Cartoons of the '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, and '70s

The History of Old Cartoons of the '20s and Beyond

Oh, those Saturday mornings when we couldn’t wait to get out of bed and turn on the television—it was cartoon time! But before televisions became a part of American life, cartoons were shown to audiences in movie theaters.

Remember all of the cartoons you loved as a kid? Let’s take a trip back in time for a look at some great old cartoon memories!

Early Animation Inventions

Although optical toys can be traced back to the 17th century, many animation inventions came about in the 1800s, including the Taumatrope (1826), a spinning disc with different images on each side, suspended and pulled between two twisted strings, and the Phenakistoscope (1832), a series of still drawings on a disc moving against another disc with holes in it.

The viewer saw moving figures, much like an old-fashioned “flipbook.” The Zoetrope (1867) and the Praxinoscope (1878) were among other animated-picture machines that cropped up through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1891, famed inventor Thomas Alva Edison introduced the Kinetoscope, essentially a lighted box containing photographs that spun quickly on a reel. In 1895, the Cinematograph, a sort of camera projector, was patented by Louis and Auguste Lumiére.

Silent, Music-Dubbed and Live Action Cartoons

Several short clips are credited with being “firsts” in the world of animation:

Fantasmagorie (Émile Cohl, 1908), Little Nemo (Winsor McCay, 1911), Gertie the Dinosaur (Winsor McCay, 1914), Bobby Bumps and the Stork (Earl Hurd/Bray Studios, 1916), Krazy Kat (George Herriman, 1916) and Koko the Clown (Max Fleischer, 1917).

Felix the Cat, the first character-driven series of animated cartoons, began as Feline Follies in 1919—becoming very popular during the 1920s. Although many were later created in color, the Felix cartoons faltered financially in the 1930s, partly because of poor economic times but also because of legal issues over ownership rights.

Felix the Cat cartoons later “found their voice,” and were brought back to movie theatres in the mid-1930s. The cartoons were aired on television starting in 1953.

Let There Be Sound

Dialogue! The year 1927 changed everything in film production -- the synchronized sound was featured in movies with the first live-action “talkie” picture, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. Because synchronized sound for motion pictures was a hit with movie-going audiences, film producers had to create voice movies in order to stay competitive. The silent-film era was over. Sound was here to stay, and cartoon animation followed the trend.

Walt Disney Productions

Before there was a Walt Disney Productions company, there were two animators working on a series of projects. Walt Disney and his animator partner, Ub Iwerks, created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927. Disney and Iwerks signed a contract to distribute Oswald through Universal Pictures, but the first cartoon, Poor Papa, was rejected because of poor quality. Disney and Iwerks then created Trolley Troubles, which became very popular.

In 1928, Disney wanted more money for the Oswald cartoons, but Universal’s Charles Mintz wanted to decrease the feature’s budget. He put Disney’s animators on contract and gave Walt Disney an “either or else” ultimatum. Because Universal Pictures, not Walt Disney, owned the Oswald series, Disney and Iwerks walked away. They finished their contractual obligations on Oswald and began creating the cartoon that would become Mickey Mouse. In May of 1928, Walt Disney Productions produced what was originally a silent short called Plane Crazy, featuring Mickey Mouse.

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Steamboat Willie, also featuring Mickey Mouse and considered to be Disney’s first animated sound cartoon, was released in 1928. Plane Crazy was reintroduced in 1929. The Disney company, with a sound-synchronization process called Cinephone, produced a number of sound cartoon shorts in the 1930s, most of them featuring Mickey Mouse. Along with sound came the ability to create animation in color through a process known as Technicolor. Many colorful Disney cartoons came along in the 1930s, including the popular The Three Little Pigs in 1933.

Disney Feature-Length Animation

In the 1930s, Walt Disney Studios also began creating feature-length animation; releasing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. During the next decade, Walt Disney produced Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942).

After the end of World War II, Disney released Song of the South (1946)—this film combined live-action with animation. The Disney version of the classic Cinderella came out in 1950, followed by Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Sleeping Beauty (1959).

Looney Melodies and Merrie Tunes. No, Wait, It’s …

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. In the beginning, Warner Bros. Studios, with Bosko as the main character in this animated short, released Sinkin’ in the Bathtub (1930). (Bosko, created by Leon Schlesinger Productions, was drawn as a human-animal type character with minstrel-like features). Bosko would star in 39 Looney Tunes (also spelled as Looney Toons) segments.

When the creators of Bosko left the company, Warner Bros. hired animator Isadore “Friz” Freleng -- the man later credited for bringing that “wascally wabbit” Bugs Bunny to life. From 1931 through 1969, Merrie Melodies (featuring Bugs and his friends) included musical soundtracks to better promote the cartoons. Along with Bugs Bunny, Warner Bros. cartoons within the “Golden Age of Animation” featured the characters of Porky Pig, the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, Pepé Le Pew, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird and Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn and many other favorites.

Walter Lantz Cartoons

Walter Lantz Productions created a few popular characters but perhaps none so much as Woody Woodpecker, which was introduced in Andy Panda’s cartoon called Knock Knock.

Several artists recorded Woody Woodpecker’s voice tracks, including: Mel Blanc (speaking: 1940 - 1941; trademark laugh: 1940 - 1949; "Guess Who" line: 1940 - 1972); Ben Hardaway (speaking: 1941 - 1949); Danny Webb (speaking 1941 - 1942); Kent Rogers (speaking: 1942 - 1944) and Grace Stafford (Also Known As Mrs. Walter Lantz) (speaking: 1950 - 1972, 1990).

Chilly Willy (penguin) and Homer Chicken are also among the popular cartoon characters created by Walter Lantz productions.

Inkwell Studios/Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios

Founded in 1921 as Inkwell Studios, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer renamed the company Fleischer Studios before introducing what is considered by some historians to be the first synchronized-sound cartoon in the late 1920s; a short animated feature called My Old Kentucky Home.

The company also produced a series of silent-era shorts, including Out of the Inkwell, which featured Max Fleischer’s invention called the Rotoscope (a device that projected film through an easel and glass plane drawing board). The film projection image was traced on paper with new drawings that advanced with the film’s frames.

During the 1920s, the Fleischer brothers developed a series of short animations called Car-Tunes, using the Bouncing Ball to lead theater audiences in sing-alongs. During the 1930 and 1940s, Fleischer Studios is credited with bringing Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, Superman and Koko the Clown to movie houses’ big screens.

More Great Old Cartoons of the 1930s, 1940s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s

• Alvin and the Chipmunks (Bagdasarian/Format Films, 1961)
• Aqua Man (Filmation, 1968)
• The Archie Show (Filmation, 1968)
• Astro Boy (Tezuka, 1952)
• Casper the Friendly Ghost (Reit-Oriolo/Famous Studios, 1939)
• Deputy Dawg (Terrytoons, 1962)
• Droopy (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1943)
• Fat Albert (Cosby/Filmation, 1972)
• The Fantastic Four (Hanna-Barbera, 1967)
• The Flintstones (Hanna-Barbera, 1960)
• Flip the Frog (Celebrity Pictures/Metro Goldwyn-Mayer, 1930)
• George of the Jungle (Ward/Scott, 1967)
• Gulliver’s Travels (Fleischer Studios/Paramount, 1939)
• Heckle and Jeckle (Terrytoons/20^th Century Fox, 1946)
• Huckleberry Hound (Hanna-Barbera, 1957)
• The Jetsons (Hanna-Barbera, 1962)
• Magilla Gorilla (Hanna-Barbera, 1963)
• Mighty Mouse (Terrytoons,1942)
• MotorMouse & AutoCat (Hanna-Barbera, 1970)
• Mr. Magoo (United Productions of America, 1949)
• Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey (Hanna-Barbera, 1959)
• The Pink Panther (DFE Films, 1964)
• Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends (Ward/Anderson/Scott, 1959)
• Roger Ramjet (Pantomime Pictures, 1965)
• Ruff & Reddy (Hanna-Barbera, 1957)
• Snagglepuss (Hanna-Barbera, 1959)
• Scooby Doo (Hanna-Barbera, 1969)
• Space Ghost (Hanna-Barbera, 1966)
• Speed Racer (Trans-Lux, 1967)
• Super President (DePatie-Freleng, 1967)
• Tennessee Tuxedo & Chumley (Total Television/Leonardo Television Productions, 1963)
• Tom and Jerry (Hanna-Barbera/MGM, 1940)
• Top Cat (Hanna-Barbera, 1961)
• Underdog (Biggers/Stover/Harris/Covington, 1964)
• Yogi Bear and Boo Boo (Hanna-Barbera, 1958)

Other Saturday Morning (Live-Action) Favorites

• The Banana Splits (Hanna-Barbera, 1968)
• The Bugaloos (Krofft, 1970)
• Gumby and Pokey (Clokey Productions, 1953)
• H.R. PufnStuf (Krofft, 1969)
• Here Come the Double Deckers (Booth/Jones, 1971)
• Land of the Lost (Krofft, 1974)
• Lidsville (Krofft, 1971)
• Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (Krofft, 1973)