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Thaumatrope
First gaining popularity in the 1820s, the Thaumatrope was a disk with a picture on each side. Two pieces of string were attached to each side of the disk and then spun with the viewers fingers. Persistence of Vision caused the two pictures to blend into one. -
The First Photograph
The first major step toward projected animation in thousands of years occurred when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce made the first successful photograph in 1816. -
Zoetrope
A Zoetrope is a slitted drum that, when spun, creates the illusion of motion when the slits show the succession of images placed opposite the slits as one moving image. -
Phenakistoscope
This early animation device was designed by Joseph Plateau in 1839, but was not built until 1841. Though Plateau is credited with inventing the device, many other engineers were working on similar ideas around the same time. All of these expanded on theories originally put forth by Greek mathematician Euclid and, later, Sir Isaac Newton -
First Motion Picture Camera
The first motion picture camera was developed by the Frenchman Louis Le Prince in Leeds England in 1888. -
The Humpty Dumpty Circus
In 1897, director and producer J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith joined forces to found
The Vitagraph Company of America, what would become the first animation studio in America. By the following year, the pair produced The Humpty Dumpty Circus, a film that the Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats credits this as “the first animated film using the stop-motion technique to give the illusion of movement to inanimate objects.” -
The Enchanted Drawing
The road to animation started simple… with a film by J. Stuart Blackton shot in Thomas Edison’s Black Moria studio in New Jersey. Titled The Enchanted Drawing, this short film that has come to be known for containing the first animated sequence ever. Just like many of Edison’s other early films, the story was simple, ordinary and even boring. -
Fun In A Bakery Shop
Edison director Edwin S. Porter is responsible for the next step toward modern animated films. In his 1902 film Fun In A Bakery Shop, Porter used clay sculptures…. but he turned the camera off as he re-sculpted the clay. He termed this as “lightning sculpting”; today, we call it stop-motion clay animation. -
Humorous Phases Of Funny Faces
J. Stuart Blackton would return in 1906 in what was the first film that was more animated than live-action. Humorous Phases Of Funny Faces is generally considered to be the first animated cartoon (i.e. film containing drawn animation), it contains all the elements of a fully animated short, but it has no real narrative content. Even the opening title is animated. -
Fantasmagorie (A Fantasy)
The next real milestone in animation was created across the Atlantic in France by Émil Cohl. His Fantasmagorie (A Fantasy) from 1908 is the first fully animated film with no live-action at all. -
In Gollywog Land
In Gollywog Land (1912) was probably the first color film that contained animation. The short was produced in England by the Natural Colour Kinematograph Company in Kinemacolor. This was live-action film with puppet-animated sequences. -
Bray Pictures Corporation
Founded in December of 1914 by J. R. Bray, Bray Productions was an important early pioneer in cartoon production. The first studio to specialize in animated films, J. R. Bray gave many animators their start in the business, including Walter Lantz, Paul Terry, James “Shamus” Culhane, Clyde Geronimi and David Hand. Even Dave and Max Fleischer joined the studios ranks in 1916. -
Gertie the Dinosaur
One film many think was a first of some sort is Windsor McCays’ Gertie the Dinosaur. Unfortunately, Gertie was not really a first for anything, not even McCay’s first animated film. It was arguably the first major animated cartoon to catch the public imagination, but that is about it. -
El Apóstol
El Apóstol (The Apostle) from 1917 is generally accepted as the first fully-animated feature film. It was written, directed and animated by Quirino Cristiani, and ran 70 minutes. -
Pinto’s Prizma Comedy Revue
One contender for the first color animated film would be Pinto’s Prizma Comedy Revue, which was produced and animated by Vance DeBar Colvig using the Prizma Color system. Prizma was a two-strip color process, and the film is, unfortunately, also lost. -
The Debut Of Thomas Cat
The distinction of the first color animated film is generally given to the Bray Productions cartoon The Debut of Thomas Cat (1919), which was produced in the Brewster Color Process. This was the studio’s only release using Brewster Color, a two-emulsion color process. -
Out of the Inkwell Films
Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer moved on from Bray Studios to form their own company in 1921. Here they found moderate success with their first character Koko the Clown. Inkwell Studios (or Out of the Inkwell Films) made some of the earliest sound films, using Dr. Lee De Forest’s Phonofilm sound-on-film system. Nineteen cartoons were made using this process. -
M. J. Winkler Productions
Founded by Margaret J. Winkler in 1921 when her boss Harry Warner encouraged her to take on a states-rights distribution deal with the fledgeling Fleischer Studios Out of the Inkwell series. She soon became one of the key figures in silent animation history, and stood alone as the only woman in a field completely dominated by men. -
Laugh-O-gram
Walt Disney’s earliest cartoon series, the Laugh-O-gram series began in Kansas City, Missouri. Pulling together fiends (many of whom went on to illustrious careers in animation), Disney produced six cartoons for Pictorial Clubs, Inc. before they folded. Disney went on to produce one final cartoon for Thomas McCrum, a Kansas City dentist. The studio declared bankruptcy in July 1923 and Disney left for Hollywood. -
Warner Bros
By 1918, two brothers (Sam and Jack) had moved west and begun producing their own films, opening the first Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Warner Brothers Pictures was officially incorporated on April 4, 1923. -
Walt Disney Studios
Walt Disney- and many other animation pioneers such as Isadore Freleng, Carl Stalling and Ub Iwerks- learned their skills making commercial cartoons and a handful of Laugh-O-gram shorts in Kansas City. But KC was not where an creative talent wanted to be, and by 1924, Walt, his wife Lillian and his older brother Roy headed west to Hollywood to make their fortunes. The brothers founded Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in the San Fernando Valley that same year. Working for M. J. Winkler Production -
Come Take A Trip In My Airship
The 1925 sound version of Come Take A Trip In My Airship was a remake of the earlier, 1924 short of the same name, both produced by Max Flesicher. This short used an early DeForest sound system for sound. It opened with a 25-second animated sequence in which a woman talks as the lead-in to the song. Thus, according to The Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats, this was “the first cartoon talkie for theatrical release.” -
My Old Kentucky Home
My Old Kentucky Home (1926) appears to be the first cartoon with sound synchronization. The short features a dog mouthing, “Follow the ball, and join in, everybody” in sync. This short used an early DeForest sound system for sound. Animation Historian Ray Pointer further comments: -
Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed)
The first color feature-length animated film was Lotte Reinigers’ Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed) from 1926. This film was also one of the first to use a multiplane camera. This silent film was produced using puppet and paper cut-out / silhouette animation. Prinzen Achmed is the oldest surviving animated feature, too. -
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios was unique among the early animation studios in it’s focus on human lead characters. Most other studios of the day featured anthropomorphic animals in their lead roles (Mickey Mouse, Krazy Kat, and Felix The Cat, for instance). -
Dinner Time
The first cartoon produced and released as a sound cartoon. (Note: “Steamboat Willie” was originally conceived and produced as a silent cartoon, with sound added just before release.) -
First Mickey Mouse Cartoon
Plane Crazy was first shown as a silent film in May of 1928 in a Hollywood theater, so it was, in fact, the first released Mickey Mouse cartoon, albeit in a silent version. -
Steamboat Willie
Neither the first Mickey Mouse cartoon nor the first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie was the film that popularized both. This was the third Mickey Mouse cartoon produced, and the second Mickey Mouse cartoon released- Plane Crazy (as a silent cartoon) had a very limited release earlier in the year- and the third Mickey cartoon produced. -
Silly Symphonies
Silly Symphonies theatrical cartoons are more than simply cartoons synchronized to music. From the beginning, this series was looked at as the place to try new things. And try they did- the first color cartoon, the first realistic human form, the multi-plane camera- the “Silly Symphonies” shorts were no platform for the company’s famous recurring characters, but instead was all about experimenting with new techniques and styles of animation. -
Ub Iwerks Studio
After Walt Disney and longtime collaborator Ub Iwerks had a falling out in 1930, Pat Powers backed Iwerks in creating his own studio, Celebrity Productions. Some say that Powers instigated falling out, trying to use iWerks as a bargaining chip against Walt Disney in a distribution deal. In either case, Powers was the money behind Iwerks new studio. -
Bosko
Warner Bros. first big star – Bosko – appears. Created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, Bosko was just a cartoony adaption of Al Jolson’s character in the The Jazz Singer, intially neither a human or an animal. -
Fiddlesticks
Iwerks first character- Flip the Frog- debuted in the short Fiddlesticks. That debut short was the first animated film released in the Technicolor two-strip process, also becoming thew first animated short to combine color and synchronized sound. So Disney was, in fact, beaten to the punch by his own ex-employee for this first. -
Merrie Melodies
This series was Warner Bros. second theatrical animated series (preceded by the Looney Tunes cartoon series by about a year), and ran in many movie theaters from 1931 to 1969. Originally conceived as a new cartoon series that would feature music from the soundtracks of current Warner Bros. films, producer Leon Schlesinger funded the series by convinced the studio heads that Merrie Melodies would be the perfect promotional tool for Warner Bros -
Peludópolis (Peludó City)
Peludópolis (Peludó City), by Quirino Cristiani, is generally credited as the first animated feature film with sound. The film used the Vitaphone sound-on-disc synchronization system. -
Flowers And Trees
Flowers and Trees was the first animated film released in the three-strip Technicolor process, and thus the first color Silly Symphony. In fact, Disney films were the only animated films released in the three-strip Technicolor process for the first three years of its availability. -
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures got off the ground when brothers Jack and Harry Cohn, and Joe Brandt founded Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales in 1919; it was 1924 before the company took on the Columbia name. Animation first came to the studio when Columbia began distributing Mickey Mouse and other shorts from The Walt Disney Studios. -
The Old Mill
The Old Mill was the first production use of the Disney multiplane camera. Disney also won an Academy Award (Scientific or Technical, Class II) for the invention and use of the Multiplane Camera which allowed a greater depth of field than the regular two dimensional animation of the time. -
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
Disney’s first full-length animated film, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs went from being Disney’s folly to profitable and respected art form.
Snow White was the first animated feature film to be nominated for an Academy Award. While it lost in that category, it was awared a Honorary Oscar in 1939, -
MGM
MGM’s biggest cartoon stars would come in the form of the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940. -
The Milky Way
It took nine years, but finally a studio other than Disney wins an Oscar for best animated film. MGM took the top honor with the Rudolf Ising directed The Milky Way. MGM would go on to dominate the Academy Awards in the 1940’s to the same extent that Disney did in the previous decade. -
A Wild Hare
Bugs Bunny first appeared in “A Wild Hare” directed by Tex Avery. Though he was nominated with this, his premiere performance, Bugs would not win his first Oscar until 1959 with “Knighty Knight Bugs.” -
Famous Studios
With the Fleischer Studios released Mr. Bug Goes To Town in December 1941, the working relationship between studio founder and executive producer Max Fleischer and his brother and studio head director Dave Fleischer had reached a point the two could no longer work together. Exercising an option in their loan to the brothers, Paramount stepped in and assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios on May 25, 1941. -
UPA (United Productions of America
UPA, short for United Productions of America, began as a studio creating political/industrial and World War II training films. After receiving a contract to produce theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures, UPA stretched it’s wings, and became quite influential as it developed it’s own unique animation style and technique, and its innovations were recognized and copied by the other major animation studios. -
Crusader Rabbit
A milestone in TV history, Crusader Rabbit was the first made-for-television animated series. Conceived by animator Alex Anderson and financier Jay Ward, the series was sold to NBC in 1948. -
Lady and the Tramp
This Disney classic film was released as the first all-cartoon feature in CinemaScope. Hedging his bets, Walt Disney also had the film photographed in standard Academy format for theaters lacking the new CinemaScope system. -
The Ruff and Reddy Show
Ruff (the Cat) and Reddy (the Dog) was the first TV cartoon series marketed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and the newly formed H-B Enterprises (the future Hanna-Barbera) after MGM shut down its animation division. This was also the first hosted show consisting of new Saturday morning cartoons. -
The Huckleberry Hound Show
The Huckleberry Hound Show was the first half-hour animated show on television. A blue dog with a Southern drawl, Huckleberry was marvelously deadpan as he wandered through his cartoon world making witty observations. Sharing screen time with the extroverted Yogi Bear, Huckleberry was more straight man than show stealer, but he has still managed to build up loyal fans throughout the decades. -
The Flintstones
The first prime-time animated show, and it put Hanna-Barbera on the map for good, this show proved a cross-over hit that appealed to children and parents alike. An animated take off on TV’s “The Honeymooners” set in prehistoric times, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble struggle through their lives with their wives, Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble. -
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Most notable about this film is that it was the first full feature animated film Disney made using the xerography process. Rather than hand-inking the outlines of the animated characters on each cel- a very time-consuming process- the drawings were transferred nearly instantaneously to the cels with a xerox machine. -
Walter Elias “Walt” Disney Passes Away
Shocking the industry- and millions of fans- Walt Disney passed away from complications of lung cancer following the secret removal of his left lung in late 1966. In addition to forcing the entire industry to confront their own mortality, Walt’s passing also left the studio that bears his name in a funk that they would not step out of for twenty years -
Rock and Rule
Rock & Rule from Nelvana was the first animated feature containing computer-generated imagery. -
Yellow Submarine
The pop culture explosion of the 60’s collided with animation to produce 1968’s Yellow Submarine. The Beatles psychedelic lyrics were the perfect springboard for the Peter Max-inspired animation design, with The Beatles animated cartoon series producer Al Brodax pushing the Fab Four to the silver screen. -
The First X-Rated Cartoon
Director Ralph Bakshi (late of Famous Studios/Paramount Cartoon Studios) took animation to a new (some say low) level with his production of Fritz The Cat. Based on the comic book by Robert Crumb, Fritz was produced true to it’s source, and thus became the first x-rated animated film in the United States. -
Disney’s First Animated Video Release
Dumbo was the first animated film Disney released on home video. But it was only released as rental, you- a normal consumer- could not actually buy the film. But you could rent it. The film was finally released to buy in the summer of 1982- at the staggering price of 85 dollars. -
Walt Disney Classics Video Release
Dumbo was released for sale on tape in June of 1982, closely followed by Alice In Wonderland in November 1982. Disney started to see the potential of the fledgling home video market, and took a year and a half to design a new home video distribution arm for itself, Walt Disney Home Video. Calling the new line Walt Disney Classics, the first video out the door was Robin Hood was released on December 6, 1984. -
The Adventures of André and Wally B.
Pixar and Lucasfilm release The Adventures of André and Wally B., the first fully CGI-animated film -
The First Feature Length Claymation Film
Plasticine legend Will Vinton created the first feature length clay-animated film when he released The Adventures of Mark Twain in 1985. Over two tons of Plasticine were used to produce the film. The film was written by Susan Shadburne, who is Vinton’s wife. -
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
A major breakthrough film in animation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit” showed that animation wasn’t just for kids…. but it was fine for mainstream American tastes. While it seems a small distinction, this film was the first feature film to feature live-action and cartoon characters share the screen and the acting duties for the entire film -
Cartoon Network
With- quite literally- a bang, Turner Broadcasting System the world’s first all-cartoon network in late 1992. Opening day festivities were hosted by Droopy, and the first cartoon shown was Bob Clampett’s The Great Piggy Bank Robbery. -
Direct-to-video CGI-animated series
Big Idea Productions’s VeggieTales
series became the first direct-to-video CGI-animated series. The first video was titled Where’s God When I’m S-Scared? -
ReBoot
The first half-hour, fully computer-animated TV series was ReBoot, which aired in Canada on YTV. Produced by Canada’s Mainframe Entertainment, the series ran through 2001. -
Toy Story
Computer animation comes to full-length feature animation with Pixar’s Toy Story. The film also becomes the first animated film nominated for an Academy Award for best original screenplay. The film grossed $195 million in it’s initial release. -
¡Mucha Lucha!
Warner Bros.’ ¡Mucha Lucha! is the first Flash-animated television series. This was a spinoff from the 2000 live-action TV series “Los Luchadores.” The series was also inspired by Lucha Libre, the popular theatrical style of Mexican wrestling. -
Fly Me to the Moon
Fly Me to the Moon was produced and released exclusively in 3D, and became the first animated feature to be full pipeline 3D. The film opened in an estimated 700 specialized 3-D theaters. -
Toy Story 3
Pixar’s Toy Story 3 became the first animated feature film to earn more than $1,000,000,000 in worldwide release. It was also the first feature film released theatrically in 7.1 surround sound.
