Feline Follies

November 16, 2005 11:33 PM

Felix the Cat set the standard for animated character design with his rubber-limbs and blackface, predating Mickey by nearly a decade. Since he doesn't get nearly the exposure of Mickey, we're lucky there's sites that make at least a sampling of his cartoons freely available.
posted by ScottMorris (21 comments total)

My favorite? Felix gets himself in trouble by stealing the act of a certain moustached comic. [Realmedia link]

Also, what inspired Felix?
posted by ScottMorris at 11:37 PM on November 16, 2005

Felix is the best. Thanks for posting this.
posted by swift at 11:46 PM on November 16, 2005

Great post. Much thanks.
posted by TheNakedPixel at 1:51 AM on November 17, 2005

Meh. Without his Magic Bag of Tricks, Felix is just another pussy. With that bag, Felix Rulz! Of course, that's the Felix of my childhood, oh so terribly long ago.
posted by Goofyy at 1:56 AM on November 17, 2005

Thanks for the Felix post Scott. I have a long love of this quirky and hapless cat. :)
posted by Arqa at 2:28 AM on November 17, 2005

Are you familiar with the Tophatters ?
posted by matty at 3:26 AM on November 17, 2005

Good post. "When he gets into a fix..."
posted by fixedgear at 5:29 AM on November 17, 2005

I always liked Felix, thanks for this great post!
posted by prostyle at 6:27 AM on November 17, 2005

Interesting to note, that while most people assume Felix is a Yank. He is actually Australian in origin.
posted by Dag Maggot at 7:09 AM on November 17, 2005

Felix is the original cool cat. Thanks for a trip (and fall) down memory lane, ScottMorris.
posted by soyjoy at 8:01 AM on November 17, 2005

my 9 year old daughter has a thing about felix the cat ... i find it interesting that 70-80 year old cartoons are still winning young fans ... thanks for the links, she'll love them
posted by pyramid termite at 8:26 AM on November 17, 2005

My son's name is Felix, but he's not a cat. He's more of a snow monkey. [/dad]
posted by The Bellman at 8:38 AM on November 17, 2005

Another Felix fan here -- thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 8:42 AM on November 17, 2005

I loved Felix as a kid. I remember one of the first arguments I had with my dad, he said that Felix’s bag of tricks looked like a purse. Obviously he was just having fun with me, but I got really angry. Felix is right up there with the Tex Avery stuff.
posted by Smedleyman at 9:45 AM on November 17, 2005

I laughed so much my sides ached and my heart went pitty-pat.
posted by DawnSimulator at 10:27 AM on November 17, 2005

Great post!
I'm actually preparing to teach a course on animation, and will direct my students to this site. It's a terrific resource - the newspaper comix alone make it worthwhile.
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:06 AM on November 17, 2005

Felix the Cat, Sun Ra, Noam Chomsky, Max Ernst: *sings* these are a few of my favorite things
posted by kozad at 1:22 PM on November 17, 2005

Yay, thank you. It makes me want get some full-rez copies.
posted by alms at 3:31 PM on November 17, 2005

Coolness. I enjoyed watching those clips. I always liked Felix, but then, I've always had a thing for the less popular/underdog types. I always preferred Daffy Duck over Bugs Bunny, for one thing. Mickey's too one-dimensional.
posted by Eideteker at 4:34 PM on November 17, 2005

wonderful, wonderful
posted by yhbc at 5:16 PM on November 17, 2005

I totally forgot how much I loved Felix the Cat as a kid. I grew up with the talkies and have never seen the real early stuff.

If you're going to watch only one of these, go with this one and watch Felix drink too much, carouses with a woman (while his wife waits at home with a rolling pin), and hallucinates a host of oddities. Great stuff.

I think the first tv image broadcasted was of a Felix the Cat doll on a pedestal.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:50 AM on November 18, 2005