1908
• Emile Cohl, (1857-1938) France, makes his first film, "FANTASMAGORIE." This film is considered by many to be the first animated film. Cohl was well-known for his comic strips before he went into animation. He made 250 animated films from 1908 -1921. Cohl was strongly influenced by the philosophy of the Incoherents, whom he joined in 1884. The Incoherents were an aggressively anti-rational group who believed insanity, hallucinations, dreams, and nightmares were sources of aesthetic inspiration. Cohl died in 1938 in poverty. He had been living in a flat in Paris with no electricity and died of the complications resulting from burns suffered when a candle set fire to his long beard while he was getting ready to see the Paris premiere of "SNOW WHITE." Georges Melies died the day after; he had been making a living by selling chocolates at a stand in a Paris subway.• Matisse coins the term "Cubism". • Tex Avery (1908-1980) is born.
1909
• Emil Cohl combines live action and drawn animation together in his film, "CLAIR DE LUNE ESPAGNOL" (SPANISH MOONLIGHT). • The first manufacture of "Bakelite" marks the beginning of the plastic age.
1911
• Winsor McCay (1867- Spring Lake, Ohio -1934) makes his first film, "LITTLE NEMO." McCay, who was already famous for his comic strips, used this film in his vaudeville act. His advice on animation was:" Any idiot that wants to make a couple of thousand drawings for a hundred feet of film is welcome to join the club."• Chinese revolution, Manchu Dynasty falls, Sun Yat Sen elected president. Who's Great great grandson "Eddie Pong" would attend the UCLA Animation Workshop in the 1980s.
1912
• Winsor McCay's second film "THE STORY OF A MOSQUITO" ("HOW A MOSQUITO OPERATES") is released.• Wladyslaw Starewicz (1882 -1965) Russia/France a 3D animator makes "THE CAMERAMAN'S REVENGE." The 3D characters he animated for this stop motion film were embalmed beetles. He continued to make 3D animated films after he moved to France in 1920. In France he changed his name to Ladislas Starevitch.• Chuck Jones is born in Spokane Wash.• Approximately 5 million people daily attend the cinema in the US. • London has 400 cinemas!
1913
• John Bray's (1879-1978) US, first film, "THE ARTISTS DREAM" is released.• Otto Messmer (1892-1983) the future creator and animator of "FELIX THE CAT" series begins his animation career. • The Balkin war begins setting the stage for WWI.• Zippers, in use since 1891, become popular.
1914
• Winsor McCay's "GERTIE THE DINOSAUR" was the first major triumph in character animation (it is still a marvelous film). It was shown as a film in the theaters and also as a multi media event on stage with McCay interacting with the animated Gertie.• John Bray opens his studio and patented a great deal of the animation process but not the use of cels. Earl Hurd (1880-1940) born in Kansas City, Missouri had patented the cel technique. Bray convinced Earl to combine their patents and he formed the Bray-Hurd Process Company.• Bray started producing the COLONEL HEEZA LIAR series that was a take off on Teddy Roosevelt. In his studio Bray introduced the management principles of the assembly line to the production of the animated films. The use of these management principles has continued in most United States studios to this day.• Raoul Barre (1874-1932) Canadian), starts his own animation studio. He developed a slash and tear technique for doing levels in animation and he also devised the peg system for registration.• Bill Littlejohn, was born in New Jersey USA.
• The US animation industry was centered in New York until the late 1920's and early 1930's.• WW I begins.
1915
• Bray hired Paul Terry (1887-1971).• Max Fleischer (1883-1972) Austria/USA, Dave Fleischer (1894-1979) USA patented the rotoscope process. For the source of the rotoscoped live action footage to be traced, Dave was filmed in a clown costume on top of a building in New York.• International Film Service (IFS) was backed by the Hearst newspaper and used their comics, Katzenjammer Kids, etc., as the basis of their animated films. The studio closed in 1918.• Pat Sullivan, (1887- 1933) Australia/USA hires Otto Messmer to work in his studio.• WW I reduced European animation production to a trickle, but animation production continued unabated in the United States so when the war ended the United States had the strongest animation industry and a large inventory of animated films ready for international distribution. This same scenario was repeated at the end of WW II. These might be two excellent reasons why United States animation was able to dominate globally for so long.• D.W. Griffith's live action film "Birth of a Nation" is released.
1916
• Bray acquires more patents and establishes a patent monopoly for the animation process. He tried to enforce the patent by requiring all animation studios using his patented animation process to buy a license and pay a fee. Some studios paid it, some ignored it, some found a way around it, and some took it to court. This issue caused concern in the animation business until the early 1930's. Bray began to produce Army training films, which became very profitable. His interest shifted from entertainment films to educational films. Bray adds the Fleischer brothers to the staff in his studio.• Earl Hurd does the BOBBY BUMPS series.• Paul Terry leaves Bray and sets up his own studio.• Charles Bowers (1889-1945) USA starts the MUTT AND JEFF series based on the Fisher comic strip. Around 500 will be produced by the time the series ended in 1928.• Barre joined with Bowers to form a new studio.• Walter Lantz (1900-1995) starts his long career in animation at IFS.• Victor Bergdahl (1887-1939) Sweden started the KAPTEN GROGG series.• KRAZY KAT, an extremely popular comic strip by George Herriman, was released as animation.• Dadaism founded.• James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as Young Man" is published.
1917
• Willis O'Brien (1886-1962) who would later do the big ape in KING KONG released 6 puppet animated films.• Chicago becomes the worlds Jazz center. • US enters WW I.
1918
• Winsor McCay finishes THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA; AN AMAZING MOVING PEN PICTURE. It is animated with cels, washes, and paintings in a very striking and realistic style. This was the first propaganda film done in animation. Unfortunately the Lusitania sank in 1915 and WWI ended in 1918 so its use as a propaganda tool was doubtful and points up the problem of doing topical events in animation. • Ex-Czar Nicholas II and his family are executed in Russia.
1919
• Max Fleischer produced the first OUT OF THE INKWELL shorts featuring a clown based on the rotoscoped footage of Dave Fleischer in a clown costume interacting with Max. The clown character was named Koko the Clown in 1923. His name was changed to Ko-Ko in 1928 for copyright reasons. The interaction of a live action animator with the animation was a commonly used technique during this period.• Walter Lantz starts work at the Bray Studio.• Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981) Germany makes the first of her many 2D shadow puppet animated films THE ORNAMENT OF THE ENAMOURED HEART
• WWI ends with Germany Signing the peace treaty at Versailles.• The 18th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. Prohibition begins.
1920
• 19 year old Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) started working in animation at the Kansas City Slide Company, with his friend Ubbe Iwerks (1901-1971) who later changed his first name to Ub. They both used the book Animated Cartoons: How they are Made, their origin and Development by Edwin G. Lutz, New York, Scribner, 1920 to help them learn animation.• Goldwyn-Bray first color animation THE DEBUT OF THOMAS CAT, Done in Brewster Color, a 2 emulsion color process, it was judged too expensive for commercial use.• FELIX THE CAT, the most popular character and series of this period, started as the Feline Follies from Sullivan's studio. 0tto Messmer not only created Felix, but also he did the stories and directing on a schedule that produced one film every two weeks. The merchandising of Felix's image for dolls, watches, etc was very successful and paved the way for the later merchandising of animated characters. • The 19th Amendment gives women in the United States the right to vote.• Visitors to the exhibition of Dadaist Art in Cologne are allowed to smash the paintings.
1921
• Winsor McCay, assisted by his son Robert makes and releases three films in a series called DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND. The films are: THE PET, THE FLYING HOUSE, and BUG VAUDEVILLE. This ends his major involvement with animation.• Paul Terry engages in six years of litigation with Bray over patent infringement.• Walter Ruttmann (1887-1941) Germany, did OPUS I, an abstract animation film.• Hans Richter (1888-1976) Germany did RHYTHM 21, an abstract animation film.• Max Fleischer set up own studio. KoKo was the star character.• Bob Godfrey is born in Horse Shoe Bend, West Maitland, Australia, but moves to London as a baby.
1922
• Disney's first animation studio is located in Kansas City and is called Laugh-O-Gram Films.• Oskar Fischinger (1900-1067)(wife Elfriede) Germany resigns his engineering job, and moves to Munich to become full time filmmaker. He becomes a master in abstract animation, which he calls "absolute animation",
1923
• Walter Lantz heads Bray studio.• Disney Laugh-O-Grams Films studio in Kansas goes bankrupt. Disney moves to Los Angeles, California and opens a new studio in his uncle's garage in Silverlake. Margaret Winkler who was distributing KoKo and Felix puts Disney under contract for a series, which he had proposed, that combined live action and animation. The series was called "Alice Comedies" and featured a live action girl with animated characters.
• Starevitch makes FROGLAND, a 3D stop motion film in France.
1924
• Overview. The Felix and KoKo series were the most popular and well made shorts of this period. Aesop's Fables and Colonel Heeza Liar were not well received and reflected the lack of quality common in most animation of the period. In fact, some people had written animation off, claiming audience booed when the animation came on the screen.• Lantz started the Dinky Doodles series.• Disney's Alice series goes into distribution. The animators who did this series were originally from Kansas City. They included, Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman (1903-1982) USA, Rudolf Ising (1904-1992) USA, and Friz Freleng (1906-1995) USA.• The very popular English series BONZO THE DOG by Billy Ward was released.• The First Song Car-Tune (the sing a-long format, sometimes with a bouncing ball) MOTHER PIN A ROSE ON ME is released.• The Birth of Surrealism.
1925
• THE LOST WORLD, a live action film with Willis O'Brien's 3D stop motion animated prehistoric dinosaurs and other creatures was released.• DIAGONAL SYMPHONIE, Viking Eggeling (Swedish 1880-1925), perhaps the first public showing of an abstract film. Eggeling died six days after premier of depravation.• Live action films released include "Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein and "The Gold Rush" by Chaplin, which was the first feature comedy.
1926
• Lotte Reiniger, Germany, ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED, a one hour shadow puppet film is released. This film is claimed by some to be 1st animated feature, (but a feature is usually considered 75 minutes or longer).
• Kodak produces the first 16mm film
1927
• Disney started the popular OSWALD THE RABBIT series. Margaret Winkler was his distributor. o Fleischer studio begins distribution through Paramount that continued until 1942.
• Trotsky is expelled from the Communist Party.
1928
• Disney was making each of the "OSWALD THE RABBIT" shorts for $2500.00 and when the series was up for renewal he wanted a raise to $2,750.00. Charles Mintz, Margaret Winkler's husband, meeting with Disney in New York, offered him $1800. Mintz owned the character and when Disney said no, Mintz set up his own studio by raiding Disney and hiring away some staff. But Disney in the interim had created Mickey Mouse while returning to California on a train. Disney did two Mickey's PLANE CRAZY and GALLOPING GAUCHO without a distributor. He was working on the third Mickey, STEAMBOAT WILLY, when motion picture sound arrived. Recognizing the breakthrough he added sound to the third Mickey and it opened in New York on Nov. 18, 1928, with the Powers sound system. It was not the first sound film: Terry's DINNER TIME was released on Sept. 1st (Disney saw it and said it was terrible). But STEAMBOAT WILLIE was the first successful sound animated film; it made Mickey an international star, and launched the Disney studio of today. It also ushered in the new age of sound for animation. (Special Note: In 2006 The Walt Disney Company would finally reaquire the rights to the "Oswald the Rabbit" character in a trade with Universal for a Sportscaster.)
Carl Stalling (1888-1972) leaves his job as a movie music accompanist in Kansas City and joins Disney (he knew Disney in Kansas City and was an original investor in the studio). He would compose the music for nineteen of Disney's first twenty sound cartoons.
• Lantz signed with Universal and later took over Disney's OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT series.
• Amadee Van Beuren (-1937) bought 90% of Aesop's Fables Studio (Paul Terry's studio); it became the Van Beuren Studio. It distributor was RKO. The studio closed in 1936. Paul Terry left in 1929 and started own studio, Terrytoons. Georgia O'Keefe paints "Nightwave " an abstract painting. And so the "Silent Era" ended and the "Sound Era" began. How did this effect animation? Did Live Action and Animation take different directions when sound came in? How did sound affect the nature of comedy? How did the great depression, which started a year later, effect animation?
1929
• Walt Disney's, SKELETON DANCE, first Silly Symphony, Carl Stalling music, Ub Iwerks animator, where the use of prerecorded music in animation leads to a very tight synchronization of sound and picture which sets the standard in animation for the use of prerecorded sound. Columbia becomes Disney distributor until 1932.
• Walter Lantz studios open. Distributor Universal.
• For Columbia/Screen Gems Charles Mintz starts a studio with Krazy Kat as a main series. Columbia distributor.
• Great Depression begins with "Black Friday"
1930
• The Warner Bros. Cartoons are born. The First Warner Bros. short was SINKING IN THE BATHTUB with the character BOSKO who was a take off on Mickey Mouse. Harman, Ising, and Friz Freleng, who were old Disney people, started the studio with Leon Schlesinger as the producer. He was a cousin of the Warner BrotherÕs and had helped back the "Jazz Singer". As a condition for the studio each short must contain a Warners song. So Looney Tunes series, a take off on the Silly Symphonies, began. "Our policy has always been laughs, the more the better", was the Warner's philosophy (Schlesinger).
• Disney: Ub Iwerks and Carl Stalling left the studio. Roy signed contract-starting Disney merchandising. David Hand joins as DisneyÕs fourth animator. Norm Ferguson's Pluto character born in THE PICNIC.
• Fleischer: introduced the character of in Betty Boop "DIZZY DISHES." Grim Natwick developed and animated Betty, he also animated Snow White. Betty started as part human part dog character that later changed to completely human. Bimbo, her boyfriend remained a dog. Mae Questel did BettyÕs first voice.
• First Terrytoons, "CAVIAR." is released. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.
• The plant Pluto is discovered. o Dashiell Hammett writes the "Maltese Falcon".
1931
• Ub Iwerks opens his own studio to produce "Flip the Frog" cartoons. His studio would close in 1936.
• Warner Bros. introduces "Merrie Melodies" as one shot shorts. Webb Smith, at Disney, starts the use of storyboards. (Some would claim that the storyboard was developed first at the Fleischer studios in 1930.)
• Disney starts a studio school under direction of Don Graham. Jack Kinney joins Disney for 27 years.
• Hamilton Luske begins 37 year tenure with Disney. He became a co-director on many features until his death in 1968.
1932
• Walt Disney wins his first Academy Award for "FLOWERS AND TREES." This film was the first to use 3 strip Technicolor (color) in animation.
• In Walt Disney's "MICKEY'S REVUE" Goofy is born. Disney changes distributor to United Artists, which lasts until 1937.
• Oskar Fischinger completes his studies #5-12, done in an abstract style. He called his style "absolute animation"
• Czech animator Berthold Bartosch creates "THE IDEA" a 30 minute film using woodcuts. He also worked on "PRINCE ACHMED."
• Chuck Jones lands his first job in the animation industry as a cel washer for Ub Iwerks. Norman McLaren, while a 16 year old art student in England, turns to animation after seeing an Oskar Fischinger film.
• Dan McLaughlin born. Hollywood CA.• Raoul Barre dies, (1874-1932) Canada
• Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. • Al Capone is jailed for tax evasion.
1933
• Walt Disney wins his second Academy Award for "THE THREE LITTLE PIGS."
• At Warner Bros., Harman and Ising leave over money issues taking Books with them to MGM. Meanwhile back at Warner's Friz Freleng becomes a head director. Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones, earning $18.50 for a six-day week, start working at the studio and Ben Hardaway arrives from Kansas City. Friz Freleng directs "BOSKO IN DUTCH" and a cartoon Hitler chases Jimmy Durant with an ax in "BOSKO'S PICTURE SHOW".
• Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker release animated film "NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN", made with pinscreen animation in Paris.
• Max Fleischer animates "Popeye" from Elzie Segar's comic strip, "POPEYE THE SAILOR." Jack Mercer's muttering voice was used later. "Betty Boop" first appears in a Fleishcer "Popeye" cartoon as a dog.
• All books by non-Nazi and Jewish authors are burned in Germany.
• "Ulysses" by James Joyce is allowed into the US after a court ruling.
1934
• Disney's "THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE" wins the Academy Award. MGM studios begins producing "Happy Harmonies" with Ising and Harmon.
• Donald Duck voice debuts on Mickey Mouse's NBC radio program. Donald first appeared in "THE WISE LITTLE HEN."
• Warner Bros. first "Merrie Melodies" cartoon is produced in color. The Looney Tunes were animated in B&W until 1943. Much of these cartoons were re-filmed in color during the sixties by a Japanese studio. This required re-creating all of the cels as Warner Bros. had burnt all the original cels from this series to free up storage space.
• Walt Disney in a four hour staff meeting lays out his vision for SNOW WHITE. o Stalin begins purge of the Communist Party. o Robert Graves writes "I, Claudius"
1935
• Disney's "THREE ORPHAN KITTENS" wins the Academy Award. Don Graham begins teaching at the Disney studios.
• Hollywood Production Code comes into effect. Len Lye, (1901 - 1980) creates "COLOR BOX" the first film to be animated by painting directly on film and shown to audience, British GPO unit
• Norman McLaren joined GPO unit. He strips away everything but action, feels the most important thing is what happens between frames, not what is on the frame. Tex Avery said it's not what the character looks like, but what the character does, that matters.
• "I HAVEN'T GOT A HAT" the first cartoon to feature Porky Pig is produced. Joe Dougherty, a bit part actor with a pronounced speech impediment, vioces the original Porky in this short, which gave Schlesinger Studios its first success.
• Ub Iwerks adapts Hans Christian Anderson's tale for one of the first of his Comicolor Cartoon releases "THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER."
• Marc Davis, one of the Nine Old Men, begins working at Disney. He will spend 42 years there.
• The rumba becomes the fashionable dance. Mussolini invades Abyssinia.
1936
• Disney's "COUNTRY COUSIN" wins the Academy Award.
• Warner Bros. produces "GOLD DIGGERS OF '49" Tex Avery's first film for them. He was an animator working at Walter Lantz's studio from1930 to 1935. Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bo Cannon also work at Warner Bros. They dub the animation unit "Termite Terrace." Frank Tashlin (1913-1972) directs "PORKY IN THE NORTH WOODS." Carl Stalling joined the studio and set the style of "cartoon music" going on to compose music for over six hundred films. Mel Blanc joined the studio as well either in1936 or 1937.
• Max Fleischer produces "POPEYE THE SAILOR MEETS SINBAD THE SAILOR" a 20 minute film. It is shot on a horizontal rig with 3D models for background and the characters drawn on cels and placed between two sheets of glass and set in front of the models. This was way before computers.
• Oskar Fischinger moves to Hollywood. His color films "MURATTI MARCHES ON" and "COMPOSITION IN BLUE" had gained so much critical and popular acclaim that Paramount Studios offers him a contract.
• Spanish Civil War begins.
• Mondriaan paints Composition in Blue.
1937
• Walt Disney's "THE OLD MILL" Wins the Academy Award
• Walt Disney produces "SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS" his first animated feature. (general release 1938). RKO becomes Disney's new distributer until 1956.
• At Warners Bros. Robert Clampett directs "PORKYS BADTIME STORY" and Tex Avery directs "PORKYS DUCK HUNT" which introduces the character of Daffy Duck. Tex Avery based the character on a duck that lived on a pond across from his high school. Tex Avery was now developing the Looniest of Looney Tunes that set the tone for the entire studio.
• Animators go on strike at the Fleischer Studios in New York.
• The Japanese seize Peking, Nankin, and Shanghi.
• "Whistle While you Work" is one of the most popular songs of the day.
1938
• Walt Disney's "FERDINAND THE BULL" wins the Academy Award. Disney's mother dies.
• Chuck (Charles) Jones directs "THE NIGHT WATCHMAN" for Warner Bros.
• Emile Cohl dies.
• 40 hour work week established in the USA.
1939
• Walt Disney's "THE UGLY DUCKLING" wins the Academy Award. It was also the last Silly Symphony produced at Disney. The Disney studios begin 'their move to Burbank from Hyperion Ave. in Los Angeles.
• MGM's "PEACE ON EARTH" a strong pacifist film, is nominated for an Academy Award.
• Mary Ellen Bute and McLaren create "SPOOK SPORT" an abstract film.
• Fleischer Studios produce "GULLIVERS TRAVELS" their first feature. Fleischer Animators go on strike in Florida.
• The Film Act is passed in Canada by Parliament. This creates The National Film Board of Canada to "interpret Canada to Canadians through the medium of film."
• Victor Bergdahl dies (1887-1939) Sweden.
• WWII begins in Europe with the German invasion of Poland.
1940
• MGM's "MILKY WAY" wins the Academy Award.
• Disney Produces "PINOCCHIO" and "FANTASIA".
• Harry Smith, Experimental animator, creates "NO.1, alchemist"
• Tex Avery directs "A WILD HARE" for Warner Bros. where he defines the character of Bugs Bunny. There were three previous Bugs, but this was the film where the real Bugs was born. This was the start of Warners' supremacy in animated humor.
• Bill Hanna (1911 - 2001) & Joe Barbera(1911-) start work at MGM.
• MGM produces "PUSS GETS THE BOOT" the first Tom and Jerry cartoon. It was also the first co-production effort of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera
• Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker is introduced in "KNOCK: KNOCK"
• Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico on Stalin's orders.
• Duke Ellington becomes known as a composer and a jazz pianist.
1941
• Walt Disney's "LEND A PAW" wins the Academy Award.
• Walt Disney releases "DUMBO."
• Disney animators Strike.
• Norman McLaren joins National Film Board (NFB).
• Fleischer Studios produce the "SUPERMAN" series and their second feature film "MR. BUG" is retitled "HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN" then released.
• Walter Ruttmann dies, (1887-1941) Germany
• James Stuart Blackton (1875- 1941) England/USA is, hit by a bus on Pico Blvd in Los Angeles. He dies in poverty.
• US enters WWII.
• Manhattan Project begins the intensive research into atomic bombs and power.
1942
• Walt Disney's "DER FUEHRERS FACE" wins the Academy Award.
• Disney releases "BAMBI."
• Fleischer studios close.
• Paramount/Famous studios open with the old Fleischer artists.
•Fort Roach, the old Hal Roach studios, becames the military animation/film studio in Hollywood, 18th Air Force Base Unit. Lt. Ronald Regan was stationed there.
•In the WWII propaganda films, Japanese soldiers were often shown wearing rimless glasses. The reason young Japanese men worn these glasses was because the silent film star Harold Lloyd wore them.
• Tex Avery left Warner Bros.and directed the pilot "SPEAKING OF ANIMALS" (with its Hoary Toad sequence) for Paramount. However the series was quicly taken away from him. He then moved to MGM where he stayed until 1955.
• Director Fred Quimby, upon seeing Tex Avery's caricature of Hitler as the wolf in "The Blitz Wolf" for MGM, advised Avery to tone it down because, "After all, no one knew who was going to win the war."
• "COMING SNAFU", in the style of a coming attraction the Private Snafu series is introduced (named for the acronym "Situation normal. All fouled up"). Snafu is described as "licentious, lazy, envious of every duty but his own, a shirker and the Warner Bros. animation department's idea of the American fighting man in his larval form, or a positive genius at doing things the wrong way."
• Terrytoons introduces the prototype of "Mighty Mouse."
•Norman McLaren joins the NFB of Canada as the head of animation.
• By this year many important European filmmakers, artists (Surrealist painters, Bauhaus designers, etc.) had come to America.
• The first electronic brain or automatic computer is developed in the US.
• Magnetic recording tape is invented.
• Gandhi demands independence for India and is arrested.
• Germans reach Stalingrad.
1943
• MGM's "YANKEE DOODLE MOUSE" wins the Academy Award.
• Walt Disney produces "SALUDOS AMIGOS" a collection of shorts, the studio did several of these. Bill Tytla resigns, Bill Shull was his assistant.
• John and James Whitney produce their first film.
• Tex Avery directs "DUMB HOUNDED" the first Droopy cartoon for MGM.
• Penicillin is successfully used in the treatment of chronic diseases.
• Germans surrender at Stalingrad.
• Japanese driven from Guadalcanal.
• Jackson Pollock has his first one man show.
1944
• MGM's "MOUSE TROUBLE" wins the Academy Award.
• "HELL BENT FOR ELECTION" - a independent short done for the Democrats for the 1944 presidential election. It was so effective that, as the story goes, both political parties made a gentleman's agreement not to use animation for election films.
•Leon Schlesinger's studio is sold to Warner Bros.
• Warner Bros. Yosemite Sam character is introduced in "HARE TRIGGER."
• Mitsuyo Seo's Japanese wartime animated feature film "MOMOTAROÕS GOD BLESSED SEA WARRIORS" is produced. In the film Momotaro and his cute little bunny, monkey and elephant friends. happily clear an airstrip, oil machine guns, and fly their Zeroes to victory while singing happy songs.
• "REYNARD THE FOX" completed by Dutch Nazi's.
• D-Day landing in France.
• Vietnam, under Ho Chi Minh, declares itself independent of France.
1945
• MGM's "QUIET PLEASE" wins the Academy Award.
• UPA (United Productions of America) is formed.
• Warners Bros. character "Pepe Le Pew" is introduced in "ODOR-KITT" directed by Chuck Jones.
• UCLA Animation's Phil Denslow is born
• War ends in Europe.
• USA drops Atomic bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing Japan to surrender.
1946
• MGM's "THE CAT CONCERTO" wins the Academy Award.
• Warners Bros. character "Foghorn Leghorn" is introduced in "WALKY TALKY HAWK" directed by Bob McKimson (1911-1977).
•Walt Disney produces "SONG OF THE SOUTH" combining live action and animation.
• Terrytoons's "HECKLE AND JECKLE" series is introduced.
• UPA produces "BROTHERHOOD OF MAN" directed by Bob Cannon.
• The Xerography process invented.
• A Truce is declared in the Chinese Civil War.
1947
• Warner Bros' "TWEETIE PIE" wins the Academy Award. This is the first short featuring Tweetie and Sylvester together and the first animated short to win the Academy Award for Warner Bros. It was directed by Friz Freleng.
• Bob Clampett leaves Warner Bros.
• Around this time new contracts were made for animators which almost doubled their wages. However the contracts did not include residuals. A big mistake.
• Bill Shull, a former Disney animator founded the UCLA Animation Workshop. Hooray!!!
• Flying Saucer sightings are reported in US.
• India is proclaimed independent and partitioned into India and Pakistan.
• Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to sign a contract with a major league baseball club.
1948
• MGM's "THE LITTLE ORPHAN" wins the Academy Award.
• UPA makes their first theatrical release (they did educational films before) "ROBIN HOODLUM."
• "Fox and Crow" is animated by John Hubley.
• Supreme Court makes ruling on "Sherman anti trust act"declaring motion picture companies monopolies and forcing them to break up. Ends block booking.
• Czech. Jiri Trnka animates "THE EMPERORS NIGHTENGALE" a feature length puppet film.
• Columbia/Screen Gems ends production.
• A special department of cartoon and puppet films comes into being as part of the Bulgarian State Film Industry.
• Gandhi assassinated.
• Berlin Airlift begins.
• Jewish state comes into existence.
1949
• Warner Bros.' "FOR SCENT-IMENTAL REASONS" wins the Academy Award.
• "CRUSADER RABBIT" first cartoon series made for TV is introduced on NBC. Done by Alex Anderson, nephew of Paul Terry. They were paid $250.00 per five minute episode. Looking like an illustrated radio show they were TV's first example of limited animation.
• Frostbit Follies genesis for "Rocky and Friends" 1959 (storyboard only).
• MGM produces "BAD LUCK BLACKIE" directed by Tex Avery.
• Warners Bros. introduces "The Road Runner" in "FAST AND FURRY-OUS" directed by Chuck Jones.
• UPA introduces "Mr. Magoo" in "THE RAGTIME BEAR" directed by John Hubley.
• Bob Godfrey enters the film world. Later to be called "Master of the Absurd". "I try in my own lousy, noisy way to make an audience laugh" Bob Godfrey.
• Communist People's Republic is proclaimed under Mao Tse-tung.
• The Samba comes into fashion.
• USSR tests their first atomic bomb.
