to reboot the character during the late 1980s and 1990s, Popeye eventually lost his fan base and reputation.
In 1937, Tex Avery, a Warner Bros. animation director created Porky's Duck Hunt. In the brief cartoon, a character named Porky Pig hunted an eccentric duck named Daffy. It was an instantaneous hit at the theatre where it premiered. The following year, Warner Bros. director Ben "Bugs" Hardaway remade the cartoon with a rabbit replacing the duck. The rabbit made his first appearance in Porky's Hare Hunt. Hardaway later decided to remake Porky's Hare Hunt with a new rabbit. Charlie Thorson, a cartoonist working for Warner Bros., came up with a gray and white rabbit with large buck teeth. He labeled his sketch "Bugs' Bunny". Later on, Avery changed Bugs from a crazy rabbit to a smart Alec. This new version of Bugs debuted in A Wild Hare in 1940. Bugs’s appearance was also altered; he became less slouched, skinnier, and wore a sly and goofy expression. According to Hardaway, Bugs took on a Brooklyn accent because of the Brooklynites’ association with con artists and crooks at the time. In 1943, animator Robert McKimson refined Bugs' features into what they are today. He was made cuter and had a smaller nose. By the end of World War II, Bugs had become an American icon.
In 1937, Snow White was released by Walt Disney. It was the first animated feature to use hand drawn animation and completely took the spotlight. The movie was the first in a series of animated features created by Disney that they would later become known for such as Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, and many more. As of now, Disney has released over fifty animated features.
Animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera released the very first Tom and Jerry animated cartoon short in 1940, called Puss Gets the Boot, although the characters were unnamed back then. The devious cat Tom and spirited mouse Jerry were a hit with audiences, who enjoyed the cartoon’s slapstick humor. Hanna-Barbera produced more than 100 episodes for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Several of the episodes, such as Yankee Doodle Mouse, released in 1943, The Cat Concerto, released in 1946, and Johann Mouse, released in 1952, won Academy Awards for best animated short subject. After Hanna and Barbera left MGM, Tom and Jerry was rebooted many times, most significantly during the 1960s when it was directed by the famed animator Chuck Jones. The shorts gained popularity on television after they changed some parts of the series and decreased the violence. Hanna and Barbera’s own company got the rights to the characters to create new episodes and produced almost fifty episodes between 1974 and 1977. Tom and Jerry starred in numerous animated feature films, such as Tom and Jerry: The Movie, which premiered in 1992. In 2006, Warner Bros. debuted a new television series called Tom and Jerry Tales, which was inspired by the original cartoons.
In 1960, Hanna-Barbera released The Flintstones, the first animated series on prime-time television produced for ABC. The show was extremely popular because of its availability on television and took place in a Stone Age setting, depicting the lives of the Flintstones, a caveman family, as well as their neighbors and friends. The Flintstones was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades, until The Simpsons debuted some decades later.
“The Adventures of Andre & Wally B” was a short film created by The Graphics Group, the predecessor of Pixar, in 1984. It was the first fully computer generated animated film in history. The Adventures of Andre & Wally was animated by John Lasseter, and featured complex and flexible characters, hand-painted textures, and motion blur. It was also the first example of character animation in the young medium of computer animation. Pixar later released the first fully computer animated feature called “Toy Story” in 1995.
“Toy Story”, the world’s first computer animated feature film, was released in theaters on November 22. It opened at #1 that weekend and went on to become the highest grossing film of the year, making $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide. Toy Story was recognized with Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song, Best Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay. This was the first time an animated film was recognized for screenwriting. John Lasseter, a leading animator, received a Special Achievement Oscar Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his “inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story Team resulting in the first feature-length computer animated film.” Pixar soon released several computer animated movies, such as “A Bug’s Life”, which was released in 1998. Toy Story gave birth to an entire genre of film and animation that continues to progress today.