What was the first cartoon shown on TV?

One of the most fun things children can do is spend hours watching a variety of cartoons on television. So much so that since the advent of television, several broadcasters have set aside time in their programming schedules to meet the needs of children and include specific times for broadcasting cartoons, as happened with the nostalgic programs from Globo and SBT, “TV Globinho” and “Bom Dia e Cia”, respectively, which livened up the mornings of children who grew up in the 2000s.

Although titles such as “Mickey Mouse”, “Looney Tunes”, “The Flintstones”, “Tom and Jerry” and “The Simpsons” are some of the oldest and most enduring productions that emerge in the memory of those who followed television animations, the question arises: What was actually the first cartoon shown on TV?

It all started when the first television broadcasts began to be carried out in different countries in Europe and the United States, in 1930. In this way, the production that became the pioneer on the subject was “Felix the Cat” (1930)of Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivanwhose episodes followed the adventures of the black feline that gives the animation its title, as reported by the Brazilian magazine Super Interessante. It is worth mentioning that Félix first appeared in the animation Feline Follies, from 1919, which was a hit among cartoons of the silent era.

In Brazil, however, it was not the black cat that marked the debut of animations on TV. It turns out that television broadcasts only began to be carried out in the country in 1950, when this technological means of communication that transmits images began to become popular around the world.

With that, one day after the inauguration of the first television station, Rede Tupi, On September 19, 1950, Brazilians were able to see the debut of animated features in the country on the small screen with “Woody Woodpecker”which at the time was only subtitled, as explained by the Legião dos Heróis portal.

This, which is the oldest cartoon on Brazilian TV, was dubbed into Portuguese in 1957 and remained on the now-defunct TV Tupi until the 1980s. The following year it gained a new home, since from 1981 to 2003 SBT was responsible for broadcasting the animation.

Soon after, it went to the Globo network, which held the rights to show the title until 2006, the year in which Record, which included episodes starring the character created Walter Lantz and Ben Hardaway on the small screen until June 30th of this year, acquired the titles of the crazy bird.