1922
World News
• 1st edition of Reader's Digest is published.
• King Tut's tomb is discovered.
• James Joyce writes "Ulysses".

Animation News
• Disney founds Laugh-O-Grams in Kansas City and begins producing a series of fairy tale cartoons.
• Sullivan produces the Felix the Cat cartoons for Winkler Productions.
• Lyman H. Howe Films Company Productions produces a long running series of cartoons called "Hodge Podge" (1922 - 1929)
• Bray Productions produces 3 cartoons by Milt Gross called, "Ink Ravings".

Comics
• Walter Berndt's "Smitty" comic strip debuts.

Birthdays
• Paul Winchell (voice actor)
• Hoyt Curtin (composer)

Deaths
• Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone dies at age 76.

Notable Cartoons
United States
• “Felix Turns the Tide”, Otto Messmer /Sullivan.
• Colonel Heeza Liar's Treasure Island (ss), Vernon Stallings /Bray. first in a new Colonel Heeza Liar series (1922-1924)
• “Golf in Slow Motion”, Walt Disney /Laugh-O-Grams. (drawn animation, some puppet animation) early Lafflets series (1922-1923)
• “Little Red Riding Hood”, Walt Disney /Laugh-O-Grams. first "full length" short subject by Walt Disney

Europe
• “Les Grenouilles Qui Demandant Un Roi” ("The Frogs That Demanded a King" or "Frogland"), Ladislas Starewicz. (France) (puppet animation)
• “Little Red Riding Hood”), Anson Dyer /Hepworth Picture Plays. (Great Britain) (drawn animation, some live action) first Kiddiegraph series (1922)

1923
World News
• Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler holds it's first public congress.
• Dance marathons all the craze.
• Earthquake destroys Tokyo and Yokohama. 300,000 killed and 500,000 injured and about 2.5 million left homeless.
• Adolf Hitler attempts a coup of the German government. It fails and he is arrested.
• German Mark plummets from an exchange rate of 4.2 marks per dollar in 1914 to 4.2 trillion marks per dollar making it worthless

Animation News
• Fleischers produce a series of animated sequences adapted from the Literary Digest, titled "Fun From The Press"
• Dick Huemer begins working for the Fleischers
• Bill Tytla is hired by Paul Terry.
• Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio founded in Hollywood, California by Walt and Roy Disney.

Comics
• "Felix The Cat" debuts as a comic strip for The American Journal. It drawn by cartoonist Pat Sullivan.
• Frank Willard's "Moon Mullins" comic strip debuts in The Chicago Tribune.

Birthdays
• Harry Smith, (director, animator, writer)
• Ion Popescu-Gopo (Romanian director, writer)
• Bretislav Pojar (Czechoslovakian director, animator, writer)
• Wladyslaw Nehrebecki (Polish director, writer)
• Marcel Marceau (French Mime)

Movies
• Cecil B. DeMille releases, "The Ten Commandments"

Notable Cartoons
United States
• “The Einstein Theory of Relativity”, Max Fleischer and Garrett P. Serviss /Fleischer. (drawn animation, some live action)
• “Bedtime”, Dave Fleischer /Fleischer.
(drawn animation)
• “Silliettes”, Herbert M. Dawley /Dawley Production. (silhouette animation) first Silliettes series (1923-1925); distributed as part of one of Pathe's film magazines
• “Felix in Hollywood”, Otto Messmer /Sullivan.
• “Robinson Crusoe Returns on Friday”, Richard McShay Friel /Lee-Bradford.early Red Head Comedies series (early series with color, 1923-1925)

Europe
• “La Voix du rossignol” ("The Voice of the Nightingale"), Ladislas Starewicz /Pathe. (France) (puppet animation, some live action)
• “Sovietskie igrushki” ("Soviet Toys"), Aleksandr Ivanov and Aleksandr Buskin /Kultkino. (Soviet Union) (distributed in the Kino-Pravda newsreel)

1924
World News
• Composer, George Gershwin writes the music for "Rhapsody In Blue".
• 1st Winter Olympics are held in France.
• Radio signals are broadcast 7,000 miles from New York to Manchester.
• Hitler is sentenced to 5 years in prison for his failed coup.
• Hitler is freed from jail after serving 8 months.

Animation News
• "Animated Hair" by caricaturist, Marcus shows celebrity caricatures evolving out if a "strand of hair"
• Reel Colors Inc. produces a short series of animated color cartoons called, "Historiets"
• J.R. Bray Studios produce the "Dinky Doodle" series (1924 - 1926) which shows Walter Lantz as the animator, drawing the adventures of the main characters ala the "Out of the Inkwell" series by Fleischer.
• 1st “Song Cartoon” using the "bouncing ball" by Fleischer
• Fleischers produces a series featuring different types of animation between 1924 and 1925. These films are not released until 1927.
• Columbia Pictures incorporates
• MGM is formed

Comics
• Harald Gray's "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip debuts in The New York Times
• Roy Crane's comic strip "Wash Tubbs" debuts in The Chicago Tribune.

Birthdays
• Gene Deitch, animator (1924 - )
• Federic Back, German animator (1924 - )
• Kihachiro Kawamoto, Japanese animator (Paradise)
• Faith Hubley, animator (1924 - 2001)

Deaths
• Russian revolutionist, Vlavimir Lenin dies at the age of 54. His body is plasticized and put on public display in Lenin's Tomb. To this day it is still perfectly preserved.

Notable Cartoons
United States
• Disney releases his first of his Alice Comedies: "Alice's Day at Sea"
• “Oh! Mabel”, Max Fleischer /Out of the Inkwell. first Song Car-Tune series First sound cartoon, using the DeForest Phonofilm system (theatres without sound systems were given sheet music for their orchestras)
• “The Magic Lamp”, Walter Lantz /Bray. (drawn animation, some live action) first Dinky Doodle series (1924-1926)
• “The Boneyard Blues”, Earl Hurd /Hurd Productions. one of the Pen and Ink Vaudeville series (1924-1925)
• “Animated Hair [1]”, Marcus. series 1924-1925
• “Cracked Ice”, Edwin Miles Fadman /Red Seal. (puppet animation) one of the Funny Face Comedies series (1924)

Europe
• “Bonzo”, George Ernest Studdy. (Great Britain) first Bonzo the Dog series (1924-1926)
• “Pongo Arrives”, Dudley Buxton. (Great Britain) first Pongo the Pup series (1924)
• “Ballet mécanique” ("Mechanical Ballet"), Ferdinand Leger. (France)
• “The Interplanetary Revolution", Senon Komissarenko, Yury Merkulov, Nicolai Khodataev /State Film Technicum. (Soviet Union) (puppet animation)
• “Max und Moritz” series, unknown (Germany)

Orient
• “Akagaki Genzo: Tokuri no Wakare” ("Genzo Performs a Ceremony with a Parting Cup"), Hakuzan Kimura. (cut-out animation)
• “Obasuteyama” ("The Mountain Where Old Women Are Abandoned"), Sanae Yamamoto.

1925
World News
• Hitler publishes "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle)
• The "Charleston" becomes a dance craze.
• Women wear "flapper" dresses.
• Surreal art is shown in Paris.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" is published.

Animation News
• Warner Bros buy Vitagraph from animator J. Stuart Blackton
• Walt and Lillian Disney are married
• The short lived "Ebenezer Ebony" series (1925) is produced by Sering D. Wilson & Company
• Pat Sullivan produces the Felix the Cat cartoons under his own production company: Pat Sullivan Productions.
• Just to prove that there was nothing that couldn't be animated, John Colman Terry produced, directed and animated a series of animated crossword puzzles. (10 of them were done... just think of it!)
• Associated Animators studio founded by Burt Gillet, Dick Huemer, Ben Harrison, and Manny Gould.
• Charles Mintz founds Winkler Productions to create a Krazy Kat series for R-C Pictures (1925-1927).
• Hans Fischerkoesen establishes the Fischerkoesen Studio in Leipzig to make advertising films. (Germany)• Bill Nolan gets the rights to animate a series of Krazy Kat cartoons produced and distributed by Charles Mintz Studio (husband of Margaret Winkler, Disney's distributor).

Comics
• Robert E. Howard sells his first story "Spear & Fang" to the pulp magazine "Wierd Tales" begining his writting career.

Birthdays
• Arnold Stang (voice actor)
• Yasuji Mori (Mori Yasuji) (animator, director, character designer)

Movies
• Chaplin in "The Gold Rush"
• Eisenstein's "The Battleship Potemkin"
• Buster Keaton in "Go West"
• Lon Chaney in "Phantom of the Opera"

Notable Cartoons
United States
• "My Old Kentuky Home" by Max Fleischer uses syncronized sound using Dr. Lee DeForest's invention
• “The Flying Elephant”, first Ebenezer Ebony series (early experimental color cartoon using the Natural Color Kelly Process)
• “Evolution”, Max Fleischer /Fleischer. (drawn animation, some live action)
• “Ebony Cleans Up”, L.B. Cornwell, Inc. first Little Ebony series
• “Hot Dogs”, Winkler. first Krazy Kat series (1925-1929)
• “How the Elephant Got His Trunk”, Walter Lantz /Bray. first Unnatural History series (1925-1927)

Europe
• “Jerry the Troublesome Tyke”, Sid Griffiths. (Great Britain) first Jerry series (1925-1927)

Orient
• “Nonkina Tosan Ryugu Mairi” ("Easy Going Old Man Visits the Ryugu"), Hakusan Kimura /Misugaya Eiga Seisakujo.
• “Sukesuke Shinohara”, Hakusan Kimura /Asahi Kinema.

1926
World News
• Scottish inventor, John L. Baird demonstrates something he calls "television"
• Gretta Garbo starts her film career in the U.S.
• NHL expansion. Teams include: Montreal Maroons, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks, and Detroit Cougars.

Animation News
• Warner Bros. premiers the Vitaphone motion picture sound on disk system for the film “Don Juan”
• Caricaturist, John Held Jr. reaches the peak of his career.

Comics
• "Amazing Stories" begins publication.

Birthdays
• Osamu Tezuka, comic book artist, animator (Astro Boy, Jumping)
• Mel Brooks, actor and director; narrator of Ernest Pintoff’s “The Critic” (see 1963)
• Don Adams (Donald James Yarmy) (voice actor)
• Stan Freberg (voice artist)
• Yoram Gross, Polish director, producer, animator, writer
• Queen Elizabeth II
• Norma Jean a.k.a. Marilyn Munroe

Deaths
• Actor, Rudolph Valentino dies at age 31.
• Escape artist, Harry Houdini dies at age 52 of ruptured appendix.
• Artist, Claude Monet dies at age 86.

Notable Cartoons
Europe
• Lotte Reiniger, of Germany, completes the second animated feature film, "The Adventures of Prince Achmed"

United States
• “Invalid”, Mintz. first Krazy Kat series from the Charles Mintz studio (1926-1940). Later episodes from the Columbia studio.
• “The Family Album”, Hy Mayer /Mayer. first Scenic Sketchographs series
• “For the Love o' Pete”, Walter Lantz /Bray. (drawn animation, part live action) first Hot Dog series (1926-1927)

Canada
• “Romulus and Remus”, Charles Lambly. (Canada) (cut out animation)

Orient
• "Uproar in the Art Studio", Wan Lai-ming, Wan Guchan, Wan Chaochen, and Wan Dihuan. (China)

1927
World News
• Clara Bow becomes the "It" girl.
• Mae West is sentenced to 10 days in jail and a $500 fine for indecency in her Broadway production, "Sex".
• Charles Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
• PanAm Airlines is formed - flights between Key West and Cuba are $100 round trip.

Animation News
• Disney holds out for more money to produce the "Oswald the Rabbit" cartoons. Charles Mintz says, "No" and takes the series to Walter Lantz.
• Universal Studios, who own the rights to Oswald take the series away from Mintz.
• Universal Studios ask Walter Lantz to set up an animation studio to produce the "Oswald the Rabbit" series
• Friz Freleng is hired by Disney.
• The Fleischer Bros. go broke but are bailed out by a businessman named Alfred Weiss who arranged for their films to be relesed through Paramount.
• Fleischers begin producing a series of cartoons featuring Ko-Ko the Clown (1927 - 1929)
• Winkler Productions' Krazy Kat series is transferred from R-C Pictures to Paramount-Famous-Lasky.
• Bray Studio stops making entertainment films. The studio continued to make educational films.
• Quirino Cristiani founds Studios Cristiani. The studio mainly created commercials. (Argentina)

Birthdays
• Dusan Vukotic, Yugoslavian animator (Zagreb Animated Film Studio)
• Attila Dargay, Hungarian animator (The Goose Boy 1976)
• Don Messick (voice actor)
• Witold Giersz (Polish director, writer, animator)
• Vyacheslav Kotenochkin, (Russian director, producer, animator)
• Alison de Vere (director, animator, background artist) born in Peshawar. (India)
• Shin Dong Hun (director, animator, producer). (Korea)
• Giulio Gianini, Italian animator (Ali Baba 1971, Pulcinella 1973 nominated for Academy Award)

Movies
• Cecil B. DeMille directs, "The King of Kings".
• Al Joleson stars in "The Jazz Singer" 1st successful full length "talkie"
• The Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences is formed.
• Laurel and Hardy begin their film careers.

Notable Cartoons
United States
• "Trolley Troubles", Walt Disney /Disney. first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series (Disney 1927-1928).

Canada
• “Follow the Swallow”, Bryant Fryer. (Canada) (silhouette animation) first Shadowlaughs series
two films were created in this series but never distributed

Europe
• “Anémic cinéma” ("Anemic Cinema"), Marcel Duchamp. (France)
• “Fiinbeck er rømt” ("Jiggs Has Escaped"), Ottar Gladtvet. (Norway)
• "Skating Rink", Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Cherkes /Mezhrabpom-Rus. (Soviet Union)

Orient
• “Tako no Hone” ("The Octopus Bone"), Yasuji Murata.

1928
World News
• GE’s WG4 Schenectady, the 1st television station goes on the air.
• NBC broadcasts the first nation-wide radio show.
• Bacteriologist, Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
• Amelia Earhart flies across the Atlantic Ocean.

Animation News
• Charles Mintz set up the Winkler Studio in Hollywood to make Oswald cartoons.
• Charles Mintz hires away most of Disney's staff.
• Out of the Inkwell Studio declared bankrupt. Max Fleischer forms the Fleischer Studio.
• Walter Lantz creates a studio for Universal. Takes over the Oswald series from Charles Mintz.
• Van Beuren announces that all their new cartoons would be produced with sound.
• Shamus Culhane is hired as an inker on Krazy Kat cartoons at Mintz Studio.

Comics
• "Buck Rogers" debuts in "Amazing Stories".
• Ham Fisher's comic strip "Joe Palooka" makes his first appearance.

Birthdays
• Raoul Servais, Belgian animator (Goldframe 1969, Harpya 1979)
• Maurice Sendak, Illustrator
• Stanley Kubrick, live action director (2001, A Space Odyssey)

Movies
• Joseph Schenk, President of United Artists says, "Talkies are just a fad."

Notable Cartoons
United States
• Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” (Ub Iwerks animator)
• Fleischer’s “Koko’s Earth Control”
• “High Up”, Rudolph Ising /Winkler. first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series from the Winkler Studio (1928)
• “Mississippi Mud”, Walter Lantz /Universal. first Oswald the Rabbit series. Continuation of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. (1928-1938).
• “Dinner Time”, Paul Terry and John Foster /Van Beuren. first sound Aesop's Fables series (1928-1933)
• “Monsters of the Past”, Virginia May /Pathe. (clay animation)

Europe
• Putting the Wind Up Winnie, Joe Noble /Pathe. (Great Britain) first Sammy and Sausage series (1928-1930)
• “Doktor Dolittle und seine Tiere” ("Doctor Dolittle and His Animals), Lotte Reiniger. (Germany) (silhouette animation)
• 'Orace the 'Armonious 'Ound in "The Jazz Singer", Joe Noble /British Sound Film Productions. (Great Britain) (drawn animation, some live action) first 'Orace the 'Armonious 'Ound series (1928-1929) first sound British cartoon
• "Amorous Water Sprite", Hermina Trylova. (Czechoslovakia)
• “Die Chinesische Nachtigall” ("The Chinese Nightingale"), Rudi Klemm and Julius Pinschewer. (Germany)
• "Eva and the Grasshopper" (ss), Ferdinand and Hermann Diehl. (Germany) (puppet animation)
• “Sluchay na stadione” ("Occurrence in the Stadium"), Alexander Ptushko. (Soviet Union)

Orient
• “Nihonichino Momotaro” ("Momotaro Is the Greatest"), Sanae Yamamoto /Takamasa Eiga.
• "Raccoon That Helped a Junk Man", Yasuji Murata /Yokohama Cinema Kyokai.

1929
World News
• "St. Valentines Day" massacre in Chicago.
• The Vatican becomes a state in Italy.
• Color television is demonstrated at Bell Laboratories
• The "Geneva Convention" is signed by 48 nations.
• Zepplin completes a round the world trip.
• New York's Museum of Modern Art opens.
• October 24th - "Black Thursday" - American Stock Market crash throws America into "The Depression".

Animation News
• Popeye the Sailor is introduced in the Thimble Theater comic strip
• First Academy Awards ceremony. Animation awards are not given until 1932.
• Walter Lantz adds sound to the cartoons produced at Universal Studios
• MGM attempts to sign a contract with Disney but withdrew the offer for fear of a financial battle with Pat Powers, Disney's distributor.
• The Fleischers begin adding sound to all their cartoon productions.
• Paul Terry leaves Van Beuren in a dispute over sound and the unnessesary costs involved
• Paul Terry and Frank Moser establish the Terrytoons studio in New Rochelle, New York.
• Paul, Hermann and Ferdinand Diehl establish an animation studio in Graefelfing. (Germany)

Comics
• Harold R. Foster begins working on a "Tarzan" comic strip.
• "Popeye The Sailor" make his debut in E.C. Segar's "Thimble Theatre" strip.
• "Buck Rogers" comic strip by Dick Calkin's makes first appearance.
• Cartoonist Herge (Georges Remi) begins Internationally famous comic strip "TinTin" in Belgium.

Popular Music
• "Tip Toe Thru the Tulips"
• "Singin' In the Rain"

Birthdays
• Rene Laloux, animator is born (Fantastic Planet) (1929 - )
• Manuel García Ferré (director, producer, writer, animator) born in Almería. (Spain)

Deaths
• Gunman, Wyatt Earp dies at age 80.
• Asa Candler, founder of Coca Cola dies at age 77.

Movies
• MGM makes it's first musical comedy, "Broadway Melody".
• 1st Academy Awards.
• Alfred Hitchcock directs Britian's 1st syncronized sound film, "Blackmail".
• Fox Film Corporation sells first national holdings to Warner Bros. says, "Talkies have made silent films obsolete."

Notable Cartoons
United States
• “Yankee Doodle Boy”, Seymour Kneitel /Fleischer. (drawn animation, part live action) first Screen Songs series, each film contained live action footage of the artist or orchestra that provided the song. Series continued until 1951 (later episodes produced by Famous Studios)
• “The Skeleton Dance”, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks /Disney. first Silly Symphonies series (1929-1939)
• “Bosko the Talk Ink Kid”, Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising /Harman-Ising. (drawn animation, part live action) experimental short made to demonstrate the Bosko character, not released to theatres.
• “Noah's Lark”, Dave Fleischer /Fleischer. first Talkartoons series (1929-1932)

Europe
• “Pochta” ("The Post", "Post Office"), Mikhail Tsekhanovsky. (Soviet Union)
• “Tusalava”, Len Lye. (Great Britain) (direct-on-film animation)
• “"The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen" (ss), Ivan Ivanov-Vano/Mezhrabpom-Rus. (Soviet Union)
• “Kalif Storch” ("Caliph Stork"), Ferdinand Diehl. (Germany) (silhouette animation)
• “Das Wetterhäuschen”, Gerda Otto and Hedwig Otto. (Germany)

Orient
• “Kobu Tori” ("Removing the Lump"), Yasuji Murata /Yokohama Cinema Kyokai.
• “Kujira” ("The Whale"), Noburo Ofuji. (cut-out animation)

1930
World News
• Masking tape is invented

Animation News
• Charles Mintz signs a distribution deal with Columbia and moves the studio and most of the staff to California.
• Sid Marcus and Dick Huemer join Mintz and help produce the 'Scrappy' series.
• Leon Schlesinger, a co-founder of Pacific Art and Title, signs a contract with former Disney
artists Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising to produce shorts for Warner Bros.
• Ub Iwerks leaves Disney and sets up his own studio producing “Flip the Frog” cartoons.
• MGM agrees to distribute the "Flip the Frog" series, the first of which is done in two color Technicolor.
• Walter Lantz produces animation for the live action movie "The King of Jazz Revue" in two strip Technicolor

Comics
• Chic Young's "Blondie" comic strip makes it's first appearance.
• Sax Rohmer's "Fu Manchu" character is adapted into a comic strip by cartoonist Leo O' Melia.
• Ub Iwerks introduces "Micky Mouse" as a comic strip.

Birthdays
• Roy E. Disney born (future vice-chairman, Walt Disney Co.)
• Borivoj Dovnikovic, Yugoslavian animator is born (Second Class Passenger, One Day of Life)
• Alan Oppenheimer (voice actor)
• Billie Lou Watt (voice actress)
• Phil Roman (director, producer, animator) born in Fresno, California.
• Neil Armstrong, Astronaut - 1st man to step on the moon.
• Sean Connery, Actor (James Bond, 007)

Deaths
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Author of Sherlock Holmes dies at age 71.
• Lon Chaney, horror film actor dies at age 47.

Notable Cartoons
United States
• “Dizzy Dishes” 1st appearance of Betty Boop, created by Grim Natwick, Fleischer Studio.
• “The King of Jazz”, John Murray Anderson /Universal. (live action, some drawn animation)
Contains a 2 1/2 minute animated sequence by Walter Lantz. The first color animation using the two-strip Technicolor process.
• “Sinkin' In the Bathtub” (ss), Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising /Harman-Ising. first Bosko series (1930-1938)
• “The Chain Gang”, Walt Disney /Disney. first appearance of Pluto
• “Fiddlesticks”, Ub Iwerks /Iwerks. first Flip the Frog series (1930-1933)
• “The Museum”, Dick Huemer, Sid Marcus /Mintz. first Toby the Pup series (1930-1931)

Europe
• “Bingo Breaks Loose”, Norman Cobb /Shepherd. (Great Britain) first Bingo the Dog series (1930)
• "The Card Maniac", Richard Teschner. (Austria) (puppet animation)
• “Un disciplo de caco”, Joaquin Xuadaro. (Spain)

Orient
• “Saru Masamune“, Yasuji Murata /Yokohama Cinema Kyokai.
• “Sekisho” ("The Inspection Station"), Noburo Ofuji.

Timeline Index