Before we list all the players behind the Felix Chevrolet Sign, let's give a nod to someone not mentioned in the application sent to the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.
Pat Sullivan––generally considered the creator of Felix the Cat–– is the man who gave car salesman Winslow Felix permission to use the image to sell Chevrolets at the Figueroa and Jefferson dealership. Sullivan did own the rights to the image through his studios, a legal matter going back to a March 3, 1917 filing with the Library of Congress. Legalities aside, however, animation historians consider Otto Messmer to be the creator and “push behind the personality” of Felix.
Messmer was 24 at the time, and while working for Sullivan, debuted an early version of Felix in "Feline Follies" on November 9, 1919. He went on animate numerious Felix the Cat shorts while under contract to Sullivan, then went on to author and ink Felix the Cat comic strips, distributed by King Features. Upon his retirement in 1954, Messmer passed the strip over to his assistant Joe Oriolo.
Messmer never got any screen credits for Felix the Cat until the 1953 animated television series that was produced by his then former assistant, Joe Oriolo. In 1977 a documentary about Messmer, by animation historian John Canemaker, brought to the attention what many old time animators knew. Otto created the cat. Even today, Messmer as the sole creator is disputed, but enough is there to consider Felix the Cat, at the very least, one of the most successful collaborations in animation.
First TV Comeback: Because of the image recognition of Felix the Cat popularity, and a design that transmitted well Felix was selected as the first image to be transmitted by the 1929 RCA and NBC's experimental television broadcasts. Photo: FelixtheCat.com
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