Why do cartoon characters only have three fingers?
Dear Straight Dope: While at the bank machine last week, I noticed that the little cartoon graphic over the waste slot had a gloved hand with only three fingers. Which started me to thinking about three-fingered cartoon hands in general. What is the reason for this now-universal and anatomically-incorrect practice? Was Walt Disney simply not able to draw a credible 4-fingered Mickey Mouse? — R.G. Lalonde I’ve always been preaching the idea, mostly to a tone deaf choir, that the simplest answers are usually the most correct. Here, to mix metaphors, I shall step out on this limb once again and give you the answer preferred by cartoon historians everywhere: It was just simpler to do it that way. You have to remember that the practice began in the early days of animation, before computer animation and limited animation simplified the creation of cartoon shorts. Twenty-four frames had to be drawn for each second of film. (Limited animation, developed by Hanna-Barbera in the 60s, reduced tha
