Other characters adhering to this great law of evolution included Betty Boop, who started out as a rather homely dog in the 1930 cartoon "Dizzy Dishes." I recall John Kricfalusi telling me he was repulsed by the character, which he likened to a giant fly. However, within a couple of years, Betty had evolved into America's cutest Boop-boop-be-doop. The only time this Law was ever known to fail was Chuck Jones' attempted to restructure evolution. He bioengineered the classic Warner characters to develop long curly eyelashes and ultra-cute poses and facial expressions. Happily, nature has once again taken its course and this variant line mercifully died out.

2. The Law of Utility
Survival of the fittest generally means that an organism evolves specific features that give it a leg/wing/fin up in environmental competition. Cartoon characters don't really compete for food, territory, or mates outside of their on-screen adventures (really they don't, Woody) but they do compete for audiences. In the prehistoric days of the late 1920s, cartoon characters had to evolve new ways of being more real to audiences. These creations could not be actors as they lacked an accurate measure of physical expression, yet they were appearing in films. The most spectacular examples of evolution by utility involved the gradual evolution of the jointed limb and the development of plastic bodies that retained the same volume whatever the action or movement.

"Rubber hose" animation meant just that: limbs were boneless, hose-like and lacked articulation. If needed, they could stretch to distances that Mr. Fantastic would envy or be neatly tied in knots. In at least one Mickey Mouse cartoon, Minnie had her overextended leg tied into a knot, but she solved that dilemma by snipping the knot with a pair of shears, restoring her leg to proper length once more. When characters danced (and that's primarily what they did back then), their arms and legs flailed about like four snakes attached to a central trunk. Clearly, as animation progressed, this would not do for long.

Bill Nolan was the acknowledged master of the rubber hose style, and it did allow the animator to work with amazing speed. However, the price as reflected on the screen was far too high. Therefore, the articulated joint and its anatomical correlates evolved. Much of this early evolution to realistic anatomy was pioneered at Disney. It is fair to note that animators who wish to work in rubber hose animation today have been successful with it, as it does contain a strong element of cartoony charm and can express exaggerated emotional states; witness John Kricfalusi's work on The Ren & Stimpy Show. However, for many years animation evolved away from the rubber hose style and an emphasis on realism took precedence.

Mickey Mouse was originally a rubber hose mouse with solid black oval or pie-cut eyes. He was gradually redesigned so that his body accommodated the principles of "squash and stretch" animation, plus he got pupils. © Disney.

Mickey Mouse was a prime example of how a character evolved according to the Law of Utility; Mickey was originally very much a rubber hose mouse who also sported solid black oval (or in some cartoons, pie-cut) eyes. He was gradually redesigned by the Disney artists, primarily Fred Moore, so that his body accommodated the principles of what is known as "squash and stretch" animation. Mickey's movements reflected the effects of weight, gravity, and force, making him a far more adaptable character capable of increased realism. Mickey's evolution thus allowed for a fuller range of expression.

Moore furthered the process by adding pupils to Mickey's eyes in the early 1940s. Mickey now had much greater use as an actor. Mickey Mouse is a virtual study in cartoon evolution. In fact, the Mouse even developed evolutionary features that disappeared because they violated the Law of Greatest Attraction, namely three-dimensional ears that turned in perspective. (This technically designated Mickey as a temporary atavistic throwback.) This mid-`40s attempt to bring more visual depth to the character backfired and Mickey was soon back to his former design.

3. The Law of Economy
When it comes to survival in the evolutionary arena, cartoons must deal with more than just nature, red in tooth and claw. They have to contend with budgets, costs, and finances. This is why the Great Theatrical Cartoons became extinct in the first place. A great budgetary asteroid collided with every Hollywood studio during the mid-1950s, leading to a massive die-off of nearly every theatrical toon on Earth. This led to the Hanna-Barberassic Age, in which toons evolved and adapted for the era of television by developing the strategy of moving only one part of their bodies while the rest remained in stasis. Limited animation is the ultimate expression of the Law of Economy, because both time and cost were saved.

The Hanna-Barberassic Age signaled the law of economy. Only one part of characters’ bodies moved and details on Tom of Tom and Jerry were eventually streamlined. © Warner Bros. All rights reserved.

Even before this epochal event, however, changes due to the Law of Economy could be seen in late theatricals. One example involved later versions of Tom in the popular MGM Tom and Jerry cartoons produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Tom started out with multicolored eyes, very shaggy fur, and multiple eyebrows that sprang from his forehead for added menace. As cartoons became more expensive, such details added to the cost of films, and thus Tom began a streamlining process in which all of these features disappeared, replaced by simpler and thicker lines. Tom's great familiarity to audiences and immense popularity mitigated the Law of Greatest Attraction to some degree, and Tom was able to adapt and survive. The same can be said for another MGM star, Tex Avery's Droopy. The original hound was far more complicated in design in earlier incarnations, but was streamlined and simplified as time went on and budgets became tighter.

There, then, are the three main laws of cartoon evolution. There are possibly (and probably) more, but I could not go on an expedition to the Galapagos Islands (or even LA.) this month so as to write about them at length. I leave it to future geneticists and evolutionists to complete the picture, and of course, to the toons themselves. With further refinements in GGI technology, I'm sure we haven't seen anything yet.

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman is a longtime student and fan of animation. He lives in Anderson, Indiana.