Felix The Cat

Time to do something different. Today's review is based on the animated figure, Felix The Cat. This character was a staple throughout the silent era and one of the few (including the Disney characters) icons to not only survive but thrive in age of the sound.

A typical cartoon consists of Felix (whose very name mean's he's lucky) being involved in some sort of adventure by helping some one like he did in the cartoon: Felix Dopes it out (never mind the drug innuendo) where he helps a clown try to get rid of a gin blossom. In doing so, Felix travels to a tropical island where he has to evade the natives that are trying to eat him. He escapes and gets back to the clown where he just tells him to drink more (you couldn't get away with that today). The cartoon was standard when it came to animation and other things. Even though it is considered a silent film, it does contain sound effects such as people yawning and things flying through the air and laughs are substituted with "Ha's" written on the screen.

The creation of Felix The Cat has a history of its own. The cartoon started life as Master Tom in the 1919 Paramount short "Feline Follies' where it displays  his daily life in the town of Pussyville (don't laugh....well maybe you can laugh a little). In the cartoon he neglects his duties as a house cat and spends his time trying to win the heart of some girl cat. In the end he gets kicked out of his house and found out he fathered a large amount of children. So what does he do? He kills himself...of course. People's humor back in 1919 was way different than today.

Now there's seems to be some controversy on who actually created Felix. Pat Sullivan, who had his own animation company, said he created the character while others point to his head animator, Otto Messmer. Regardless on who created the character, Felix The Cat has stood the test time and remains popular to this day.

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