Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat

by John Canemaker

Handsomely illustrated with over 150 photos and with full-color inserts, Felix is a stylish account of the intrigue behind the creation and marketing of the most popular, well-executed, and lucrative cartoon of the silent era. Based on a combination of "Sammy Johnsin" (a Sambo caricature) and Charlie Chaplin, Felix the Cat was the first cartoon character to exhibit an individual "personality" in moving pictures, preceding Mickey Mouse by a decade. From 1919 to 1933 Felix was internationally celebrated, as popular as Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Felix's producer, Pat Sullivan, a journeyman artist, chronic alcoholic, and convicted rapist, claimed credit for creating and developing Felix. But, as John Canemaker discovered, in truth it was Otto Messmer, Sullivan's brilliant, self-effacing production manager, who conceived, animated, and directed the more than two hundred Felix films during the period of his greatest popularity. And by focusing on Messmer's amazing achievement, Canemaker illuminates the entire world of film animation in the years before Walt Disney.

Genres: History, 20th Century, Cartoon, Media Tie In, Nonfiction, Art, Animals

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 1991

About the author

John Canemaker (born 1943) is an Academy Award-winning independent animator, animation historian, teacher, lecturer, and author perhaps best known for his many books about the Disney studio, including Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation.In 1980, he began teaching and developing the animation program at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts', Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Department. Since 1988 he has directed the program and is currently a tenured full professor. From 2001-2002 he was Acting Chair of the NYU Undergraduate Film and Television Department. In 2006, his film The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, a 28-minute animated piece about Canemaker's relationship with his father, won the Academy Award for best animated short. In 2007 the same piece picked up an Emmy award for its graphic and artistic design.


His first book, The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy, detailing the making of an animated feature based on Johnny Gruelle’s storybook characters, was published in 1977. Eight more books followed: Treasures of Disney Animation Art (1982),Winsor McCay: His Life and Art (1987), Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat (1991), Tex Avery: The MGM Years (1996), Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (1996), Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999), Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (2001), The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003), and a revised and updated edition of Winsor McCay (2005).

Reviews

[Gijs Grob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview of the origin, career and demise of Felix the Cat, the most famous animated cartoon character of the silent era, and of his parents: the drinking showman Pat Sullivan (1885-1933) and the all too modest silent genius Otto Messmer (1892-1983). It's clear that not Sullivan, but Messmer was the man behind the success of Felix. Messmer was the first to recognize that the power of animation lies in the impossible. Unfortunately, with Walt Disney's strive to naturalism this focus on impossibilities was lost during the early 1930s, waiting to be revived by Tex Avery in 1935.

Canemaker also shows that although Felix was not the first animal cartoon star (that distinction goes to Krazy Kat), he was the most important one in an age of mostly human stars (e.g. Farmer Al Falfa, Bobby Bumps and Koko the Clown), and in that respect Felix is the ancestor of not only Mickey, but also Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Droopy etc. etc.

Because Felix's heydays lie far in the past, it's clear that Canemaker had to scrap material together for his book, but luckily he could rely on interviews with Messmer, who lived to an old age, and with co-workers like Al Eugster.

[Jim N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine, relatively detailed history of Felix, focused on the early, silent film era cartoons that made the cat an international star. The author writes about Otto Messmer (who created Felix) with genuine affection and admiration. Pat Sullivan, who originally owned the character and whose studio produced the film, is a far less sympathetic, more unsavory "character" but he was definitely interesting!

The book contains useful context about the early history of animation and some of it's key figures and also touches on the revival of Felix in the '50s and animator/cartoonist Joe Oriolo's role in keeping the character alive. His version of Felix is actually the look we most associate with the cat today.

The book is well-illustrated throughout and I highly recommend it for fans of Felix or anyone interested in the early days of animation and the medium's first true star.

[Robert Beerbohm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly essential tool for studying Felix the Cat. Best source there is.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the creation of Felix, the Cat, the passive man who created him, and how Pat Sullivan, the aggressive man who claimed credit for Felix, made most of the money from him and simply used up the character. It is also the story of how Felix went from being one of the most popular pop culture icons ever to become so marginalized today. This is a fascinating story, and the book is very well illustrated. One of the Felix silent animated cartoons paraphrases RICHARD III.

[Mariecar · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you know me, you know why I have this book on my shelf at home and why I gave it a 5-star rating.

[Christopher Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

How creative genius can be enslaved by those more shrewd.