Critical Studies 1920-1930 Animation.

1920 - 1930 Animation

The Golden Age of US animation is a period in the United States animation history that began with the advent of sound cartoons in 1928 and continued into the early 1960s when theatrical animated shorts slowly began losing to the new medium of television animation.
Many memorable characters emerged from this period including Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Goofy, Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Betty Boop, Mr. Magoo, Woody Woodpecker, Mighty Mouse and a popular adaptation of Superman. Feature length animation also began during this period, most notably with Walt Disney's first films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi.

I will be looking at Fleischer Studios. 

One of Disney's main competitors was Max Fleischer, the head of Fleischer Studios. The Fleischers scored successful hits with the Betty Boop cartoons and the Popeye the Sailor series. Popeye's popularity during the 1930s rivaled Mickey Mouse at times, and Popeye fan clubs sprang up across the country in imitation of Mickey's fan clubs; in 1935, polls showed that Popeye was even more popular than Mickey Mouse.

I did a little research on Fleischers videos and came across Betty Boop, for me Betty boop has always been seen as a sexual character. You can clearly see the difference between Fleischer and Disney Studios. Altough Fleischers animations where voted more popular than Disney and people where more fond of Popeye than Micky Mouse, Fleischers animations gradually lost to Disney throughout the years. Even after he had produced a number of Colour Classics during the 1930s which attempted to emulate Walt Disney's use of color, but the series was not sucessful.

some references from "The World History of Animation" By Stephen Cavalier