Felix kept on walking Kept on walking still Blew him up with dynamite But him they could not kill...
Felix the Cat, The wonderful, wonderful cat. Whenever he gets in a fix, He reaches into his bag of tricks...
Felix the Cat made his 1919 theatrical debut as one of several cartoon components in
Paramount Screen Magazine split-reels, then graduated to a standalone series in 1922. He was the star of an experimental TV broadcast in 1928, and the basis for a classic (but unauthorized!) wall-clock design. Felix's adorable appearance, witty personality, love of high living, and comically versatile tail helped him achieve a level of popularity that he maintained until 1929, when studio founder/CEO Pat Sullivan refused to produce sound films.
Yet Felix appeared in sound and color in 1936, and migrated to television syndication in 1958. Jack Mercer, better known as
Popeye, did all the character voices in the Trans-Lux Felix series.
Pat Sullivan claimed during his lifetime to have invented Felix himself. This conventional wisdom lasted until the 1960s, at which time the Sullivan estate's controlling interest in Felix was bought out. With no more need to placate Sullivan's heirs, surviving staffers named longtime lead animator Otto Messmer as Felix's actual creator.
Apart from Messmer, the most well-known Felix developer was Joe Oriolo, Messmer's assistant from the 1940s onward. Oriolo took over production of Felix comics and managed the Trans-Lux TV series himself, creating Felix's Magic Bag of Tricks and beloved bad guys such as The Professor, Rock Bottom, and Master Cylinder.
Felix also starred with his friends and foes in cartoon creation software shipped with Apple Macintosh Performa computers. In 1991, he featured in a big-budget movie, and in 1995, the Film Roman series
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat was shown on
CBS Saturday mornings after Felix appeared in commercial bumpers on that network.
Source:
Felix the Cat at Toon Tracker
This series provides examples of:
- Animated Series
- Big Bad: The Professor and Master Cylinder
- Chaste Toons: Perhaps the earliest example, as the kittens Inky, Dinky and Winky were introduced as Felix's sons in 1926, then suddenly retconned as nephews in 1930. A few pre-1930 comics were even reprinted with the familial relationship changed.
- Later still (1950s) only two kittens were used at a time, with Inky and Winky appearing in cartoons while Inky and Dinky appeared in comics.
- Cute But Cacophonic: Vavoom
- Deranged Animation: one of the oldest examples.
- Dis Continuity: Considering how old Felix the Cat is, multiple continuities have been created and dropped.
- None of The Movie or Twisted Tales characters show up in merchandising.
- Early comics supporting cast like Willie Brown, Danny Dooit, and Laura the Parrot seem to have disappeared too, even if they're present when the older comics are reprinted.
- Downer Ending: Felix's first theatrical short ends with him sucking on a gas pipe after he gets kicked out of his home and finds out his girlfriend already has kittens.
- Expository Theme Tune
- Furry Confusion: From 1919 through the mid-1950s, stories alternated between showing Felix as either a Talking Animal pet in a human home or a Funny Animal master of his own house. Only with the Trans-Lux TV series was Felix established as a Funny Animal for good.
- Magic Hat: Felix's iconic Magic Bag of Tricks, which is an actual bag.
- In the 1995 series, some episodes didn't feature the Bag of Tricks at all, presumably so more challenging plots could be used. Lampshaded in one episode.
- The Magic Bag wasn't in all the 1950s episodes either—it featured in about thirty percent of the episodes. Oriolo was wise not to overuse it; it made for some funny situations, but it also made Felix borderline infallible.
- The Movie: Felix The Cat: The Movie
- Nightmare Fuel: This troper was scared by the later series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, particularly the pork factory.
- The torture scene in Bold King Cole, one of the classic cartoons.
- Master Cylinder in the TV cartoons was scary to me as a little kid.
- This Troper spent half his childhood terrified that the VCR tape was even in his house. Twisted Tales seriously deserves its own page.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: Contrary to popular belief, the Bag of Tricks wasn't with the character from the start.
- Strapped To An Operating Table: Happens to King Cole in Bold King Cole
- Talking Animal
Felix The Cat: The Movie contains examples of:
