Silhouette Felix

Breaking the fourth wall? Felix the cat did it in the silent era all the time.

Here’s one of many examples. This scene is from The Oily Bird. Here’s a summary of the plot by Raymond Ganly in the March 10, 1928 edition of the Motion Picture News:

Felix the cat continues his lonesome way in this one from the Sullivan studio. For all the world like another Lonesome Luke, the cat is always getting into trouble. His mistress accuses him of stealing her jewels, hence his ignominious ejection from the house. Learning that a hen has swallowed the gems he chases her in order to clear his good name. The bird, in desperation, digs a hole to escape from Felix. The tumult that results in the hole when the cat goes in after he causes an oil spout—much to the joy of the cat’s mistress. Entertaining.

In the scene below, Felix suspects a goat has swallowed the jewels (goats in short films eat everything). Felix points and looks at the theatre audience and winks.

The goat is drawn in silhouette. Felix finds a way to get around that.



Cut to a close-up. Felix looks at the audience again and shakes his head, realising there are no jewels.



Silhouette drawings found their way into a number of Felix cartoons in the late ‘20s. It’s tough to tell because of the angle, but Felix turns into a silhouette, then the goat does as he turns to butt Felix out of the frame.



Otto Messmer gets the credit by fans for these Felix cartoons, though the Sullivan studio had a team of animators. I don’t have a clue which one is responsible for this short.