Felix the Cat, By the Numbers

At the start of 1927, E.W. Hammons’ Educational Pictures offered theatres a brand-new cartoon every week, with two different series alternating each week. One was the quite forgotten “Life” cartoons from the man who was later behind the misbegotten sound series Buster Bear—John R. McCrory. The other series was far better remembered—Felix the Cat from the Pat Sullivan studio.

Felix was one of the great cartoon stars of the 1920s. He quickly became a has-been by the end of the decade as everyone wanted to hear cartoon characters talk. Felix didn’t, unless you include the falsetto muttering added to the soundtrack of silent cartoons made by Copley Pictures for any theatre that would take them.

In 1927, Felix still had an audience, and was still talked about in the public press. Here’s a story chock full of trivia. It’s possible Educational sent out this information to newspapers; most versions of the story I’ve found don’t have a byline. This is from The Oregonian, March 20.

Felix the cat, famous black feline star of the movies, has just completed an inventory at the studios where his boss, Pat Sullivan, puts him through his paces. And Felix was so surprised at the amount of material used in making his one-reel cartoon comedies that he let out one long, loud “me-e-e-ow.”
He discovered that four animators, two inkers, three tracers and one cameraman are employed at the Sullivan studios in New York making the Felix the Cat cartoons, which are released to the movie houses every other week, by Educational Film Exchanges. Sullivan and four assistants do the original pencil work, which is then inked in by the studio inkers. From 250 to 300 drawings are made daily by each of these five men. Tracers fill in the non-moving portions of the cartoon scene and blacken the parts supposed to appear black in the picture. Then the scenes are ready for the cameraman.
Drawings are made on bond paper, cut a little larger than the usual letter head size. Felix estimates that enough paper has been used since Mr. Sullivan began making Felix the Cat cartoon comedies to stretch in an unbroken path 12 times around the world.
His figures show that a fire pail full of ink is needed for every one reel picture.
Enough erasers are used during a year’s time in producing animated cartoon comedies to supply a fleet of flivvers with “shoes.”
The wood in pencils used up in sketching Felix would lay a deck on Old Ironsides, while the lead in a year’s time would make a lead conduit extended from America to Liverpool and back.
Blotting paper consumed since the studio started is sufficient to dry up the Atlantic ocean.
Approximately 200,340,000 sheets of paper have been used since the studio started.
Electricity used at the Sullivan studio is great enough to flash a message to Mars.
Enough gray matter was employed on new ideas to supply all the colleges of Siam.
If all the Felix cats drawn at the studio were joined paw to paw, it would make a solid string of black cats from New York to Shanghai, and what a howl they would make on a fence.
The question “Where do you get the ideas?” was asked about 1,740,285 times.

How many colleges WERE there in Siam then, anyways?

Perhaps the tallest yarn in these figures is the one about Sullivan doing any work at all. It’s generally conceded he did little than collect profits; Otto Messmer and artists such as Al Eugster did all the work. Sullivan wasn’t even in New York at one point. In November 1927, he took an extended trip across the U.S. then to Vancouver, where he boarded the Aorangi for Australia.

Other newspaper stories—and we’ve transcribed some here—pushed Sullivan’s claim his wife invented Felix. It wasn’t quite that cut and dried, either.

Though Felix disappeared from screens until the TV version in the late 1950s, several cartoons at Van Beuren excepted, he continued his career in the newspaper comic pages. Below is his debut on May 9, 1927.

The first comic strip story is based on the second Felix cartoon released in 1927. Here is the list from the Motion Picture News of the Felixes in the first half of the year, and their release dates by Hammons’ Educational Pictures.

Felix the Cat Dines and Pines, Jan. 9
Felix the Cat in Pedigreedy, Jan. 23
Felix the Cat in Icy Eyes, Feb. 6
Felix the Cat in Stars in Stripes, Feb. 20
Felix the Cat Sees ‘Em in Season, Mar. 6
Felix the Cat in Barnyards [sic], Mar. 20
Felix the Cat in Germania [sic], Apr. 3
Felix the Cat in Sax Appeal, Apr. 17
Felix the Cat in Eye Jinks, May 1
Felix the Cat As Roameo, May 15
Felix the Cat Ducks His Duty, May 29
Felix the Cat in Dough-Nutty, June 12
Felix the Cat in ‘Loco’ Motive June 26

Dines and Pines is one of my favourite Felixes, full of imagination in the nightmare scenes. Let’s leaf through the News and read the reviews of all 13 of these Felix films.

"Felix the Cat Dines and Pines"
(Educational-Sullivan Cartoon — One Reel)
“DR. CALIGARI'S CABINET" in an animated cartoon; that is what results in this Pat Sullivan when his protege, “Felix," eats not wisely but too well. The dream that results would satisfy the most exacting, futuristic impressionist. Before this he has worked out a most ingenious progressive dinner. The illegal drink that should precede all dinners (with apologies to Volstead) he secures by sucking the contents of a punch-bowl in a convenient window through a bit of spaghetti. The soup is gotten by wringing the beard of an old gentleman who vociferously inhales his. The chicken problem is unsolved because the descendants of the fowl intended for consumption come to their mother's aid and rout "Felix." It is because of this that he descends on a refuse heap and consumes an old shoe, and then the nightmare which might have been staged by a German movie director. "Never Again!" is the logical vow of "Felix" in the matter of indiscriminate meals.
Snappy stuff and out of the usual run and so should score.— PAUL THOMPSON.

"Felix, The Cat, Is Pedigreedy"
(Educational-Pat Sullivan Cartoon — One Reel)
FELIX wishes to go to an extremely swanky night club. Pedigree rather than the size of the bankroll seems to be what counts. (Needless to state, the locale of the animated cartoon is not in New York). Thrown out once because lacking a pedigree, he returns to tell the awe-inspired club members and the employees a tale of his ancestry. Associated with Noah as navigators and life-savers, with Rameses, the king, not the cigarette of Egypt's royal family, as the originator of the Charleston and finally with Columbus as a demonstrator of the round-earth theory his predecessors on the family tree are all that the most exacting can ask. Does he get the job, pardon me, membership? He sure does.
Some highly entertaining and amusing ideas are thus incorporated in this Pat Sullivan conceit. It will keep up the deservedly high reputation the series enjoys.— PAUL THOMPSON.

"Felix the Cat in Icy Eyes"
(Educational-Pat Sullivan Cartoon — One Reel)
ALAS for unrequited affection! Felix sees what he thinks is his ideal but she turns him down cold. And then, man-like, to get her attention he undertakes some fancy skating before her unappreciative eyes. He even rescues her from an icy plunge through the ice. But even that nets him no smiles or appreciation. But when he solves a jewel robbery and recovers the gems and has become famous and wealthy she relents. Alas, it is too late; she has become fat and unattractive, so that the critical Felix spurns her with eyes that are just as icy as hers had been earlier in the reel when both were younger and she was slender and svelte — whatever that quality may be.
Felix is alright as a sleuth but not so strong as a suitor. His shortcomings here are a merit and Pat Sullivan tells a tale with a moral that he who runs or skates can read. — PAUL THOMPSON.

"Felix the Cat Stars in Stripes"
(Educational-Pat Sullivan Animated Cartoon — One Reel)
AND all because he was trying to act the role of a good Samaritan and amuse a baby Felix lands at the rock pile. Hard lines, but humanitarians often get stung that way. Felix's imitation of Charley Chaplin, I thought, was very good, but the crying baby he was trying to get to sleep evidently did not share my critic's viewpoint. Accordingly the obliging cat tries a stick of candy and then what looks to the child like a larger stick of candy, a barber's pole. Result, arrest, conviction and stripes and the rock pile. Foiled once in an attempt to escape, the second time he and a fellow crook succeed. They bore their way to freedom. .A horse converted into a zebra facilitates the escape afterward, but the horse pays the penalty, because of the artificial stripes, by taking Felix's place behind the bars.
An amusing tale that will bring laughs rather than tears at the woes and tribulations of the long-suffering cat that owns up to a Pat Sullivan parentage.— PAUL THOMPSON.

"Felix Sees 'Em in Season"
(Educational-Sullivan — One Reel)
A MILDLY amusing effort is projected in this latest Sullivan cat cartoon, which deals with the cartoonist's observance of the arrival of spring through the eyes of Felix. Coincident with the coming of this season is the period in which everyone is afflicted with that mysterious malady known as spring fever. The greater portion of this reel is devoted to pen and ink impressions detailing the efforts of birds, beasts and fish to battle the ennui superinduced by the disease and their failure to overcome it. Felix fares no better, even to the extent of tolerating a mouse. — HAROLD FLAVIN.

“Felix the Cat in Barn Yarns"
(Educational-Sullivan Animated Cartoon — One Reel)
VERY materialistic this creation of Pat Sullivan; very little of the spiritual. Always his object in life sems to be food. This issue differs not a whit from many of its predecessors in its motif even if the treatment is varied. Temporarily discouraged from stealing a diner's food by a dose of pepper, Felix pursues a duck as a possible meal. To the edge of a pond he follows on. Onto the pond goes the daring cat. Of course the duck swims but Felix does not. He sinks but is rescued by the conscience-stricken decoy. The latter wins the cat's undying friendship. The first proof of this is when Felix inserts a piece of pipe in the duck's throat so that the farmer's axe has no effect. Then the farmer attempts to drown Felix, but he is rescued by three fish. To repay them for their kindness the cat unhooks worms from the farmer's line. It is good fun. — PAUL THOMPSON.

"Felix the Cat in Germ Mania"
(Sullivan-Educational — One Reel)
THIS is one of the most amusing numbers of the "Felix" series yet screened. Though viewed in a projection room without the aids of music or the festive spirit of an audience to help the risibles it nevertheless caused a continuous chuckle. Felix wanders into a scientific laboratory and starts some experiments on his own hook, playing around with fluids with alleged enlarging and contracting faculties; he incurs the enmity of a microbe and the usual chase ensues with Felix emerging the victor. — HAROLD FLAVIN.

"Felix the Cat in Sax Appeal"
(Sullivan-Educational — One Reel)
ANOTHER amusing number of the Felix series and this time the poor cat is deprived of his sleep by the wailing notes of a saxaphone [sic] played by his boss. The composition of these cartoons reveals great ingenuity on the part of the artists who must lay awake nights planning stunts for the cat. In this number, Felix, having stolen the sax from his boss, buries it, but a burrowing mole discovers the mouthpiece and as a result Felix is regaled with underground music. This is only one of the many entertaining bits of business introduced in the reel.
It is to laugh long and loud.— HAROLD FLAVIN.

"Felix the Cat in Eye Jinks"
(Educational — One Reel)
FELIX in an occulist's store undergoes the same experiences as the well-known "bull in the China shop." He is hired to exterminate the mice but they prove one too many for him numerically and intellectually, making him the butt of a series of mousy jokes which annoy him and should amuse the spectators.
This is worth-while seeing. — HAROLD FLAVIN.

"Felix the Cat as Roameo"
(Educational — One Reel)
THESE cartoons become more entertaining and ingenious with each succeeding issue as the artist's bag of tricks seemingly has no bottom; he never appears to be at a loss in devising new antics for Felix to perform. This week we see the cat as the great lover who travels from country to country leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him until he is finally confounded when his sweethearts get together. Good for a lot of giggles.— HAROLD FLAVIN.

"Felix the Cat Ducks His Duty"
(Educational — One Reel)
ANOTHER of the highly humorous issues of the "Felix" series with a number of new bits of business and the always amusing facial expressions of the cartoon characters. This one treats of war — declared by the mice against their ancient enemies, the cats. Felix, one of the prime movers in the conflict develops "cold feet" while at the front and deserts. He falls in love with a fair maiden who, after marriage, develops shrewish tendencies of such a violent nature that friend Felix decides that while "War is hell," an unkind wife is an even more hellish proposition, so back to the field of valor he wends his way and likes it, though he arrives in the midst of a barrage projected by both armies.— HAROLD FLAVIN.

"Felix the Cat in Dough-Nutty"
(Educational — One Reel)
FELIX the Cat and his antics furnish the usual amount of entertainment but we don't care for the introduction of the human figure into this pen-and-ink creation, nor, we believe, will your patrons. This idea of the combination of the human figure and the pen-and-ink-drawing has been used in another series of cartoons but we've never been able to understand the reason for so doing as there seemed no need for it especially as the human figure contributed little or nothing to the enjoyment of the reel.
Here's hoping they leave Felix alone to work out his own difficulties.— HAROLD FLAVIN.

"Felix the Cat in 'Loco' Motive"
(Educational Cartoon — One Reel)
THE news prints are full these days of recountals of the various American flying expeditions over long stretches of ocean to some spot thousands of miles away from our own shores. Now, when most everyone, talks and thinks of aviation, the wide awake Pat Sullivan and staff send Felix to Europe in an airship of his own devising. As is nine times out of ten the case with Felix his thoughts and ambitions were sent winging Germany way because of hunger. When he beholds a well nourished Teuton the cat concludes that Germany must be a land overflowing with milk and honey. And so it is not long after that he faces Eastward and sets out to conquer the air. Though he meets many obstacles and conquers them one by one your sympathies are with the lone cat flying over a waste of water. A really good cartoon storm, pelting rain, dark threatening clouds, a veritable downpour with thunder and lightning, hits the intelligent feline but he manages to stay up in the air and continue his trip, arriving in Germany where a great multitude awaits him. Presenting Felix in a new role, up-to-date, it is good stuff.— RAYMOND GANLY.

Perhaps the day will come when these fine little public domain films will be restored. I hope so. Felix deserves it.