Friday the 13th is a 1959 Felix the Cat cartoon and the 14th episode of the Felix the Cat (Joe Oriolo) series.
The cartoon starts in Rock Bottom's apartment, where the dog is turning and twisting in bed when his alarm clock goes off, which startles him and almost makes him fall out the window. Rock clings to his window and muses to himself about getting out on the wrong side of the bed, but gets worried when he sees his calendar, which is marked Friday the 13th, feeling it's gonna be a bad day. Cut to him walking down the street, reading the book Bad Luck Omnibus. He accidentally walks under a ladder while reading it, but quickly backtracks around it—only to get doused in red paint, which was dropped by none other than Felix the Cat. Felix apologizes, but Rock is too flustered already, so Felix pulls the ladder back into his window and seals it tight. Rock, despondent, wonders what will happen next, and then walks into an open manhole. Rock decides to visit a fortune teller named Felica to remove his jinx, but it turns out to be Felix playing a trick on Rock. Felix runs off, and Rock tries to follow, but slips on the crystal ball left behind and breaks a mirror, giving him seven years bad luck. Rock chases Felix into a bowling alley, and Felix is cornered by the pins, but Rock slips on a bowling ball and smashes into another mirror, meaning he now has 14 years bad luck. Felix gets squished into the shape of a pin, and Rock throws a bowling ball at him, knocking down every pin except Felix. Rock keeps throwing balls at Felix, who dodges them, but he finally hits Felix when he sends a row of five balls at him. The bowling balls are sent back up to Rock, but he notices one of them is flaccid looking—and realizes it's Felix himself, and starts throttling him.
In the second part, Rock throws Felix down a laundry chute, saying he's blaming Felix for his bad luck. A deliveryman arrives with Rock's laundry, one article of which is Felix shaped like an ironed shirt. Rock charges like a bull with Felix using a red shirt as a cape and Rock crashing into the wall. Felix hides out in a suit of armor. Rock approaches it and taps it with a small mallet; Felix reaches out of the visor and hits Rock on the head with a big mallet. Rock starts to get furious and puts the helmet on the floor so he can investigate the suit (not knowing Felix is in the helmet). Rock gets wedged inside the suit which goes out of control and tumbles down a long flight of stairs. Felix is at the bottom and asks Rock if he can help. Panicked, Rock runs back up into his apartment where he gets beaned by (of all things) a horseshoe nailed above the door. As he lies in bed nursing his head bump, he looks at the calendar, hoping Friday the 13th goes away soon.
Tropes:
- Epic Fail: Rock landed a perfect strike on the bowling pins, but somehow missed Felix.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Felix simply wears an obvious fake wig and hat when he disguises himself as Felica. Amusingly, Rock immediately catches on to Felix's disguise.
- Smart Ball: The otherwise dumb-as-a-brick Rock shows a rare flash of astuteness when he immediately sees right through Felix's "Felica" disguise.
- Tempting Fate: After getting doused in red paint, Rock wonders what will happen next, and not a moment later, he walks into an open manhole.
- 13 Is Unlucky: Rock is superstitious, so he gets worried when he finds out it's Friday the 13th.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Rock basically says this when he finds out what day it is.
