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The first cartoons appeared in newspapers. They told stories using pictures. The first photographed cartoon film (in 1906) was about humorous faces. In the film, an artist drew pictures of two faces on a blackboard. The faces came to life. They smiled and a small dog jumped through a ring.

There were a lot of animals in early cartoons. One famous early cartoon characters was Felix the Cat.Walt Disney started to make films in the 1920s. Some of his earliest films were about a famous story, Alice in Wonderland, but in Disney’s films it was called Alice in Cartoon Land. Walt Disney’s most famous cartoon character was Mickey Mouse. He appeared in 1928, first in a black-and-white film without sound, then very soon after that in a talking film and later in colour. A Mickey Mouse film was the first cartoon film with sound to become really popular.

Today, over a hundred years later, cartoon are still popular with people of all ages. They will probably be popular for many more years in the future.