Felix The Cat - All balled up (1924)

Felix the Cat first appeared on screen as "Master Tom" in FELINE FOLLIES released on September 1, 1919. Due to the enormous popularity of his first Felix film, Paramount Studios signed a two year deal with Pat Sullivan to create one Felix the Cat film per month. Pat Sullivan credited himself with the creation and animation of Felix., Actually, his employee Otto Messmer had the original idea for Felix and animated all of the Felix the Cat films. Felix the Cat enjoyed celebrity status and quickly became a household name in Canada, the U.S. and abroad in England, Germany, Australia, and China. Felix became one of the most famous stars of the 1920's, rivaling Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The Prince of Wales picked Felix the Cat as his Polo Team mascot and a picture of Felix accompanied Charles Lindbergh in his historic solo-flight across the Atlantic. In 1923, a Felix the Cat comic strip was created and ran in newspapers until 1943. It was very popular during WWII. In 1928 Felix's popularity was threatened by the release of the first Disney sound animation film STEAMBOAT WILLIE starring Mickey Mouse. Sullivan and Messmer tried to move Felix into sound pictures, but their attempts failed because their sound effects rarely matched the action on the screen.By 1930, Felix the Cat had been replaced in popularity by Walt Disney's SILLY SYMPHONIES series of movie cartoons.

Musica: Paul Whiteman (1890 - 1967), 'Whispering'.