You might think movie merchandising is a modern phenomenon. Well, it ain’t! One hundred years ago, the animated feline known as Felix the Cat was taking Europe by storm, helped by a massive marketing campaign and all manner of tie-ins including, yes, Felix cookies.

In the spring of 1924, The Film Daily published an article celebrating the impact Felix was having on British culture:

“In London today Felix is the recipient of an honor in that the most popular song of the day is entitled ‘Felix Kept on Walking’ and it is being sung by many music hall performers. There are Felix handkerchiefs, Felix toys, Felix chinaware and an actor in vaudeville is made up to resemble Felix and struts in the same manner as Felix’s peculiar little walk.”

The latest edition of my cinema history column Animation Time Machine explores the way Felix the Cat, having already conquered America, began charming audiences in the United Kingdom and Germany. It also examines the early career of legendary animator Max Fleischer, courtesy of an interview from the April 1924 edition of Pictures and Picturegoer. Here’s a brief extract:

“My dream was to make drawings for the screen. At that time there were a number [of animated films] being made but none of them were perfected and the changes from one sketch to another were plainly noticeable to the audiences. I made up my mind to perfect a camera that would have the same ease in changing pictures that the regular motion picture ones did and I worked in my spare time perfecting such an invention. My theory was to make the process so smooth that the mechanical side would be forgotten.”

To learn more about Fleischer and Felix, read the complete Animation Time Machine article at Animation Magazine!