Cartoons of the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s

Mar 11, 2011
Teri Silver

Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig & Elmer Fudd in “Any Bonds Today” (1942) - United States Federal Government/Wikimedia

From the "Golden Age" of animation to the colorful features of today, we love our cartoons! Here's a look at some classic cartoons.

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 and watch 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 “flip book”). 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.

Before There Was Dialogue: Silent, Music-Dubbed, Live Action and Cartoon Animation

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,” were brought back to movie theatres in the mid 1930s and then found their way to television in 1953.

Let There Be Sound

Dialogue! The year 1927 changed everything in film production, as synchronized sound was featured in movies with the first live-action “talkie” picture, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. 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. 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.

In 1934, Walt Disney Studios began producing feature-length animation (check out the link for the movies’ trailer advertisements), releasing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. In the 1940s, Walt Disney Productions released Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942). After the end of World War II, Disney Produced Song of the South (1946), which combined live-action with animation. The Disney version of the classic Cinderella was released in 1950 followed by Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Sleeping Beauty (1955).

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

During the 1930s, the Warner Bros. began distributing and later producing animated cartoons called Looney Tunes (also known by the spelling Looney Toons), which originally featured a character named Bosko. In 1933, the creators of Bosko left their production company (Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Warner Bros. to produce animated cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Schlesinger brought animator Isadore “Friz” Freleng to Warner Bros. Freleng is credited for introducing Bugs Bunny to the world. Merrie Melodies, the series of Warner Brother cartoons produced between 1931 and 1969, was developed to feature music that would advertise the studio’s films and recordings.

Looney Tunes cartoons later featured the characters of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety Bird and Sylvester, PePé LePew and many other favorites.

Walter Lantz Cartoons

Walter Lantz Productions created a few popular cartoon characters such as Andy Panda (1939) but perhaps none so much as Woody Woodpecker introduced in Andy Panda’s cartoon called Knock Knock (1940). Chilly Willy (penguin) and Homer Chicken were among the popular cartoon characters created by Walter Lantz.

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 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. Out of the Inkwell featured Max Fleischer’s invention called the Rotoscope, a device which 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, 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/20th 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 and 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 and 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 Children's Favorites

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