Before the 1920s longer films were rare so length-based categories had little meaning.
In the 20's when short films became more and more popular it was short comedies that ran in a seriel such as Charlie Chaplin's 'Little tramp' and the 'Our Gang' films.
Although there was often no set release schedule, these series could be considered somewhat like a modern TV sitcom - lower in status than feature films but nevertheless very popular (comedians such as Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keatonall 'graduated' from shorts to features).
Animated cartoons came primarily as short subjects, as did newsreels, virtually all major film production companies had units assigned to produce shorts, and many companies, especially in the silent and very early sound era, produced mostly or only short films.
In the 1930s, the Great depression caused the distribution system to change in many countries; instead of the cinema owner assembling a program of their own choice. Studios sold a package centered on a main and supporting feature, a cartoon and little or nothing else. Later shorts include George O'Hanlon's Joe McDoakes films, and the animated work of studios such as Walt Disney Productions, Leon Schlesinger Productions/Warner Bros. Cartoons, Walter Lantz and Fleischer/Famous Studios.
By the mid 1950s, with the rise of television, the commercial live-action short was virtually dead, The Three Stooges was the last major series of two-reelers, and the cartoon short began to fade in the early 70s, with The Pink Panther being the last regular theatrical cartoon short series, ending in 1980. Short film had become a medium for student, independent and specialty work.
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