via GIPHY

Today is International Animation Day - commemorating the first public performance of Charles-Emile Reynaud's Theatre Optique at the Musee Grevin in Paris, 1892.

 Theatre Optique or Optical Theater was a machine that used a projector and mirrors to create images on a screen. The images were painted on a ribbon wound into a spool. Another spool unwound the ribbon as the images were projected on the screen.

Since 1892, animated movies, cartoon, and television shows have amazed us and brightened entertainment.  Where would we be without Mickey Mouse (born 1928), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (born 1984), and Bluey (born 2018) ? 

Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, made in 1906, is generally regarded by film historians as the first animated film recorded on standard picture film.  It is on deposit and preserved by the Library of Congress.