Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts

Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Felix the Cat, and other cartoon characters have entertained audiences for nearly a century, often outlasting the human actors who were their contemporaries in studio-era Hollywood. In Animated Personalities, David McGowan argues that iconic American theatrical short cartoon characters should be recognized as stars equal to live-action performers, not only because of their enduring careers but also because their star personas were created and marketed using the same methods applied to cinematic celebrities. Drawing on archival research, McGowan examines how Hollywood studios built and shaped the star personas of the animated characters they owned. He demonstrates that cartoon characters frequently matched their human counterparts' activities: they gave interviews, posed for candid photographs, endorsed products, and otherwise behaved as actors did. Donald Duck served during World War II, and Mickey Mouse became involved in scandal. McGowan challenges the assumption that studios required actors with physical bodies and real off-screen lives to create stars, showing instead that media texts successfully constructed off-screen identities for animated characters. Tracing cartoon stars from silent films through contemporary film and television, the book expands star studies to include animation and raises questions about stardom in the era of digitally enhanced filmmaking.