Felix the Cat

Felix the Cat is a cartoon character from the silent-film era. His black body, white eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his cartoons place him, combined to make the Felix one of the most recognizable cartoon characters in the world. Felix was the first character from animation to attain a level of popularity sufficient to draw movie audiences based solely on his star power.

Creation

On November 9, 1919, Master Tom, a character resembling Felix, debuted in a Paramount Pictures short entitled "Feline Follies". Produced by the animation studio owned by Pat Sullivan, the cartoon was directed by cartoonist and animator Otto Messmer. It was a success, and Paramount ordered more shorts starring Tom. Paramount producer John King renamed the cat "Felix", after the Latin words felis (cat) and felix (luck). In 1924, animator Bill Nolan redesigned the fledgling feline, making him both rounder and cuter. Felix's new looks, coupled with Messmer's mastery of character animation, would soon rocket Felix to international fame.

Related Topics:
November 9 - 1919 - Paramount Pictures - Cartoonist - Animator - Producer - John King - Latin - 1924 - Bill Nolan - Character animation

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The question of who exactly created Felix remains disputed by animation historians. Sullivan stated in numerous newspaper interviews that he created Felix and did the key drawings for the character. Sullivan's word would at first seem to be backed up by his March 18, 1917 release of a cartoon short entitled "The Tail of Thomas Kat", more than two years prior to "Feline Follies". An Australian ABC-TV documentary screened in 2004 stated outright that this "Thomas Kat" was an even earlier Felix prototype. The surviving copyright synopsis for "Thomas Kat" suggests significant differences between Thomas and Felix, however: Whereas the later Felix magically transforms his tail into tools and other objects, Thomas is a non-anthropomorphized cat who loses his tail in a fight with a rooster, never to recover it.

Related Topics:
March 18 - 1917 - ABC-TV - 2004 - Anthropomorphize

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Sullivan was the studio proprietor and — as is the case with almost all film entrepreneurs — acquired the copyright to any creative work of his subordinates. After his death, his estate inherited ownership of the character.

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It was not until many years after Sullivan's death that Sullivan employees credited Messmer with Felix's creation. They claimed that Felix was based on an animated Charlie Chaplin that Messmer had animated for Sullivan's studio earlier on. The black, grinning cat of "Feline Follies", who certainly dances like Chaplin, would seem to lend credence to this theory. The nascent creature is blockier and has a longer nose than the later Felix, but the familiar black body is already there (Messmer found solid shapes easier to animate). The fur color of the earlier Thomas Kat has not been definitively established.

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Regardless of who created Felix, Pat Sullivan marketed the cat relentlessly. Meanwhile, the uncredited Messmer continued to produce a prodigious volume of Felix cartoons. He even began a comic strip in 1923 distributed by King Features Syndicate.

Related Topics:
Comic strip - 1923 - King Features Syndicate

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This creation conflict is well-known throughout the animation community. For instance, one episode of The Simpsons makes light of the dispute.

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