The first animated film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, was made in 1906 by newspaper illustrator James Blackton. He filmed faces that were drawn on blackboards in progressive stages. In New York City, Winsor McCay exhibited his most famous film, Little Nemo (1910) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). His films featured fluid motion and characters with individual personalities. For the first time, characters drawn of life seemed to live on the screen. In 1914, John R. Bray streamlined the animation process, using assembly line techniques to turn out cartoons.
     By 1915, film studios began producing cartoons series. The Pat Sullivan studio produced the series featuring Felix the Cat. He became one of the most beloved characters of the silent- film era. The Max Fleischer studio produced series starring Ko - Ko the Clown and later Betty Boop and Popeye. The first cartoon with sound was Steamboat Willie (1928), which introduced Mickey Mouse. This film was produced by Walt Disney, the most famous of American animators. His early success enabled Disney to train his animators in anatomy, acting, drawing and motion studies. The results of this are apparent in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the first full- length animated feature. It became an instant success and still remains popular. Other important Disney films followed.
     Warner Brothers’ Studio challenged Disney for leadership in the field with cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other characters. These films were faster - paced and featured slapstick humor. In the 1950s, a group of animators splintered off from Disney and formed United Production of America, which rejected Disney’s realism and employed a bold, moderni stic approach.
     In the 1950s, children’s cartoons began to be broadcast on Saturday morning television and, later, in prime time. Among the most successful were those made by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, such as those featuring Yogi Bear and the Flinstones.
     The full- length animated film became popular again in the 1980s and ‘90s. Producer Steven Spielberg released his first animated film, American tail (1986), and Disney began a series of remarkable annual hits with The Little Mermaid (1989). Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), a joint production of Spielberg and Disney, blurred the lines between live action and animation. Animation returned to prime -time television with the Fox Network’s The Simpsons. Animators had experimented with computer animation as early as the 1950s, but Toy Story (1955) was the first- full length film to be entirely computer animated. These developments promise to bring about the most exciting era in animation since its heyday.