The Golden Age

The Golden Age Of Animation is a period in animation history that is generally agreed to have begun on November 18th, 1928, with the release of Steamboat Willie, and cemented with Fleischer's, Warner's and MGM's rise to prominence in the years following. Feature length animation also began during this period, most notably with Walt Disney's first films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. For many people animation begins and ends with Disney films. Many of the most iconic animated stars were born in this period, such as Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Woody the Woodpecker etc. 

Felix the Cat and Out of the Inkwell were the only animated series of prominence prior to 1928. 
In 1937, Disney's innovative first full length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released to critical acclaim and worldwide success. In order to expand and meet the expectations of his audience, Walt increased the size of his studio with the profits from the film. 
By 1932 Walt Disney had realized the success of animated films depended upon telling emotionally gripping stories that would grab the audience.This realization led to an important innovation around 1932 and 1933: a "story department," separate from the animators, with storyboard artists who would be dedicated to working on a "story development" phase of the production process. In turn, Disney's continued emphasis on story development and characterization resulted in another hit in 1933: Three Little Pigs, which is seen as the first cartoon in which multiple characters displayed unique, individual personalities and is still considered to be the most successful animated short of all time, and also featured the hit song that became the anthem in fighting the Great Depression: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf". After the success of Snow White Disney went on to produce Pinocchio in 1940. It was considered a stunning achievement both technically and artistically, costing twice as much as Snow White, but because of World War II's affect on foreign release market, it was not financially successful.