Felix the Cat is a
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
created in 1919 by
Pat Sullivan and
Otto Messmer during the
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
era. An
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
black cat
A black cat is a domestic cat with black fur that may be a mixed or specific breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular breed. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) recognizes 22 cat breeds that can come with solid black coats. The Bombay b ...
with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon characters in film history. Felix was the first animated character to attain a level of popularity sufficient to draw movie audiences.
Felix originated from the studio of Australian
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...
-
film entrepreneur Pat Sullivan. Either Sullivan himself or his lead
animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...
, American
Otto Messmer, created the character. What is certain is that Felix emerged from Sullivan's studio, and cartoons featuring the character became big in
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. Aside from the animated shorts, Felix starred in a
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
(drawn by Sullivan, Messmer and later
Joe Oriolo) beginning in 1923, and his image soon adorned merchandise such as ceramics, toys and postcards. Several manufacturers made stuffed Felix toys.
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
bands such as
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist.
As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, W ...
's played songs about him (1923's "Felix Kept on Walking" and others). In 1926, Felix became the first high school mascot for the
Logansport, Indiana, Berries.
By the late 1920s, with the arrival of
sound cartoons, Felix's success was fading. The new
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
shorts of
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
made the silent offerings of Sullivan and Messmer, who were then unwilling to move to sound production, seem outdated. In 1929, Sullivan decided to make the transition and began distributing Felix sound cartoons through Copley Pictures. The sound Felix shorts proved to be a failure and the operation ended in 1932. Felix saw a brief three-cartoon resurrection in 1936 by the
Van Beuren Studios
The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
History
In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...
.
Felix cartoons began airing on American television in 1953. Joe Oriolo introduced a redesigned, "long-legged" Felix, with longer legs, a much smaller body, and a larger, rounder head with no whiskers and no teeth. Oriolo also added new characters and gave Felix a "Magic Bag of Tricks" that could assume an infinite variety of shapes at Felix's behest. The cat has since starred in other television programs and in two
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s. As of the 2010s, Felix is featured on a variety of merchandise from clothing to toys. Joe's son
Don Oriolo later assumed creative control of Felix.
In 2002, ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corporat ...
'' ranked Felix the Cat number 28 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.
In 2014, Don Oriolo sold the rights to the character to
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a divisio ...
, which is now part of
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
's
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primar ...
division via
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
.
Creation
On 9 November 1919, Master Tom, a prototype of Felix, debuted in a Paramount Pictures short titled ''
Feline Follies''. Produced by the New York City-based animation studio owned by Pat Sullivan, the cartoon was directed by
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...
and
animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...
Otto Messmer. It was a success, and the Sullivan studio quickly set to work on producing another film featuring Master Tom, in ''Musical Mews'' (released 16 November 1919). It too proved to be successful with audiences. Messmer claimed that John King of Paramount Magazine suggested the name "Felix", for contrast of the felicity traditionally associated with a black cat. The name was first used for the third film starring the character, ''The Adventures of Felix'' (released on 14 December 1919). Sullivan claimed he named Felix after
Australia Felix
Australia Felix (Latin for "fortunate Australia" or "happy Australia") was an early name given by Thomas Mitchell to lush pasture in parts of western Victoria he explored in 1836 on his third expedition.
On this expedition Mitchell was instruct ...
from Australian history and literature. In 1924,
animator Bill Nolan redesigned the character, making him both rounder and cuter. Felix's new looks, coupled with Messmer's
character animation, brought Felix to a higher profile.
Authorship
The question of who created Felix remains a matter of dispute. Sullivan stated in numerous newspaper interviews that he created Felix and did the key drawings for the character. On a visit to Australia in 1925, Sullivan told ''
The Argus'' newspaper that "
e idea was given to me by the sight of a cat which my wife brought to the studio one day". On other occasions, he claimed that Felix had been inspired by
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's "
The Cat that Walked by Himself" or by his wife's love for strays. Members of the
Australian Cartoonist Association have claimed that lettering used in ''Feline Follies'' matches Sullivan's handwriting
and that Sullivan lettered within his drawings.
In addition, at roughly the 4:00 mark in ''Feline Follies'', the words 'Lo Mum' are used in a speech bubble by one of the kittens; this was a term for one's mother not used by Americans, but certainly by Australians. Yet Messmer claimed to have single-handedly drawn ''Feline Follies'' from home, raising questions as to why an American would use the term 'Mum' in a cartoon he solely drew himself. Sullivan's supporters also say the case is supported by his 18 March 1917 release of a cartoon short titled ''The Tail of Thomas Kat'' more than two years prior to ''Feline Follies''. Both an Australian
ABC-TV documentary screened in 2004 and the curators of an exhibition at the
State Library of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...
in 2005 suggested that Thomas Kat was a prototype or precursor of Felix. However, few details of Thomas have survived. His fur color has not been definitively established, and the surviving copyright synopsis for the short suggests significant differences between Thomas and the later Felix. For example, whereas the later Felix magically transforms his tail into tools and other objects, Thomas is a non-
anthropomorphize
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
d cat who loses his tail in a fight with a rooster, never to recover it.
Sullivan was the studio proprietor and—as is the case with almost all film entrepreneurs—he owned the copyright to any creative work by his employees. In common with many animators at the time, Messmer was not credited. After Sullivan's death in 1933, his estate in Australia took ownership of the character, although Messmer told Harry Kopp that Sullivan promised him the rights to Felix in his will, no such will existed by the time he died. Kopp and the estate got the rights in 1934 from
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editori ...
after numerous conferences with him.
It was not until after Sullivan's death that Sullivan staffers such as Hal Walker,
Al Eugster
Alfred Julius Eugster (February 11, 1909 – January 1, 1997) was an American animator, writer, and film director. He worked for a number of American animation studios, including Fleischer Studios, the Iwerks Studio, Walt Disney Productions, an ...
, Gerry Geronimi, Rudy Zamora, George Cannata, and Sullivan's own lawyer,
Harry Kopp
Harry Kopp (February 22, 1880 – October 27, 1943) was a Belarusian-born Jewish-American lawyer and politician.
Life
Kopp was born on February 22, 1880, in Brest-Litovsk, Russia, the son of Benjamin Kopp and Sarah Yochen.
Kopp immigrated to A ...
, credited Messmer with Felix's creation. They claimed that Felix was based on an animated
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...
that Messmer had animated for Sullivan's studio earlier on. The down-and-out personality and movements of the cat in ''Feline Follies'' reflect key attributes of Chaplin's, and, although blockier than the later Felix, the familiar black body is already there (Messmer found solid shapes easier to animate). Messmer himself recalled his version of the cat's creation in an interview with animation historian
John Canemaker
John Cannizzaro Jr. (born 1943), better known as John Canemaker, is an American independent animator, animation historian, author, teacher and lecturer. In 1980, he began teaching and developing the animation program at New York University, Tisch S ...
:
Further, Messmer told Canemaker that both he and Sullivan drew Felix based on models from the
minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century.
Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spec ...
tradition and the racist
pickaninny caricature:
The tropes of minstrelsy were useful for creating a cartoon animal because they cued the audience to expect a lively, amusing and rebellious character.
Animation historians back Messmer's claims. Among them are
Michael Barrier
Michael J. Barrier (born June 15, 1940) is an American animation historian.
Work
Barrier was the founder and editor of ''Funnyworld'', the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha ...
,
Jerry Beck, Colin and Timothy Cowles, Donald Crafton,
David Gerstein
David Gerstein (born February 6, 1974) is an American comics author and editor as well as an animation historian. Gerstein has five books and countless comic book credits to his name. He has written many Disney comics stories, usually featuring ...
, Milt Gray, Mark Kausler,
Leonard Maltin, and Charles Solomon. No animation historians outside of Australia have argued on behalf of Sullivan.
Sullivan marketed the cat relentlessly while Messmer continued to produce a prodigious volume of Felix cartoons. Messmer did the animation on white paper with inkers tracing the drawings directly. The animators drew backgrounds onto pieces of
celluloid
Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporary ...
, which were then laid atop the drawings to be photographed. Any perspective work had to be animated by hand, as the studio cameras were unable to perform pans or trucks.
Popularity and distribution
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
distributed the earliest films from 1919 to 1921.
Margaret J. Winkler distributed the shorts from 1922 to 1925, the year when
Educational Pictures took over the distribution of the shorts. Sullivan promised them one new ''Felix'' short every two weeks. The combination of solid animation, skillful promotion, and widespread distribution brought Felix's popularity to new heights.
References to alcoholism and
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...
were also commonplace in many of the Felix shorts, particularly ''Felix Finds Out'' (1924), ''
Whys and Other Whys
''Whys and Other Whys'' (titled ''Whys and Otherwise'' in its sound reissue) is a 1927 silent animated short subject featuring Felix the Cat.
Plot
Felix is supposed to attend his job at a daycare center. Instead he spends time drinking booze ...
'' (1927), and ''
Felix Woos Whoopee'' (1930), to name a few. In ''Felix Dopes It Out'' (1924), Felix tries to help his hobo friend who is plagued with a red nose. By the end of the short, the cat finds the cure for the condition: "Keep drinking, and it'll turn blue".
Felix's great success also spawned a host of imitators. The appearances and personalities of other 1920s feline stars such as
Julius
The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...
of
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
's ''
Alice Comedies'', Waffles of
Paul Terry's ''
Aesop's Film Fables
''Aesop's Fables'' (later renamed ''Aesop's Sound Fables'') is a series of animated short subjects, created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. Produced from 1921 to 1933, the series includes ''Closer than a Brother'' (1925), '' The Window Washe ...
'', and especially Bill Nolan's 1925 adaptation of ''
Krazy Kat
''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an American newspaper comic strip, by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Evening Journal'', whose owne ...
'' (distributed by the eschewed Winkler) all seem to have been directly patterned after Felix.
This influence also extended outside the United States, serving as inspiration for
Suihō Tagawa in the creation of his character
Norakuro
is a Japanese manga series created by Suihō Tagawa, originally published by Kodansha in '' Shōnen Kurabu'', and one of the first series' to be reprinted in tankōbon format. The titular protagonist, Norakuro, or Norakuro-'' kun'', i ...
, a dog with black fur.
Felix's cartoons were also popular among critics. They have been cited as imaginative examples of
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
in filmmaking. Felix has been said to represent a child's sense of wonder, creating the fantastic when it is not there, and taking it in stride when it is. His famous pace—hands behind his back, head down, deep in thought—became a trademark that has been analyzed by critics around the world. Felix's expressive tail, which could be a shovel one moment, an exclamation mark or pencil the next, serves to emphasize that anything can happen in his world.
Aldous Huxley wrote that the ''Felix'' shorts proved that "
at the cinema can do better than literature or the spoken drama is to be fantastic".
By 1923, the character was at the peak of his film career. ''
Felix in Hollywood'', a short released during that year, plays upon Felix's popularity, as he becomes acquainted with such fellow celebrities as
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...
,
Cecil B. DeMille, Charlie Chaplin,
Ben Turpin
Bernard "Ben" Turpin (September 19, 1869 – July 1, 1940) was an American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films. His trademarks were his cross-eyed appearance and adeptness at vigorous physical comedy. Turpin wo ...
, and even censor
Will H. Hays
William Harrison Hays Sr. (; November 5, 1879 – March 7, 1954) was an American Republican politician.
As chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918–1921, Hays managed the successful 1920 presidential campaign of Warren G. H ...
. His image could be seen on clocks (not to be confused with the
Kit-Cat Klock) and Christmas ornaments. Felix also became the subject of several popular songs of the day, such as "Felix Kept Walking" by
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist.
As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, W ...
. Sullivan made an estimated $100,000 a year from toy licensing alone. With the character's success also emerged a handful of new costars. These included Felix's master Willie Jones, a mouse named Skiddoo, Felix's nephews Inky, Dinky, and Winky, and his girlfriend Kitty. Felix the Cat sheet music, with music by
Pete Wendling and
Max Kortlander
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) (1 ...
and featuring lyrics by
Alfred Bryan, was published in 1928 by
Sam Fox Publishing Company. The cover art of Felix playing a banjo was done by Otto Messmer.
Most of the early Felix cartoons mirrored American attitudes of the "
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in th ...
". Ethnic stereotypes appeared in such shorts as ''Felix Goes Hungry'' (1924). Recent events such as the
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
were depicted in shorts like ''Felix All Puzzled'' (1924).
Flapper
Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...
s were caricatured in ''Felix Strikes It Rich'' (1923). He also became involved in
union organizing with ''Felix Revolts'' (also 1923). In some shorts, Felix even performed a rendition of the
Charleston.
In 1928, Educational ceased releasing the Felix cartoons, and several were reissued by
First National Pictures
First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...
. Copley Pictures distributed them from 1929 to 1930. There was a brief three-cartoon resurrection in 1936 by the
Van Beuren Studios
The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
History
In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...
(''
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg'', ''Neptune Nonsense'', and ''Bold King Cole''), which are all directed by Disney alumni
Burt Gillett
Burton F. Gillett (October 15, 1891 – December 28, 1971) was a director of animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Disney, particularly the 1932 short film ''Flowers and Trees'' and the 1933 short film ''Three Little Pi ...
, who was suffering from
bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevat ...
at the time. Sullivan did most of the
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
for the character in the 1920s. In these Van Beuren shorts, Felix spoke and sang in a high-pitched, childlike voice provided by then-21-year-old
Walter Tetley
Walter Tetley (born Walter Campbell Tetzlaff; June 2, 1915 – September 4, 1975)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 260. was an ...
, who was a popular radio actor in the 1930s, 1940s and even 1950s (Julius on ''
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show'', and Leroy on ''
The Great Gildersleeve''), but later best known in the 1960s as the voice of Sherman on ''
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show''s
Mister Peabody segments.
Felix as mascot and pop culture icon
Given the character's unprecedented popularity and the fact that his name was partially derived from the Latin word for "happy", some rather notable individuals and organizations adopted Felix as a mascot. The first of these was a Los Angeles
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...
dealer and friend of Pat Sullivan named Winslow B. Felix, who first opened his showroom in 1921. The three-sided neon sign of Felix Chevrolet, with its giant, smiling images of the character, is today one of LA's better-known landmarks, standing watch over both
Figueroa Street and the
Harbor Freeway. Others who adopted Felix included the 1922
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
and pilot and actress
Ruth Elder, who took a Felix doll with her in an attempt to become the first woman to duplicate
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
's transatlantic crossing to Paris.
This popularity persisted. In the late 1920s, the U.S. Navy's Bombing Squadron Two (VB-2B) adopted a unit insignia consisting of Felix happily carrying a bomb with a burning fuse. They retained the insignia through the 1930s, when they became a fighter squadron under the designations VF-6B and, later, VF-3, whose members
Edward O'Hare and
John Thach became famous naval aviators in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. After the world war, a U.S. Navy fighter squadron currently designated
VFA-31 replaced its winged meat-cleaver logo with the same insignia after the original Felix squadron had been disbanded. The carrier-based night-fighter squadron, nicknamed the "Tomcatters", remained active under various designations continuing to the present day, and Felix still appears on both the squadron's cloth jacket patches and aircraft, carrying his bomb with its fuse burning.
Felix is also the oldest high school
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as ...
in the state of
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
, chosen in 1926 after a
Logansport High School
Logansport Community High School is a high school located in Logansport, Indiana, USA. The first recorded commencement took place in June 1871, at the Mesodian Opera House, with three graduates.
History
High School classes had first been off ...
player brought his plush Felix to a
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
game. When the team came from behind and won that night, Felix became the mascot of all the Logansport High School sports teams.
When television was in the experimental stages in 1928, the very first image to ever be seen was a toy Felix the Cat mounted to a revolving phonograph turntable. It remained on screen for hours while engineers used it as a test pattern.
Over a century after his debut on screen in 1919, he still makes occasional appearances in pop culture. The
pop punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...
band
The Queers also use Felix as a mascot, often drawn to reflect punk sensibilities and attributes such as scowling, smoking, or playing the guitar. Felix adorns the covers of both the ''
Surf Goddess'' EP and the ''
Move Back Home
''Move Back Home'' is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in May 1995 by Lookout! Records. The recording sessions were marred by the band members' drug problems, and many of the songs were written in the stu ...
'' album. Felix also appears in the music video for the single "Don't Back Down". Besides appearing on the covers and liner notes of various albums, the iconic cat also appears in merchandise such as T-shirts and buttons. (In an interview with bassist B-Face, he asserts that
Lookout! Records is responsible for the use of Felix as a mascot.) Felix was originally going to make a
cameo in the 1988 film ''
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American Live-action animated film, live-action/animated comedy film, comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall (filmmaker), Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely ad ...
'' but the rights for him were not obtained. However he does appear on the tragedy and comedy keystone entrance to ToonTown and (as a giant puppet) at the 2015
Treefort Music Fest. For Felix the Cat's 100th anniversary,
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
dubbed 9 November "Felix the Cat Day" and released new merchandise, including a
Pop! figure,
Skechers brand shoes,
clocks, a
PEZ dispenser
Pez (, ; stylised as PEZ) is the brand name of an Austrian candy and associated manual candy dispensers. The candy is a pressed, dry, straight-edged, curved-corner block 15 mm ( inch) long, 8 mm ( inch) wide and 5 mm ...
, shirts, bags, pillows, and
pomade. Also for the anniversary, the
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national c ...
(NFSA) released an article detailing Felix the Cat's history with frames and clips from early animations.
Comics
Pat Sullivan began a syndicated
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
on 19 August 1923 distributed by
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editori ...
. In 1927 Messmer took over drawing duties of the strip.
[Messmer entry]
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''. Accessed 18 Nov. 2018. (The first ''The Felix Annual'' from 1924 issued in Great Britain shows the last two stories are not the usual
Otto Messmer style, so a difference in Pat Sullivan-drawn cartoons can be noted.)
Messmer himself pursued the Sunday Felix comic strips until their discontinuance in 1943, when he began eleven years of writing and drawing Felix comic books for
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...
that were released every other month.
Jack Mendelsohn
Jack Mendelsohn (November 8, 1926 – January 25, 2017) was an American writer-artist who worked in animation, comic strips and comic books. An Emmy-nominated television comedy writer and story editor, he had numerous credits as a TV scripter, ...
was the
ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...
of the Felix strip from 1948 to 1952.
[Mendelsohn entry]
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''. Accessed 18 Nov. 2018. In 1954, Messmer retired from the Felix daily newspaper strips, and his assistant
Joe Oriolo (the creator of
Casper the Friendly Ghost) took over. The strip concluded in 1966.
Felix co-starred with
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleisc ...
in the ''
Betty Boop and Felix'' comic strip (1984–1987).
After 35 years of not being in any comics, Source Point Press announced that Felix the Cat would get a new comic book series, with the permission by
Dreamworks Animation
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a divisio ...
to use the character, following a decade of owning the character and using him as a fashion brand. The comic is written by Mark Federali, illustrated by Trace Yardley, and was due to be released sometime in 2022. Yardley later said in February 2022 that production has been delayed and Source Point Press is no longer publishing the books. However, in September, Yardley said that the comic was not cancelled, and that it will be published by Rocketship Entertainment. A month later, Rocketship announced that artists and writers, inciuding Mike Federali, would be attending
New York Comic Con
The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006.
History
The New York Comic Con is a ...
. Federali signed copies of the comic. On November 15, Rocketship announced through its new imprint Bottlerocket, that the comic will release in the Spring of 2023.
From silent to sound
With the advent of synchronized sound in ''
The Jazz Singer'' in 1927, Educational Pictures, who distributed the Felix shorts at the time, urged Pat Sullivan to make the leap to "
talkie" cartoons, but Sullivan refused. Further disputes led to a break between Educational and Sullivan. Only after competing studios released the first synchronized-sound animated films, such as
Fleischer Fleischer (or Fleisher) is a common German language, German and Yiddish language, Yiddish family name. Its literal meaning is "butcher". Other German family names with the same meaning include Metzger (disambiguation), Metzger, Mezger, Fleischman, a ...
's ''
My Old Kentucky Home'',
Van Beuren's ''
Dinner Time'' and Disney's ''
Steamboat Willie'', did Sullivan see the possibilities of sound. He managed to secure a contract with
First National Pictures
First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...
in 1928. However, for reasons unknown, this did not last, so Sullivan sought out Jacques Kopfstein and Copley Pictures to distribute his new sound Felix cartoons. On 16 October 1929, an advertisement appeared in ''
Film Daily
''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...
'' with Felix announcing,
Jolson
''Jolson'' is a musical with a book by Francis Essex and Rob Bettinson and a score composed of tunes by some of the all-time greatest songwriters of Tin Pan Alley.
Based on the life of singer Al Jolson, one of America's most popular entertainers ...
-like, "You ain't heard nothin' yet!"
Felix's transition to sound was not a smooth one. Sullivan did not carefully prepare for Felix's transition to sound and added sound effects into the sound cartoons as a post-animation process. The results were disastrous. More than ever, it seemed as though Disney's mouse was drawing audiences away from Sullivan's silent star. Not even entries such as the Fleischer-style off-beat ''Felix Woos Whoopee'' or the
Silly Symphony-esque ''
April Maze
''April Maze'' is a 1930 short animated cartoon featuring Felix the Cat. It was produced by Pat Sullivan.
Plot
Felix brings his nephews Inky and Winky to the park for a picnic. However, they always seem to be delayed. While they say their grace ...
'' (both 1930) could regain the franchise's audience. Kopfstein finally canceled Sullivan's contract. Subsequently, he announced plans to start a new studio in California, but such ideas never materialized. Things went from bad to worse when Sullivan's wife, Marjorie, died in March 1932. After this, Sullivan completely fell apart. He slumped into an alcoholic depression, his health rapidly declined, and his memory began to fade. He could not even cash checks to Messmer because his signature was reduced to a mere scribble. He died in 1933. Messmer recalled, "He left everything a mess, no books, no nothing. So when he died the place had to close down, at the height of popularity, when everybody, RKO and all of them, for years they tried to get hold of Felix... I didn't have that permission
o continue the character'cause I didn't have legal ownership of it".
In 1935, Amadee J. Van Beuren of the
Van Beuren Studios
The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
History
In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...
called Messmer and asked him if he could return Felix to the screen. Van Beuren even stated that Messmer would be provided with a full staff and all of the necessary utilities. However, Messmer declined his offer and instead recommended
Burt Gillett
Burton F. Gillett (October 15, 1891 – December 28, 1971) was a director of animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Disney, particularly the 1932 short film ''Flowers and Trees'' and the 1933 short film ''Three Little Pi ...
, a former Sullivan staffer who was now heading the Van Beuren staff. So, in 1936, Van Beuren obtained approval from Sullivan's brother to license Felix to his studio with the intention of producing new shorts both in color and with sound. With Gillett at the helm, now with a heavy Disney influence, he did away with Felix's established personality, rendering him a stock
talking animal character of the type popular in the day. The new shorts were unsuccessful, and after only three outings Van Beuren discontinued the series, leaving a fourth in the storyboard stages.
Revival
In 1953,
Official Films purchased the Sullivan–Messmer shorts, added soundtracks to them, and distributed them to the home movie and television markets.
Otto Messmer's assistant
Joe Oriolo, who had taken over the Felix comic strip, struck a deal with Felix's new owner, Pat Sullivan's nephew, to begin a new series of Felix cartoons on television. Oriolo went on to star Felix in 260 television cartoons produced by
Famous Studios
Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized control ...
which was renamed to
Paramount Cartoon Studios, and distributed by
Trans-Lux beginning in 1958. Like the Van Beuren studio before, Oriolo gave Felix a more domesticated and pedestrian personality geared more toward children and introduced now-familiar elements such as Felix's Magic Bag of Tricks, a satchel that could assume the shape and characteristics of anything Felix wanted. The show did away with Felix's previous supporting cast and introduced many
new characters, all of which were performed by
voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...
Jack Mercer.
Oriolo's plots revolve around the unsuccessful attempts of the antagonists to steal Felix's Magic Bag, though in an unusual twist, these antagonists are occasionally depicted as Felix's friends as well. The cartoons proved popular, but critics have dismissed them as paling in comparison to the earlier Sullivan–Messmer works, especially since Oriolo aimed the cartoons at children.
Limited animation (required due to budgetary restraints) and simplistic storylines did nothing to diminish the series' popularity.
[Solomon 37.]
In 1970, Oriolo gained complete control of the Felix character and Don Oriolo continues to promote the character to this day, even though the rights are now owned by Dreamworks.
In the late 1980s, after his father's death, Don Oriolo teamed up with European animators to work on the character's first feature film, ''
Felix the Cat: The Movie''.
In the film, Felix visits an alternate reality along with the Professor and Poindexter.
New World Pictures
New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...
planned a 1987 Thanksgiving release for U.S. theaters, which did not happen;
[ the movie went ]direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...
in August 1991, which was widely panned upon its release before being completely abandoned in the US during the 21st century. In 1994, Felix appeared on television again, to replace the popular Fido Dido
Fido Dido ( or ) is a cartoon character created by Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose.
History
Rose first doodled the character in 1985 on a napkin in a restaurant. Ferrone came up with the character’s name on her way to work the next day. The two lat ...
bumpers on CBS, and then one year later in the series '' The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat''. ''Baby Felix
is a Japanese children's animated television program that follows the adventures of a young Felix the Cat and infant versions of the characters from Joe Oriolo's ''Felix'' television program from the 1950s. It is the third Felix television seri ...
'' followed in 2000 for the Japanese market, and also the direct-to-video ''Felix the Cat Saves Christmas'' released in 2004. Oriolo also brought about a new wave of Felix merchandising, including Wendy's
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...
Kids Meal toys and a video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...
for the Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
.
Felix was voted in 2004 among the 100 Greatest Cartoons in a poll conducted by the British television channel Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
, ranking at No. 89.
According to Don Oriolo's Felix the Cat blog, as of September 2008 there were plans in development for a new television series. Oriolo's biography page also mentions a 52-episode cartoon series then in the works titled ''The Felix the Cat Show'', which was slated to use computer graphics
Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
. As of December 2020, WildBrain is working on a new Felix the Cat series with '' Transformers: Rescue Bots'' and ''Snoopy in Space
''Snoopy in Space'' is an animated television series inspired by the ''Peanuts'' comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. Developed by Mark Evestaff and Betsy Walters, and produced by WildBrain Studios, the show debuted on November 1, 2019 on Apple TV ...
'' co-producers.
Oriolo has not produced or directed any cartoons or feature films featuring Felix the Cat since the mid-2000s.
Home video
DVD releases include ''Presenting Felix the Cat'' from Bosko Video; ''Felix!'' from Lumivision; ''Felix the Cat: The Collector's Edition'' from Delta Entertainment; and ''Before Walt'' from Inkwell Images Ink.Before Walt
/ref> Some of the TV series cartoons (from 1958 to 1959) were released on DVD by Classic Media. Some of the 1990s series has also been released.
Filmography
See also
* Animation in the United States during the silent era
Animated films in the United States date back to at least 1906 when Vitagraph released '' Humorous Phases of Funny Faces''.Jeff Lenburg 1991 The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons Although early animations were rudimentary, they rapidly became mor ...
* ''Baby Felix
is a Japanese children's animated television program that follows the adventures of a young Felix the Cat and infant versions of the characters from Joe Oriolo's ''Felix'' television program from the 1950s. It is the third Felix television seri ...
''
* Golden Age of American animation
The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the ...
* Kit-Cat Klock
* Winsor McCay
Zenas Winsor McCay ( – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip '' Little Nemo'' (1905–14; 1924–26) and the animated film '' Gertie the Dinosaur'' (1914). For contractual reasons, he w ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Patricia Vettel Tom (1996): ''Felix the Cat as Modern Trickster''. American Art, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 64–87
External links
*
Felix the Cat
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...
Archived
from the original on 15 July 2016.
Pat Sulivan
at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
.
The Classic Felix the Cat Page
a
Golden Age Cartoons
*
(Concerns the dispute over who created the character.)
* . Exhibition guide, including many pictures.
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