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.

The cat's comeback

In 1953, Felix's earlier shorts entered syndication on television, now with musical soundtracks. Messmer retired from drawing the Felix comic strip in 1954 and his assistant Joe Oriolo (creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost) took over. Oriolo 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 distributed by Trans-Lux starting 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 program is also remembered for its distinctive theme song written by Winston Sharples:

Related Topics:
1953 - Syndication - Television - Soundtrack - 1954 - Joe Oriolo - Casper the Friendly Ghost - Trans-Lux - 1958 - Winston Sharples

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:Felix the Cat,

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:The wonderful, wonderful cat!

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:Whenever he gets in a fix

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:He reaches into his bag of tricks!

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The show did away with Felix's previous supporting cast and introduced many new characters. These include the sinister, mustachioed Professor; his intelligent but bookish nephew Poindexter (with an IQ of 222); the Professor's bulldog-faced, bumbling sidekick Rock Bottom; an evil, cylindrical robot and "King of the Moon" named The Master Cylinder; and a small, unassuming and friendly Eskimo named Vavoom, whose only vocalization is a literally earth-shattering shout of his own name. These characters were performed by voice actor Jack Mercer.

Related Topics:
Professor - Poindexter - IQ - Rock Bottom - The Master Cylinder - Eskimo - Vavoom - Voice actor - Jack Mercer

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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 (and those of Oriolo's son, Don) proved popular, but critics have dismissed them as paling in comparison to the earlier works by Messmer, 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. Nevertheless, Don Oriolo continues to market the cat today. In 1991 Felix starred in his first (and only) feature film, ', in which he, the Professor and Poindexter visit an alternate reality. The film was a box-office failure. In 1996, Felix appeared on television again, in an off-beat series called The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. Baby Felix followed in 2000.

Related Topics:
Don - Limited animation - 1991 - 1996 - The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat - Baby Felix - 2000

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