The Story of Cartoons Part 1 From Cave Walls to Mickey Mouse

Where did cartoons really begin? Long before Mickey Mouse, people painted running animals on cave walls, spun paper toys and drew tiny films by hand. This is the true story of how drawings learned to move – from a 36,000-year-old cave in France to Émile Reynaud's first cartoon show in 1892, Gertie the Dinosaur, Felix the Cat, the world's first animated feature from Argentina, Steamboat Willie, Snow White, Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman, Bugs Bunny and the birth of Tom and Jerry. Which was YOUR first cartoon? Tell us in the comments! 👇 CHAPTERS 0:00 Opening 0:42 Pictures That Wanted to Move (cave art to the Bayeux Tapestry) 3:08 Toys That Fooled the Eye (magic lantern, thaumatrope, zoetrope, flip book) 5:19 The Man Who Painted With Light (Émile Reynaud) 7:08 From the Newspaper to the Screen (Cohl, McCay, Gertie) 10:31 The Cartoon Factory (cels, Felix, the Fleischers) 13:17 The Forgotten First Feature Films (Cristiani, Lotte Reiniger) 14:41 A Mouse Finds His Voice (Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, Steamboat Willie) 17:25 Colour, Depth and “Disney's Folly” (Snow White) 20:33 Betty, Popeye and Superman 22:34 The Golden Age (Looney Tunes, Mel Blanc, Hanna and Barbera) 26:50 How Far We Have Come 27:44 Credits Part 2 – From TV to Anime to Today (Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, He-Man, DuckTales, Dragon Ball, Pokémon, Cartoon Network, Chhota Bheem and the biggest cartoon films of the last 20 years) – coming next. Subscribe so you don't miss it! ABOUT THE PICTURES All film clips shown are in the public domain in the United States (published 1930 or earlier, or copyright not renewed). Pictures of cartoons still under copyright are © their owners (named on screen) and are shown briefly, while the story talks about them, for history, comment and review (fair use / fair dealing). If you own one and want it removed, please get in touch. Pictures marked “Illustration” were made with AI. Narration voice made with ElevenLabs. This video is not affiliated with or endorsed by Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount, MGM or any other studio; show names are trademarks of their owners. MUSIC Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Enchanted Valley, Frost Waltz, Parisian, At Rest, Fig Leaf Rag, Frogs Legs Rag, Plucky Daisy, Merry Go, Tango de Manzana, Magic Forest, Friendly Day, Bittersweet, Call to Adventure, Danse Macabre, Heartwarming, Eternal Hope, Life of Riley, Hot Swing, Heroic Age, Jaunty Gumption, Faster Does It, Quirky Dog, Run Amok, Comic Plodding, Vivacity, Teddy Bear Waltz, Touching Moments Two Higher PHOTOS (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons) Claude Valette (Chauvet Cave, CC BY-SA 4.0) · Jack Versloot and Patrick Janicek (Lascaux, CC BY 2.0) · ZarlokX (Shahr-i Sokhta vase, CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wellcome Collection (Beni Hasan, CC BY 4.0) · Sammlung der Medien und Wissenschaft (magic lantern, CC BY 4.0) · Sukkoria, Runner1616, cmglee, Gerarus (zoetrope and praxinoscope, CC BY-SA / CC BY 4.0) · Ohio State University (Winsor McCay, CC BY-SA 4.0) · Kjersti Lie and Agentur Primrose (Lotte Reiniger, CC BY-SA 4.0) · Gbleem (Laugh-O-Gram Studio, CC BY-SA 3.0) · Marcin Wichary (CC BY 2.0) · Janke (multiplane demo, CC BY-SA 4.0) · HarshLight (multiplane camera, CC BY 2.0) · Alan Light (Mel Blanc, Clarence Nash, CC BY 2.0). Other photos: public domain or CC0. Stock video: Pexels. MAIN SOURCES Azéma & Rivère, Antiquity 86 (2012) · Library of Congress National Film Registry · emilereynaud.fr · Patents US 1,143,542 (Earl Hurd) and US 1,242,674 (Max Fleischer) · Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain · Wikipedia articles on each film, person and invention named in the video. #animation #cartoons #history