Tag: Cartoon

• Podcast

27th July 1940: Bugs Bunny makes his cartoon debut in A Wild Hare

• 27th July 2026
• Tagged as: America, Animation, Bugs Bunny, Cartoon, Culture, Film, Second World War, USA

Bugs Bunny made his first appearance in the Merrie Melodies cartoon A Wild Hare.

• Podcast

15th May 1928: Mickey and Minnie Mouse appear in their first cartoon to be shown to a cinema audience

• 15th May 2026
• Tagged as: America, Animation, Cartoon, Cinema, Culture, Disney, Entertainment, Mickey Mouse, Theatre, United States, USA

Mickey Mouse’s first animated appearance was in a silent short called Plane Crazy, but the cartoon failed to secure a distributor until a soundtrack was added a year later.

• Podcast

7th November 1874: Elephant first appears as a symbol of the Republican Party in Thomas Nast’s political cartoon Third Term Panic

• 7th November 2025
• Tagged as: America, Art, Cartoon, Culture, Elephant, Grant, Politics, Republican Party, Satire, Thomas Nast, United States, USA

Third Term Panic became one of Thomas Nast’s most influential works, securing the elephant’s place in American political iconography and was later adopted by the Republican Party itself.

• Podcast

17th February 1936: ‘The Phantom’ comic strip published for the first time, widely regarded as the first costumed superhero

• 17th February 2025
• Tagged as: Art, Cartoon, Comic, Culture, King Features Syndicate, Newspaper, Superhero, The Phantom

The Phantom’s distinctive appearance of a skin-tight purple costume, domino mask, and striped trunks became iconic, influencing later superheroes in comic book history.

• Podcast

10th February 1940: First Tom and Jerry cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

• 10th February 2025
• Tagged as: Animation, Cartoon, Culture, Film, Hanna-Barbera, Hollywood, MGM, Motion Picture, Tom & Jerry

Puss Gets the Boot was created by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1941. This led to the studio deciding to continue producing cartoons with the characters, which were soon renamed Tom and Jerry.

• Podcast

9th December 1965: A Charlie Brown Christmas first broadcast by American television network CBS

• 9th December 2024
• Tagged as: America, Art, Cartoon, Comic, Culture, Television, United States, USA

A Charlie Brown Christmas went on to win both a Peabody Award and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program.

• Podcast

29th October 1959: Comic book character Asterix the Gaul’s first appearance in the debut issue of Pilote magazine

• 29th October 2024
• Tagged as: Asterix, Cartoon, Comic, Culture, France, Gaul, Roman Empire

Created by writer René Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo, the story of Asterix is set in 50 B.C. and follows the adventures of the warrior Asterix from a small village in Gaul (modern-day France), during the time of the Roman Empire’s expansion.

• Podcast

19th April 1987: The Simpsons make their first television appearance on The Tracey Ullman Show

• 19th April 2024
• Tagged as: America, Cartoon, Comedy, Culture, Television, United States, USA

An overwhelmingly positive reaction in season one meant that Simpsons shorts were featured in every episode of the next two seasons before being spun off into a standalone half-hour series in 1989.

• Podcast

19th December 1918: Ripley’s ‘Believe it or Not!’ published for the first time in the New York Globe

• 19th December 2023
• Tagged as: America, Art, Cartoon, Culture, New York, Sport, United States, USA

It has since been adapted into numerous formats and is still printed in more than 40 countries.

• Podcast

7th September 1813: According to tradition, the United States gained its nickname, ‘Uncle Sam’

• 7th September 2023
• Tagged as: America, Cartoon, Government, Politics, United States, War of 1812

The United States apparently gained the nickname ‘Uncle Sam’ when it was featured in a local newspaper article.