Walt Disney’s first ever 3-D cartoon “Melody” premiered at
the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. It was a short (10-min)
distributed by RKO. The film was the first in a proposed series
of shorts teaching the principles of music.

The first newspaper cartoon in America was political in nature (above) and was
drawn and originally published by Benjamin Franklin in The Pennsylvania Gazette. It
appeared as part of an editorial by Franklin commenting on ‘the present disunited
state of the British Colonies. The woodcut drawing entitled ‘Join or Die’ pictures a
divided snake in eight pieces representing as many colonial governments.The
drawing was based on the popular superstition that a snake that had been cut in
two would come to life if the pieces were joined before sunset. The drawing was
soon reproduced in other newspapers.  

Benjamin Franklin

A page from The Pennsylvania Gazette

Don Adams (April 13, 1923 – September 25, 2005)  In his five decades on
television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the NBC- TV
sitcom Get Smart (1965–1970, 1995), which he also sometimes directed
and wrote. Adams won three consecutive Emmy Awards for his portrayal of
Smart (1967–1969). He provided the voices for the animated CBS-TV series
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963–1966) and the syndicated series
Inspector Gadget (1983–1986) as their title characters.

Inspector Gadget

Stand-up comedian Louie  Anderson created and produced a Saturday morning 
animated series for Fox called Life With Louie in 1995. He has written three 
books,and was the initial host of the second revival of the ABC-TV game show
Family Feud, from 1999 to 2002.

Anderson with his cartoon character ‘Louie’