10 Atom Ant
Another Hanna-Barbera creation, Atom Ant, featured a cartoon hero who starred in a combination of Atom Ant as well as Secret Squirrel. It shared billing with this show. Atom Ant was a show that children of the 1960s might have seen, even though it aired for only 30 episodes.
The idea was that an ant, along with his squirrel companion, went on missions. Atom Ant was often a police officer and responded to calls. He also solved crimes for them.
Hanna-Barbera was concerned about keeping production costs low. This cartoon was not the most popular or cost-effective, so it was eventually dropped from NBC after only 2 seasons. Boomerang’s streaming service allows fans to still watch the entire series.
9 Felix the Cat
Felix the Cat was part of the silent film era. This takes it back to a time long before any of the cartoons on this page. The black-and-white cat is one of the most well-known cartoon characters in history. It was also the first animated character to enjoy the same popularity as movie stars.
Felix was first created during the silent film era in 1919 for a series of comic shorts. Otto Messmer, Pat Sullivan, and others later made Felix a regular in a comic strip that began in 1923. Toymakers also started selling Felix dolls.
Mickey Mouse and Disney were the ones that stopped Felix’s rise to fame. Despite Felix the Cat having a small budget, it was able to fight against Disney’s big money for a while.