Feline Follies
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''Feline Follies'' is a 1919 animated short
silent film A silent film is a film without 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 ...
, distributed by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
. It marked the first appearance of the character
Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan (film producer), Pat Sullivan during the silent film era. An anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic young black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, ...
.


Plot

Felix (at this point known as "Master Tom"), a male black cat, meets a female white cat in Pussyville. He
serenade In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honour of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Ital ...
s his new love interest, and announces his intention to devote his nine lives to her. Felix's singing wakes up an entire neighborhood. Later, back at home, a group of mice proceeds to eat all the food in Felix's house. When his owner arrives a little while later and sees scraps of food everywhere, she throws Felix out of the house, not knowing it was the mice who did it. Now homeless, Felix goes to live with his love interest, only to find out she is the mother (and Felix is the father) of a large litter of kittens. In reaction, Felix runs towards the local
gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...
and commits suicide by intentionally inhaling
coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...
.


Production

The film was produced by the Pat Sullivan Studio of
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, owned by the Australian animator Pat Sullivan. It is a matter of dispute whether to attribute the film and Felix's creation to Sullivan himself, or to
Otto Messmer Otto James Messmer (; August 16, 1892 – October 28, 1983) was an American animator known for his work on the Felix the Cat cartoons and comic strip produced by the Pat Sullivan studio. The extent of Messmer's role in the creation and popula ...
, the studio's lead animator. Messmer's claim to have been the sole creator of Felix has parallels in animation history.
Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert "Ub" Iwerks ( ; March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, Invention, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and f ...
claimed that he created
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
, instead of studio owner
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
. Grim Natwick claimed that he created
Betty Boop Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...
, instead of studio owner
Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development ...
. In the 1970s interviews, Messmer claimed that the Pat Sullivan Studio was overly busy in 1919. When
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
demanded an extra film to be produced, Pat Sullivan did not have enough time to work on it. He reportedly assigned the film's production to Messmer, who served as the film's only animator. Messmer claimed to have created the entire film within his own home, instead of the studio office. ''Feline Follies'' was not the first short film by the Pat Sullivan Studio to feature a
black cat A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...
as a protagonist. The studio's first cat-themed animated film was ''The Tail of Thomas Kat'' (1917), currently a
lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...
. The earlier's short protagonist was called "Thomas Kat". In ''Feline Follies'', Felix appears under a similar alias: "Master Tom". Black cats were also a recurring element in a
film series A film series or movie series is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. It is a type of series fiction. This article explains what film series are and gives brief examples ...
by the Pat Sullivan Studio, the ''Charlie'' or ''Charley'' series. The series was based on the screen persona of then-popular actor
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (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 considered o ...
. A black cat identical in design to Felix in ''Feline Follies'' had appeared in promotional materials for the animated short ''How Charlie Captured the Kaiser'' (August 1918). The cat was given its own scene in the subsequent short ''Charlie in the Farm'' (1919). The main
visual gag In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretation ...
from this scene was then re-used in ''Feline Follies''. This suggests that Felix may have slowly evolved from these precursors, instead of first appearing in ''Feline Follies''. Animation historian Gerald Carr has attributed the
lettering Lettering or Lettering design is an act or result of artfully drawing letters, instead of writing them simply. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attent ...
of ''Feline Follies'' to Pat Sullivan, based on similarities with Sullivan's known works. The
line art Line art or line drawing is any image that consists of distinct straight lines or curved lines placed against a background (usually plain). Two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects are often represented through shade (darkness) or hue (co ...
and visual forms of the film were also found to be similar to Pat Sullivan's previous works on
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of 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 terminology#Captio ...
s. The dialogue in ''Feline Follies'' appears in written form. A litter of kittens uses the term "Mum" for their mother, a spelling more common to
Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...
and
British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
than
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
. Messmer also had a background in comic strips, and he reportedly had a "quite proficient" drawing style, with "well-crafted line work and very convincing volumetric forms". Sullivan's drawing style appeared "rougher" and had a "more angular execution". A number of "incongruous" design features and contrasting design styles in ''Feline Follies'' and other early Felix short films may indicate that more than one animator was involved in its production. The serenade scene of the film was recycling a serenade scene from ''Charlie in the Farm''. Tom's reaction to the prospect of becoming a
stepfather A stepfather or stepdad is a biologically unrelated male parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren. In fiction Thou ...
was recycled from another scene of the same film. In ''Charlie in the Farm'', a male bird marries. Following the marriage, he discovers that his wife has chicks from a previous relationship. The male bird runs away from his new family.


Release

''Feline Follies'' was released on November 9, 1919, as one of the films in the ''Paramount Screen Magazine''. The initial distributor was the company
Famous Players–Lasky The Famous Players–Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Companyoriginally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Playsan ...
(later known as
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
). The distribution of the ''Felix'' series was subsequently handled by
Margaret J. Winkler Margaret J. Winkler Mintz (Winkler; April 22, 1895 – June 21, 1990) was a film studio executive, producer, distributor, and animator who was a major figure in silent animation history, having a crucial role in the histories of Max and Dave Fl ...
and by the company
Educational Pictures Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational p ...
.


See also

* Felix the Cat filmography


References


External links

* {{Felix the Cat 1919 animated short films 1910s American animated films Felix the Cat films American animated black-and-white films Paramount Pictures short films Films directed by Otto Messmer Films about suicide