Felix the Cat

I watched several episodes of "Felix the Cat" when I was a little boy, and it wasn't until the last few years that I learned that the adventurous feline was first created in the 1910s.

It's always cool to see what sort of weird thing Felix has in his bag. It used to puzzle me that the Professor was alternately good and bad (but I loved how his efforts to steal Felix's bag always ended in total embarrassment). Poindexter seriously needs some fun and imagination in his life. Rock Bottom is truly giving dogs a bad name. Master Cylinder would have discouraged the very thought of the moon landing* were he real. I never have seen any episode starring Vavoom.

Anyway, a pretty good show. Right-e-o indeed!

*Last month of course saw the 40th anniversary. Walter Cronkite considered it the defining moment of the 20th century.

PS: Felix is the Latin word for "happy" or "lucky". The name also of course sounds like feline.

The theme song always said " You'll laugh so much your sides will ache. / Your heart will go pit-a-pat, / Watching Felix the wonderful cat. " yet the cartoons were never funny. But still we kids watched.

The 1958-1961 Felix the Cat series is, in my opinion, the best version of Felix ever created. It perfectly captures the playful spirit and cleverness that made Felix such an iconic character for generations.

One of my favorite things about this series is Felix's voice - it reminds me a lot of Mickey Mouse, which gives Felix a charming and nostalgic feel. The voice acting adds so much personality and life to the character, making every episode a joy to watch.

The animation style is classic and timeless, with fun stories that appeal to both kids and adults. This series strikes the perfect balance between humor, creativity, and heart.

If you're a fan of classic animation or Felix the Cat, this series is a must-watch!

The silent Felix cartoons were, for the most part, VERY good. Having no soundtrack, all they had to let you know what Felix was thinking or feeling was the artwork, at which the animators were extremely successful. You really can't compare the silents with the Trans-Lux TV Felix cartoons. However, in those TV cartoons, the producers were intelligent enough to hire Voice Actor extraordinaire Jack Mercer. He started at the Max Fleischer cartoon studio in New York City (that studio's original location was the reason for the urban settings of their cartoons.). Unlike the talented people at Warner Bros., Disney and many others, a large percentage of the settings of THEIR cartoons were rural. But watch a Betty Boop or a Popeye cartoon, and you'll fing they take place in urban locations. Jack Mercer was the voice of Popeye for FIFTY-plus years! Though many of the people who made the TV Felix cartoons made the rounds among the animation studios, each studio's product had a personality of its own, and that's where the talents of the artists and writers really shined. Sure, there are settings in, say, W-B cartoons varied and were definitely NOT urban, such as "The Awful Orphan" starring Porky Pig and Charlie Dog. It takes place on a farm, as do many others. But that's the beauty of any animated cartoon - you can make the setting ANY PLACE, on Earth or elsewhere in the known Multiverse. None of those locations are any more difficult to get to or any more expensive than any other. The reason, of course, is that everything you see and hear is the product of the Director's and animator's imaginations. Every cartoon by any studio was drawn at the same desks as any other.

I remember when I was a kid, and the Trans-Lux Felix cartoons were run every day. I watched them then and liked them! But if you told me then that all the characters were voiced by Jack Mercer, I'd never have believed you!

Let me first express my emotional love of this show: I firmly believe that this cartoon is an absolute classic, primarily for its very unique episode plot lines, its intriguing-yet-somewhat blatantly stereotypical villains (the Professor and Rock Bottom, primarily), its fantastic sense of science-fiction fantasy adventure (several episodes have to do with space travel), its comedy and (of course) The Master Cylinder, quite possibly the greatest cartoon villain in the history of animated entertainment. I love this show.

The cartoon ran for a very limited time in the early 1960's; as such, it is subsequently enamored with many of the entertainment clichés of its time. For example, I do believe that the old grade-Z science fiction movies of the 40's and 50's did have a significant effect on many of the episodes; as mentioned earlier, several episodes have to do with space travel: in my personal favorite episode, Poindexter (the Professor's brainy nephew, with a voice pitched high enough to rival the Chipmunks') builds a flying saucer in his spare time (while Felix is babysitting him) and travels to Mars with Felix, where they meet (hooray!) The Master Cylinder, in one of his many physical incarnations (for some reason the producers of the show made him look rather different in each episode, I've never really realized why). Additionally, the design of many of the visuals can be compared very easily to the fashionable aesthetic of the time; if you observe Felix's house, you will find that it appears to be very similar to Mike Brady's architecture (although that show came a little later). Furthermore, Rock Bottom's zoot-suited, cigar-chomping demeanor seems to me that it came right out of that era. And even further-more, if you want to get still deeper into it: I also believe that the whole attitude of that particular time period is greatly embedded in the show's values. Some of the episodes are very suburban, very 9-to-5 oriented, very detailed in consumerism and that classic, somewhat post-Eisenhower mentality of the love of homebodiness, the love of being the "Modern American." Wow. To back myself up on this: a couple episodes have to deal with Felix's day-to-day 9-to-5 job (!), life at home listening to the radio and suddenly hearing a newsflash about invading Martians (a particularly awesome episode) and running outside to protect yourself from them with a rifle, and getting rid of a pesky mouse that is managing to somehow steal everything from your perfectly-stocked refrigerator. All in all, I feel that these factors give this show a very cute, very nostalgic personality; they greatly add to its charm.

If you are a fan of classic cartoons (namely any of the Chuck Jones-style productions [including Merry Melodies and Tom & Jerry], Tex Avery productions or other assorted serials) I urge you to check out FELIX THE CAT. I promise you that it will bring something new to the table. Each episode has a wonderfully unique story (with Looney Tunes you sort of get recycled formulas every time) filled with charm, intelligence and even a little suspense (one episode in particular used to scare the living crap out of me; if you watch the series, you'll know which one. It has to do with Felix getting locked in his own house). Even if you don't care for cartoons, check out the series anyway. I still promise you that it will bring something new to the table. Now, the show spawned a feature-length movie that was produced sometime in the 80's (I believe); if you have seen this movie but haven't seen the original cartoon, I advise you to not follow any pre-conceived thoughts about this cartoon just from the movie. The two are very, very different. Though I still like the movie, it shares hardly any values or aesthetics with the cartoon. Completely gone is the lovely 60's nostalgia that I described above. Completely gone is Rock Bottom, Felix's house, space missions and (sob) The Master Cylinder is reduced to a pitiful cameo appearance that has nothing to do at all with his majesty on the series. I mean, come on, this is the guy that would have almost launched a fleet of missiles against Earth, if Felix hadn't of stopped him!

This cartoon is utterly fantastic. Please go and find a DVD of it right now.

RIGHT-EE-OH!!