The back-story behind the most famous animated cat, after-the-jump ...
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
The year 2019 was the centennial of the animated film character Felix the Cat — and as regular readers of mine know me as being a cat guy, he is a favorite. The name Felix is still a popular name with cat owners: in 2019, it was #15 among male cats in Canada. This website lists it as #25 (with Gizmo coming in at #33).
Yet I knew him from the 1958-1960 made-for-television cartoons (aimed at children) — not from his origins … much less its creator, the Australian-born Pat Sullivan — who led a fascinating and quite sordid life.
Pat Sullivan (1885 -1933)
His story was told (quite comprehensively) by a reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Company, with some highlights below:
→ Born in Sydney in 1885, the son of an Irish immigrant cab driver
→ Emigrated to London in the early 1900’s, a struggling illustrator
→ By his own account: emigrated to the US accidentally (by seeing-off friends on a freight ship) … when he passed-out drunk, then waking up near New York
→ Again, a struggling illustrator … then making a living w/Charlie Chaplin comics
→ Convicted of raping a 14 year-old in 1917, yet sentenced to only one year ..
→ Due to his fiancée Marjorie Gallagher, pleading for mercy so they could marry
→ He struck gold with Felix (walking on two legs!) as animation took off nationally
→ Among his fans: Charles Lindbergh and George Bernard Shaw
→ He was eventually surpassed by Mickey Mouse, and his inability to expand
→ Many believe all of the creative work was done by his employee Otto Messmer
→ Sullivan’s alcoholism and setting-up a brothel hampered his later years
→ He contracted syphilis (giving it to his wife Marjorie later)
→ Marjorie fell to her death in 1932 from her apartment ledge (waving to friends)
→ Sullivan went into despair and died the following year from pneumonia.
→ Otto Messmer carried on with newspaper comic strips into the 1950’s
Years later (after Otto Messmer retired) his assistant Joe Oriolo took over, arranging with Paramount Studios to create the aforementioned cartoon series with 260 episodes. Meanwhile, a 1988 feature film bombed at the box office and while Dreamworks Animation purchased the future rights in 2014, nothing more has yet been produced by them.
Yet it is the cartoon series that many of a certain age will recall. Some background on the main characters (all of whom were voiced by Jack Mercer, who was also the voice of Popeye the Sailor).
Felix — his Bag of Tricks helps extricate him from perpetually sticky situations. He ends almost every show with “Righty-O!” and laughs.
TV show’s ‘Bag of Tricks’
The Professor — Felix's archenemy/foil and, in most episodes, is trying to seize the magic Bag of Tricks.
The Prof … always failed
Rock Bottom — the Professor's bumbling sidekick ("Oh, what's the use!")
henchman Rock Bottom
The Master Cylinder — the evil robot who is always trying to kidnap The Professor’s nephew (more on him in a minute) so that he can use his intellect to build weapons and equipment. It is revealed that he was once a pupil of the Professor at an academy … until an explosion destroyed his original body.
The Master Cylinder
And the character whose name lives on (outside the cartoon itself) is the Professor’s nephew Poindexter … which you’ve probably heard as a pejorative.
Poindexter is Felix’s friend
Let’s close with the TV theme song (sung by big band singer Ann Bennett):
Now, on to Top Comments (and some Top Photos):
From Ethrid:
Highlighted by DiogenesTheElder :
In today’s Good News Roundup about a court ruling against Elon — this comment made by chairjoseph.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by davidkc about the “Muskovite” forced to resign from DOGE due to his racist past being unearthed — Amanda1 notes which publications did their homework .. and which did not.
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
