Why Cartoons Wears Gloves (also explains the 4 fingers)

I found this fascinating. It's little facts like this that you don't normally think about, gets recognized and anwered. So, why do cartoon characters wear gloves?

It saves time.
Every frame in cartoon animation used to be drawn by hand over and over again before automation was invented so they had to make the characters easy to draw.

If you look at the anatomy of Mickey Mouse:
- Circular head
- Oblong circle snout
- Circular ears (stays be the same no matter what angle the head was in)
- Pear-shaped body
- Pipestem legs
- Circular big shoes, like a kid wearing a father's shoes

To make Mickey Mouse look more human, they gave him gloves instead of mouse hands.

Hands play a big role in the emphasis of expression so the white gloves gave contrast against the black body. The white gloves make the hands visible when they're in front of their bodies because black hands make it difficult to see in front of black bodies.
(Imagine Goofy in the gif above had no gloves.)

Why the four fingers?
5 fingers looked like too much for a little figure + less to draw and animate.

Watch the video below for more detail:

Source:
Gif: Giphy
Video: Vox